Author's Note:

Hey guys! So since my writing style has changed drastically since I first started this over a year ago, I'm going to rewrite it and make a few minor changes along the way. To my new readers, welcome to Hiding in the Shadows! Beginning at A View to Kill, but it will go back to 1864 until after the repercussions of Jeremy and Elena's "brilliant" plan to take out an Original.

I hope you all enjoy!

I don't own the Vampire Diaries or any of the characters minus Kassandra Salvatore, and a few more to be introduced in later chapters.

Prologue

I walked out of my family's cellar following Niklaus, who was storming out of my house a little too quickly for my liking. After witnessing my eldest brother being pinned up against the wall being screamed at – I needed to get to the bottom of what was happening. A plus side of knowing the Original Family for over a century, I earned more trust rather than my brothers. "What's going on, Nik?" I yelled to the back of his head.

He turned quickly and pushed me against the dining room wall by my throat, "Do you know what Jeremy is doing?"

"He just told me he was training with Matt," I answered unwillingly, gasping for air.

He narrowed his eyes on mine, looking for any sign of betrayal. "Are you sure?" I nodded quickly, "Well he lied. Kol just informed me that your boyfriend and his sister are planning to kill him with your other brother. Unless you want Kol dead, I suggest you come with me to stop them." He released my neck abruptly and I stumbled forward before catching my balance. I rubbed my neck where there had to be a mark left behind and ran to catch up with him.

We walked down the street quickly, the gravel beneath us leaving a dust residue. "Bad choice of deciding when to stay silent. What's the plan?"

He turned his head, barely enough to catch a glance of me, "You can go freely into the Gilbert house. So you go in and lure Kol out so I can dagger him and get him out of harm's way. Make sure Elena and Jeremy don't get to him first, understand?" Klaus barked orders in my direction and I nodded in agreement.

We walked up to the house, but the door was already broken in from being kicked down. I heard screaming from inside and wood breaking. Suddenly, a person douched in flames came into view. Kol. He eventually fell over onto the ground and Klaus and I stared into the house.

"Kol," I whispered quietly and tried to go inside, but Klaus grabbed my arm and pulled me back. "Kol! No!" I shouted louder and Elena and Jeremy appeared in front of us. I looked over at Klaus who had tears rimming his eyes after witnessing his brother's murder.

I was choked up and tears started to blur everything in front of me. I felt as though, my own heart was ripped out of me. I sucked in a few quick breaths but before I could say another word, Nik snapped. "What did you do?"

Elena spoke up, trying to clear her case. "We didn't have a choice, he was trying to cut off Jeremy's arm." I kept my eyes glued to his lifeless body laying on the floor.

"Lies," He spit through his clenched teeth. "He never would've gotten inside if you hadn't of set a trap for him." I wiped my eyes and kept my eyes away from landing on Jeremy. I couldn't stand the thought of looking at him. Seeing the satisfaction in his eyes.

"You said you were going to put him down too," Elena pleaded trying to play innocent.

Klaus stepped forward but not entering the unwelcomed house. "I was going to make him suffer, ON MY TERMS!" His voice strained and grew louder with each and every syllable. I jumped away from the power in his voice. He looked around the patio and then towards the house. "I'm going to burn this house to the ground and then when you try to flee for your lives, I'll kill you both without blinking."

"If you kill us you'll never get to the cure," Jeremy said stepping forward. "You'll never be able to make any more hybrids." He raised his chin and the noise that came out of Nik next was sinister.

Klaus laughed mockingly to himself, "You really think I care for an instant about my bloody hybrids!? I want the cure so I could destroy it, I would've killed you all the second we dug it up but now I'm just going to watch you burn instead!"

He kept inching forward with every step but then let out an antagonizing scream and grabbed his head in pain. I turned my head to notice Bonnie walking up the stairway out of nowhere, "Invite him in!" She spoke sternly and they both gave her a hesitated look, "Do it!"

Nik raised his head and shouted, "Go ahead! Invite me in so I can rip all your throats out one by one!" I stepped forward, getting ready to run into the house. I wasn't sure what I was about to do, but I needed to do something. I needed to release my anger. "Do it! Invite me in!" I felt Nik grabbed my arm and pull me back and I let out a yelp. "DO IT!" He howled but they all stared at him with wide eyes. I felt two fangs dig into the side of my neck and I let out a cry. He pulled them out viciously and pushed me into the house with one hand.

I fell onto the wooden floor with a harsh thud. I grabbed my neck immediately and whipped my head towards him, "Why would you do this to me? I had no part of this and now you're just going to let me die!" I screamed and I couldn't see anything through my fogged vision.

Bonnie ignored me, "Let him in!"

"Come in," Jeremy muttered and he fell into the house.

"Living room! Now!" Bonnie ordered and Jeremy and Elena ran into the living room and he followed. He tried to run after them, but ran into an invisible wall. He punched it with his fist multiple times and I watched from the distance. He tried to find another way out, but he was boxed in. "Witch, you can't do this to me."

Bonnie stood directly in front of him and she raised her chin, "You have no idea what I can do now."

He snarled, "I will hunt all of you to your end! DO YOU HEAR ME? DO YOU?" He yelled furiously. Bonnie ushered Jeremy and Elena out of the house, leaving me laying on the ground. I pushed myself onto my elbows and turned to look at Klaus. He was pacing the invisible cell.

I heard a pair of footsteps running back in after a few moments. I glanced up to find Jeremy hovering above me and he tried to help me onto my feet, but I pushed him away. "Just don't," I staggered, rising to my feet on my own and placing my hands in front of me to maintain a good distance. "Please, just don't touch me right now." Jeremy watched me intently and I walked over to Kol's lifeless body before sitting next to him. Jeremy huffed out an annoyed breath and a tear rolled down my cheek.

I sniffled as quietly as possible, looking at Kol's face, which was burned. I could barely tell it was him any longer. All his features, so full of light, were brittle and gray. The boy I fell in love with was gone.

I let out a breath and shook my head. I needed to be strong. I rose to my feet and walked over to Klaus. I stood in front of him as he kept punching the air, trying to get free. "Why did you do this to me?"

He snickered, "I'm not answering your pointless questions."

I pulled the collar of my shirt down to show him the already murderous bite. He flicked his eyes away from mine and I laughed manically, "Burn in hell."

I turned away from him and walked towards the door, I heard his voice echo through the house as I exited the building. "It would be my honor!"

Not wanting to go home and face reality, I walked around town aimlessly until I passed a familiar hotel complex. I remembered which room and walked into it, then everything came back. First in flashes, but then it hit like a tidal wave. I could barely breathe. I threw myself onto the bed and closed my eyes. His scent was engraved in the sheets. I pushed myself up and walked over to the bureau and picked up a picture frame. It was one from when we first met.

The first night that I met him, at the Original Founder's Ball. His family was new to town, or so I thought at the time. I wasn't a vampire yet, didn't even know about them at that moment in time. He was just some boy I saw across the room. He walked over to me and introduced himself, "Kol Mikaelson", he pressed his lips lightly to the back of my hand. He asked me for a dance, I agreed willingly. That's when they took the picture, I never knew he kept it.

I held it against my chest tightly and a teardrop landed on the frame, I took a deep breath. I went to place it back down, but instead I threw it as hard as I possibly could against the wall. I sighed loudly, feeling the release of the undying amount of pain. I swung my hand across the bureau and everything that was placed on top of it went flying. "This isn't fair, this isn't what was supposed to happen! Kol, you should still be here, you're not gone."

I placed my hands on the bureau and let out a breath that was barely audible, "You can't be gone."

I walked into my house, I didn't even want to be in here. I wanted to disappear so badly. There were voices coming from the other room. I walked into the crowded living room where Elena, Jeremy, Bonnie, Damon and Stefan were all gathered. "Why would you possibly think that you could trust her?" I heard Elena say from the other room about Rebekah. I made my way into the center of the room, but no one noticed my entrance. I sat down on a single chair and placed my chin in the palm of my hand.

Damon looked over at our brother with a sly grin, "Let me guess. She pledged her allegiance to you while you were naked in the sac?"

Elena looked at Stefan in disbelief. Stefan glanced over at her before shuffling his feet, "I bet you were just dying to get that out, weren't you, Damon?" Stefan questioned as he stalked towards Damon, I watched both of them intently.

Damon stood up straight and tilted his head to the side, "Oh was that supposed to be a secret? Maybe you should have made that a little clearer while you were bleeding me dry in our cellar." He retorted focusing his attention on me and I turned my face away quickly.

Stefan took another step forward, so they were eye level. "Yeah, to keep you from killing Jeremy." Elena interceded, pushing Damon away from Stefan slightly, "Stop it, both of you!" She looked back and forth between the two of them.

Stefan rolled his eyes at Elena, "You know. Why don't you tell her to calm down, Damon? You've managed to use that sire bound pretty well so far, haven't you?" Damon's lips turned into a snarl before he punched Stefan hard in the face. Stefan toppled onto the ground, but pushed himself back up and they were both glaring at each other.

Jeremy started to scream behind them and rip off his shirt revealing the tattoo marking his skin, "It's happening." He whispered as the marking painted over his skin in a swift movement.

Elena looked over at her little brother and widened her eyes, "Oh my God."

"You can see it?" He asked, looking around the room. Everyone nodded their heads as we watched it grow, I let out an annoyed sigh and turned away. "Here we go," Damon chimed and we all looked at him.

Stefan turned to Bonnie, "Call Shane. Ask him what we should do," He barked orders in her direction and she nodded and pulled out her phone and dialed his number.

Damon made his way closer to me and slammed his hand on my shoulder. I jerked away, "Kass. You come with me and," Damon explained, but I cut him off.

"No," He looked down and gave me a quizzical look, "I'm not going. First off, I'm dying," I pulled down the collar of my shirt to reveal the werewolf bite, "Klaus bit me." His eyes grew wide and leaned down to touch it. "I guess Elena wasn't going to tell you your sister was dying, since she was there to see it."

He brushed his fingers against the wound and I winced away from his touch, "I'll get Klaus to cure you. We'll get his blood, whatever it takes to save you." I shook my head and stood up from the armchair and walked into the center of the room. I wrapped my arms around my body and Damon trailed behind me. "You don't want to be saved, do you?"

I whipped around to face him, "What I want is to give Kol a proper burial," I barked in his face with a lot of power behind my voice. "Since you all decided to go about and murder him," I snapped a little sharper than intended.

"Forget Kol," Jeremy whined and my heart felt like it stopped beating.

I looked over at him with tears filling my eyes, "How do you expect me to forget him?" I spoke in a soft whisper, "I didn't even get to say goodbye." I took a deep breath and my body started to shake uncontrollably, "I still love him and the last thing I said to him was that I never wanted to see him again," I shook my head furiously and let out a shaky breath. "A-and now he's really gone. I won't see him ever again. All because you are so obsessed with finding this damn cure! You would sacrifice anything to fix 'poor Elena'. None of you care about who else is getting hurt."

Stefan stepped into the conversation and raised his voice, "He compelled Damon to kill Jeremy!" I rolled my eyes at him trying to defend Elena's actions, which is all too typical for him. Even after everything she's done to him.

"Yes, but me and Klaus had him under control, did we not?" I directed my attention towards Damon.

Damon tilted his head to the side, "You were also feeding me vervein water." He pointed out and Stefan's eyebrows furrowed. Elena took a step forward and I jerked my head back to look at her, "He was trying to rip off Jeremy's arms." Elena stated and I rolled my eyes.

I appeared in front of her instantly and growled into her face. The veins around my eyes turned black, "Why don't I rip off your arms?"

She pushed me back and I brought my fangs out, I lunged towards her. Damon interfered and threw my across the room, "Kassandra, stop it!" Damon yelled.

Stefan grabbed my shoulder but I pulled away and stumbled forward, "Why should I? This is all her fault, she set up a trap. Kol wouldn't have been allowed into the house unless-" I raised my eyebrows and let out a light laugh. I turned around to look over at Jeremy, "Unless you invited him in. You purposely invited him in so you could kill him! He was on our side. He didn't want any of us getting killed, but who got killed in the long run? Kol, because he was protecting me! You know what," I shook my head and took a short step to him, "I felt guilty about kissing him. But I'm not so sure of the guilt anymore. Sure, I did it to get back at him but there was part of me that didn't want to stop. Maybe I shouldn't have, I hear Original sex is hot." I turned to look over at Stefan, "Am I correct, Stefan?" His face grew serious and I smirked.

He shook his head, "Kassie, shut up."

"Oh why?" I pouted slightly then glanced over at Elena and lowered my voice. "Is it because poor, innocent Elena is here? You don't want her to know you slept with Rebekah and actually enjoyed yourself? Well that's too late. Come on, Stefan, live a little." I smacked his arm with my palm and he huffed out a deep breath through his nose.

Jeremy spoke next, "You cheated on me?"

I turned to face him, "Yeah, last night before I got in that fight with Kol. I couldn't deny my feelings any longer," I said pulling at the sleeve of my leather jacket and glanced away from him.

He glanced around the room and everyone was silent. He motioned his head towards the door, "Can we talk about this privately? I'd rather not have everyone hear our conversation."

I nodded and he grabbed my hand and pulled me outside, I crossed my arms and leaned against the pillar and watched him pace back and forth. I licked my lips and cleared my throat, "What do you wanna talk about?"

"You cheated on me," He said lowly, as if he didn't believe it.

I swallowed hard, "I didn't mean for you to find out like this, but what do you expect, you just killed Kol. Why didn't you fill me in? I thought we told each other everything, Jer."

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, everything. Just like you told me about your entire past with the Originals. Right?" I placed my hands on my hips and sent a glare. "He was going to rip off my arms," He had the audacity to actually try and defend himself and I laughed in his face.

"You invited him in!" I yelled and I heard everyone inside stop talking so I knew they were listening. "All he wanted to do was keep me safe, keep his family safe. Silas is going to kill us all if we raise him, I'm sorry I'm not sacrificing my life, but by all means you can."

He took a deep breath, "I'm not sacrificing my life, Kassandra." I flinched when he used my full name, I raised an eyebrow. "I'm not dying getting the cure," Jeremy added and I rolled my eyes and looked down at the ground.

I went to walk away from him but turned around. "Whatever. I'm not going because I'm literally dying from backlash from the stunt you pulled. Kol wouldn't have let this happen," I snapped and he grabbed my arm.

His jaw clenched tight, "Then why don't you just sleep with Kol?"

I yanked my arm away forcefully and raised my chin so we were only inches apart, "I would but you took away any chances of that!" I screamed even louder than before and he flinched away. He threw his head back before refocusing his eyes back on mine.

"Well if you didn't want to be with me any longer," He shoved his hands into his pockets. My mouth dropped slightly, but he continued what he was saying. "You could have just broke up with me, you know."

I exhaled, "Jeremy, this is not what it's about at all. I still love you, but I still love Kol too and the last memory I will have of him is," I shook my head. "Him punching the wall about two inches," I exaggerated the measurement as I pointed to the top of my head, "Away from my head and telling him I never want to see him again." I chuckled darkly to myself, "Well if you see him around could you tell him I take that back?" I choked back a sob and I wiped my eye quickly not revealing the tear that spilled down my cheek but I knew he saw it.

"Kassie, I'm sorry," He apologized sincerely and that caused me to cry even harder than I already was.

He grabbed my arm and I pulled away quickly and stepped backwards, "Jeremy. Listen to me closely, just don't touch me right now. I can't have anyone touching me." I stepped away, "I need to be alone. I'm going to go," I turned away quickly and ran out of my driveway as fast as I could and down the street.

I ran into the Grill and walked up to the bar, "Hello, how can I help you?"

I looked around the room, but couldn't find who I was looking for. "Is, uh, Matt working?" I saw him walk out from the kitchen a few seconds later, "Never mind I found him."

He walked out throwing his apron over his shoulder and looking at me confused, "What's wrong?"

"If I say everything will you ask for an explanation?" I asked trying to smirk but failed miserably, "Kol is gone."

We walked out of the Grill together, "Oh, well that's good." I shook my head slowly and he looked down to find me biting my lip trying not to start crying again. "Wait, what do you mean gone?"

"I mean dead," I closed my eyes quickly and he hugged me and I fell into him. "Jeremy and Elena killed him and I didn't even get to say goodbye. We have this past no one understands, that I only shared with him. I can't explain it."

He placed his hand under my chin and stared into my blue eyes with his own, "Start from the beginning. I'm all ears," He tried to give a reassuring smile.