Chapter 1 - Siblings

Author's Note: This chapter directly follows the events of Season 3 Episode 2 "The Hybrid," and incorporates the events of Season 3 Episode 3 "The End of the Affair"—with some changes, as most of this chapter was written before the episode aired. In "The Hybrid," Klaus and Stefan have unwittingly slaughtered an entire pack of werewolves by attempting to turn them into hybrids. The corpses remain in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee.

Appalachian Mountains, Tennessee – Present Day

Nikola walked in leisure up the mountainside, enjoying the sharp beauty of a clear mountain day. Sunshine reflected back off of her porcelain skin and red curls. She smiled without knowing it, glad to be in a world with the sun on her face and gallons of coffee in her backpack.

"I'm here!" She called out, now that she was close enough for the werewolves to hear her. A light breeze ruffled her hair. "You better all have clothes on, this time. If I see Clark's junk again, I'm going to…"

Her teeth snapped shut as the wind shifted directions, bringing her the scents of death and gore. The backpack slipped off of Nikola's shoulders. She ghosted to the other side of the hill before the bag could finish falling. Going still, Nikola listened intently enough that the soft whump of the pack meeting the forest floor sounded like thunder. She was as quiet and intense as death itself.

The silence of twenty hearts that should have been beating deafened her. No one alive was still on the hilltop. Knowing that danger had come and gone, Nikola moved again, her gait slowed but not to the rate of a human. Her pace, this time, was the glacial walk of an immortal that has already seen the death of too many loved ones.

She came upon Ray first, his heart torn from his chest and discarded somewhere. Blood crusted in a trail from his eyes. The rest of the pack lay in a ring in the middle of camp. Sarah, their alpha, lay in the very center next to her boyfriend—a human whose name Nikola could not remember. Sarah had barely begun to trust the vampire near her fragile human lover. That was all over, now.

Nikola cast her gaze away from the pallid corpses of her hard-won friends. Looking for something that had not been a living, breathing being less than twenty-four hours ago, her eyes alighted upon a discarded beer bottle. Nikola did not have time to fully register a thought when she picked the smell of Klaus's blood from amongst the gore. Her body reacted on instinct, transporting her to the edge of camp. Bloodlust tinged with fear made her hands shake as they curled into claws.

When her thoughts caught up with her, Nikola's lips curved up into a madwoman's smile. She slumped to the ground, cackling.

Her brother had finally come out of hiding.

Mystic Falls – Present Day

Damon bolted upright in bed as Elena threw open the curtains on his window, startling the vampire awake. He slumped back down when he recognized who it was tormenting him.

Damon made a sound of disgust as he took his cell phone from the bedside table in order to check the time. "Ugh, Elena, it's eight o'clock in the morning. Don't you go to school anymore?"

He strained to reach the glass on his table without actually having to move.

"It's Saturday, Damon." Elena frowned at him, replacing the tumbler of scotch with a cup of coffee. "And it's summer."

He sighed in defeat as he took the steaming drink. Even her frowns were endearing. He moved so that his back rested against the headboard. Much to Damon's delight, Elena crossed to the other side of the bed to sit with him.

"The library's open. Go. Study. Be your best, and all that." Damon took a sip of the coffee, finding—to his surprise—that it had the cream and sugar just how he preferred it.

Elena smiled when she saw him looking quizzically at his cup. "You know, I think I like you better when you have your coffee…You can't complain and drink at the same time."

"Ventriloquism, the forgotten art." Damon sniped. "What's got you so chipper this morning?"

"Well, a certain vampire promised to help me rescue my boyfriend from the evil clutches of a mass-murdering psychopath. It tends to put a spring in a girl's step."

Damon put his cup down rather harder than intended.

"And, I talked to Bonnie. She'll be getting home tomorrow."

"Great, maybe she can keep you, the fragile human, home while I, the devastatingly handsome vampire, go get my brother. Just like I promised."

"Not a chance." Elena smiled. "Breakfast is ready."

Before Damon could reply, Elena hurried down to the kitchen. The vampire got up to pour himself a drink and abate his hangover. His phone rang, the ID showing an unknown caller.

Damon answered. "You're interrupting my drink."

"You miss me?" A female voice responded.

He paused in frustration. "Katherine…"

It took very little conversation in order for Katherine to convince Damon—and by extension, Elena—to whisk away to Chicago in search of Stefan.

Appalachian Mountains, Tennessee – Present Day

Tracking by scent took time and patience for even the best predators—of which Nikola surely was. Still, it was noon before she realized the smell of gore clinging to her was obscuring the minute traces of scent a vampire traveling at top speed would leave behind. Her nerves understandably frayed after hours of wasted effort, she flung herself into the first river she came across.

After floating with the current for a while, she came across the first bit of luck she had found all day: the fresh scent of a vampire. He had stood on the bank for some time with two humans—one female, one male—leaving behind plenty of scent for Nikola to find.

Best of all, she knew him—though he had been human when they met.

Mystic Falls – 1864

Katerina, ever the slattern, had a young gentleman alone in the forest when Nikola caught up to her. The older vampire had no trouble sneaking right up to the distracted couple.

"Good evening, Katerina." Nikola whispered into her ear.

Katerina lifted her head as if afraid to make any sudden moves. "I go by Katherine these days. It's much more modern." The blood dripping from her mouth made Katerina's accompanying smile into a grotesquerie.

"Forgive me, but I have been away from the world for some time. Perhaps you will humor me by observing the old courtesies." Nikola glanced meaningfully to the young man who had now untangled himself from the vampire.

"Did you wish to sup with me?" Katerina tilted his neck to expose the oozing wounds. He was clearly on the cusp of unconsciousness. "His name is Damon Salvatore, and I assure you, he is quite sweet."

Nikola's fangs involuntarily lengthened. Hunger tipped her emotions out of check. She slapped the younger vampire across the face, sending her sprawling amongst the rest of the detritus littering the forest floor.

"I was referring to a new guest having priority over one who—it appears—has held your attention for some time." Nikola was acid disdain. "Now I command you, impudent wench, to restore this boy's health and send him home."

On Katerina's face, blood from a broken nose and cuts already healed mingled with the gore from her victim. But, her attitude had abruptly reversed from defiant to obsequious. Her eyes remained downcast, and she curtsied when she answered Nikola. The older vampire knew it was an act, but it was, at least, an improvement.

"Yes, my lady."

Nikola nodded, and Katerina immediately commenced with her duties. She bit her own wrist to feed her charge—making sure Nikola had a tauntingly clear view.

Damon visibly strengthened as life flowed back into him, and he was soon aware, once more, of his surroundings. He pushed the wrist from his mouth. "Who is this woman, Katherine? Why is she here with us?"

"Her name is Nikola, and she is an old acquaintance of mine." Katerina smirked, knowing that while Nikola had no desire for her name to be bandied about, the older vampire also had an aversion to using compulsion.

"She has come to have a discussion with me. As such, I wish you to leave us so that we may talk privately." Katerina embedded a command into her last sentence, and Damon began to leave at once.

Nikola scowled at Katerina, and reached out a hand to gently stop him. "If you care for your own happiness and peace of mind," she chided, "you will never see this woman again."

Damon brushed aside her touch, and Nikola let it go. "I love her, ma'am, and there is nothing which could keep us apart."

Nikola smiled sadly. "Does she love you in return?" She turned away without expecting an answer. "Be gone now."

Damon stalked away into the night, his posture offended.

Nikola waited until his footsteps had faded from even her hearing before she got to the matter at hand.

The disdain with which she always regarded the young vampire returned. "I know you wish to trade the moonstone to Klaus in exchange for your measly existence."

Katerina was, for once, silenced by shock. Nikola savored the moment.

"However, you are to do no such thing. Within the year, you will flee from this place, and leave the moonstone—and these humans—behind. Am I clear?"

"Yes." Katerina appeared chagrined. "But why not take the moonstone for yourself?"

Nikola's face clouded over, becoming truly murderous. Katerina shivered as the much older and more powerful vampire invaded her space. "It is slick with the blood of innocents, Katerina. If I ever see it again, I will kill any and all who force the experience upon me. So, if I were you, I would make sure I was not the one holding onto it."

The pair locked into a tense and arctic silence for a moment.

"Within the year, Katerina." She pushed a stray lock of hair behind the young vampire's ear, making sure to brush over her enemy's carotid artery. "I'm sure you are aware that I do not need compulsion to see my will obeyed."

Nikola disappeared in a blink of the eye.

Appalachian Mountains, Tennessee – Present Day

The shade of her former self flitted back into the halls of memory, leaving a more modern Nikola to linger behind.

Gods, but I hate that Katherine bitch. The now less ladylike vampire thought to herself before blurring into the distance.

Author's Note: Chapter 2 is almost finished! So, if a Vampire Diaries episode once a week isn't enough to satisfy your craving, leave a review, and I will post more as quickly as possible.

Remember, I run on ramen and shameless praise!

Thanks for reading,
ChaosAthena