Chapter 1 - The Release
Walking into the cave where the cure for vampirism was kept, Katherine walked behind Jeremy, keeping him at arms distance. Unlike the others here, Katherine knew what awaited them today. She had been raised with the old beliefs, and knew that this island held more than just Silas. It held her. She had never understood the full depth of how intertwined she was to the creature at the heart of this island until landing on the beach that first day. Never had she met it in person, only through whispers every few decades and a dream once in a while. But she knew she could trust it. That she wouldn't be in danger. After all, it was the beast that saved her as a child from those monsters.
She owed it to whatever was actually down there to help her, just this once. She'd been hearing her voice more often the past few months, and somehow she'd known that the group from Mystic Falls; the Salvatores, Elena, the Mikaelsons and all the other little misfits, would lead her to where she needed to be. That they'd lead her to her. And here she now was...
She had already fed Jeremy to Silas and gotten the hell away from there in the meantime and after waiting for everyone to leave the island, she made her way back to the place where Silas laid and pushed his coffin thing away, revealing a dark and dusty staircase hidden beneath the floor. Grabbing her torch, she made her way down the steps slowly, keeping an eye out for anything strange. But after 30 or so steps, her torch stopped working and she was covered in darkness.
Damn it, she thought, of course it stops working. Carefully walking down the rest of the steps, she walks down the never-ending staircase until she finally sees a small light, flickering below her. She speeds up, anxious to get to the bottom of the tall staircase and when she does she is frozen in fear. In front of her is a giant cavern with a ring of fire covering the walls. But that isn't what has shocked her.
The creature sitting cross-legged in the center of the cavern is what has her nerves on edge.
Sat in the middle of the cave is what appears to be a girl. Her head is down with her long curly black hair covering her face. Her skin is so pale that it's almost appears to be translucent and her figure so skinny, made up of nothing but bones and stretched out flesh. Surrounding the girl are chains tied to every possible surface of the ceiling, walls and floor with each chain tied to her to keep her from moving even an inch. Upon closer inspection though, Katherine sees that the girl is peppered with scars and injuries with many still bleeding and causing trails of dark blood on her pearl white skin.
She is sat in a pool of her own blood, so large that it spans easily a few meters. She just keeps bleeding. Katherine thought until she saw the chains from the ceiling, and what they were holding up.
A pair of black matted wings spread behind the girl, twisted and pulled in the most painful of ways. The vampire felt like being sick. This was not what she had envisioned.
I warned you. It would not be an easy sight.
That was the voice again. Her voice. "I didn't expect this." A laugh was heard in her head. A dark, and ancient laugh.
To your left.
Immediately turning to the left, Katherine eyed an ancient looking jar on a pedestal. As she started walking to it, she felt it. A pull. A compulsion to not go closer. To stay away.
The witches that bound me. Ignore them. Fight them. They will stop you from opening the jar. I need you to open it Katerina.
She moved forward again but the witches stopped her. Hurt her. Aneurysm after aneurysm they gave her. They sucked the air away from her until she died of suffocation over and over again but each time she got closer. And after what felt like hours upon hours of unending torture, as she was struggling to cope with the torment, she knocked the jar off the pedestal and it smashed at her feet. And the pain went along with the witches.
Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself and all Katerina Petrova wanted to do then and there was sleep but there was one more thing she had to do first. Standing up straight, Katherine slowly turned to the girl chained to the floor.
Nothing happened for a while and Katherine was worried something had gone wrong until the flames rose higher, almost burning the vampire with their immense heat until they disappeared. Flickered off without a sound. The cave was covered in darkness and nothing could be seen until a glow had started from the ceiling down and as if the lights were switched on, Katherine could see. The chains rumbled in their place and vibrated until they snapped and broke into a thousand pieces.
Eyes wide, Katherine stood her ground while the wings that were held suspended fell to the ground and a whimper was heard.
"Water..." It whispered and pointed to a small fountain next to the pedestal that held the jar. Grabbing a dish on the side, Katherine filled it with water before making her way to the girl. Crouching down slowly, Katherine held the water out to the girl. "Help me..."
So at the girls request, Katherine tipped the girls head back and poured the water down her throat. She gulped it down readily and coughed up dust. It seemed she had been here awhile. Her eyes were closed but her head stayed tilted as Katerina fetched more water and after a few more gulps of water, as the vampire was moving to get another, the girls hand shot out as if to signal enough. Her face turned to Katherine, and all of a sudden her eyes shot open.
Blood red irises met the doppelgangers chocolate orbs.
The girl rose then and walked towards Katerina. And for a second, the vampire thought that this was how she died. But instead the girl held out a hand and said, "Katerina, it is nice to finally meet." Her voice, Katherine thought, sounded so... alluring. Like it was made to compel people into doing her bidding.
"My name is Adriel. Thank you for releasing me from my cage. It feels good to finally be able to walk again."
"No problem... I'm sorry. What exactly is going on?" Katherine asked the girl, Adriel. What was meant to happen now, she thought.
"The first task is now complete and the second must begin." With that cryptic message, Adriel's arm shot out and within the blink of an eye, Katherine found herself stood in the middle of the Salvatore Boarding House stood next to Jeremy Gilbert as the group of misfits that had led her to meeting Adriel all looked at her with wide shocked eyes.
After a few minutes of silence, the younger Gilbert was the one to first speak up.
"Okay, how the hell did I end up here? And why do you all look like you've just seen a ghost?" He asked with a certain seriousness as he was confused until Elena vamp-sped over and pulled him into a hug as she broke down crying in his arms. "Elena... What..."
"Where have you been? We thought you were dead." The younger doppelganger cried into her brothers arms as Jeremy and Katherine were confused.
"What do you mean? I was just with you on the island..." Jeremy wondered aloud and as he spoke, Katherine looked at all the other faces in the room; Damon, Stefan, Bonnie, Caroline, Matt, Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah. And as she peered into their concerned and shocked gazes, it clicked.
Turning to face Stefan, Katherine asked, "How long ago was the island with the cure?".
The group along with Jeremy and Elena looked at Katherine with hatred and a bit of wariness as to her presence here but it was Caroline who answered the vampires question.
"8 months ago." And Katherines eyes had widened comically at the realisation that she had been fighting the witches to get to the jar for a whole 8 months... It had never even occurred to her that the time would be more than a few hours.
"Well... that changes things..." Katherine spoke to herself more than anyone and just at that moment she noticed something strange. "Wait a minute. Since when have there been two Stefans..." Looking at the two on either side of the room, Katerina was looking between the two in fear as one walked forward and introduced himself.
"Well, you must be Katerina. My name is Silas." Stefans doppelganger said before flinging his hand out towards her and shouting, "Now why did you release the demon?"