-I do not own anything to do with The Vampire Diaries.-
CHAPTER ONE- Katherine
Damon wandered through Mystic Falls in a daze. He'd taken a risk with Elena, but it was all worth it. She'd kissed him back. He could still feel her lips against his; feel her hands against him. . . He was going to have a lot of fun teasing Stefan later.
He played the scene over again in his head, starting from the beginning this time instead of just jumping to the kiss itself. The way she'd looked at him—it made him tingle. He moved his eyes over the Elena in his memory, looking at her neck-
Damon froze. Elena wasn't wearing her necklace. He hadn't used his compulsion, but she had kissed him back. It had been a familiar kiss, but. . .
"Dammit!"
Without wasting another second, Damon whirled around and sped off to Elena's, pushing himself to run faster and faster. He was disgusted with himself; how many times had he counted the differences between Elena and Katherine? How many times had he told her that she was nothing like that bitch? And yet, when it came down to it, he didn't know who was who. Or, perhaps . . . perhaps he had just ignored it. 145 years spent looking for Katherine, but he found Elena instead. After he'd opened the tomb, he never thought he'd see Katherine again, and he was okay with that.
Damon was at the Gilbert house now, throwing the front door open. He saw her whirl on the spot, staring at him with wide, confused eyes, and when he saw the necklace hanging around her delicate neck, he was at her side in an instant. He put his finger to her lips before she could open them, which caused her brow to furrow. It was then that he was overwhelmed by the smell coming from the kitchen. He turned, keeping his back to her, as his face vamped out. The only thing that kept him from going in and gorging himself on the blood- no matter who's- was that he had to protect Elena.
"Damon," Elena whispered from behind him, "what's—"
She stopped when a figure appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, wiping her bloody hands on a dish towel.
"I wondered when you would realize it was me. Honestly, Damon, I thought you'd know better."
Katherine stood smiling at them, her demeanor innocent, though no one was even remotely fooled. Damon shifted himself more in front of Elena, but that only caused Katherine's eyes to flicker over. She looked Elena up once, and then down. She dropped the towel at her feet, smiling again.
"Elena, how nice to finally meet you. Isobel was right; you do look like me."
"Don't talk to her," Damon growled.
Katherine made a tasking sound as she looked back at Damon.
"Now, Damon, don't deny me my fun! I've wanted to meet Elena here for quite a while, and you know I always get what I want."
"Why did you want to meet me?" Elena asked before she could stop herself.
"Because you look so like me, Elena dear. And. . . you have captivated my Salvatores."
"They aren't yours, Katherine," Elena snapped. "You left them."
Katherine's face vamped out within seconds.
"Shut up," she demanded. "You haven't taught her manners, love." She looked back to Damon, who hadn't moved an inch since Katherine walked out of the kitchen. "She shouldn't talk to me that way, if she knows what's good for her."
"She can talk to you however she wants," Damon said, shrugging. "She's right, anyway, Katherine. Stefan and I aren't yours; we never were."
"Oh, yes you were. We had such fun back then, you know it's true."
"You used compulsion on them!"
"Ignore her, Elena," Damon said, turning his head only slightly, but not letting his eyes leave Katherine. "Nothing we say will convince her otherwise."
The veins in Katherine's face receded.
"But what of actions, Damon? Don't you think you could convince me that you no longer care for me by what you do?" She paused, smiling wickedly again. "Who you do it with?"
Elena frowned, her eyes flickering up to Damon's face.
"If that's the case, you should know that I've slept with plenty of women after you."
"What of kisses?" Katherine asked, jumping up to sit on the cabinet. She crossed her legs delicately. "Do you think that who you kiss would sway me?"
Damon tensed.
"If that's what it takes," he said stiffly.
Katherine laughed, a high, girly laugh. It made Elena's skin crawl. Katherine looked so much like her, but that laugh made her someone entirely different.
"This is fun! Watching you squirm. . . Do you know, Elena, how he knew I was here?" Neither of them responded, and so Katherine continued. "I posed as you. I knew your dear father was here and he and I had some unfinished business. I figured I could trick your little auntie to invite me in."
Elena's eyes grew wide, falling to the kitchen.
"Oh, yes. That's John's mess. You know, he didn't scream as much as I'd hoped." She paused thoughtfully, lost in her twisted imagination, but then went on. "So I found Damon dearest here on your porch, and he thought I was you. It was infuriating to hear how much he trusts you, human." Katherine's face vamped out again as she glared at Elena. "You stole him from me, you and your look-alike looks! So I decided to torture his feelings for you."
A growl slipped from Damon's throat, but Katherine ignored it.
"And he kissed me, still thinking I was you, and I kissed him back."
Katherine knew her damage was done with those words as Elena stared up at Damon in shock. A wave of sickening doubt filled her.
"If I'd known it was you, I'd have ripped your throat out!" Damon seethed.
Even Katherine knew he was serious.
"Why aren't you trying now?" she pressed, raising a delicate eyebrow. "Ohm, you're afraid that if you step away from your little human pet there, that I'll kill her, aren't you?" Katherine laughed again. "Oh, Damon. She's inconsequential. She may have my looks. . . and you, but Stefan is still mine."
A gasp slipped from Elena's lips and Damon hissed at her doppelganger.
"I saw him just over a year ago, did you know? I convinced him not to say a word to you. He still loves me, it's pitiful! You, Elena, were never anything but a replacement to him."
Tears sprung up in Elena's eyes before she could stop them.
"You're lying."
"No, not about Stefan being mine and not yours. Once you're gone, he'll fall right back into my arms where he belongs."
"Stay the hell away from her, you bitch," Damon fumed.
Katherine task's again.
"Such language, Damon! I'm not going to kill her. I already told you, she's unimportant." Katherine hopped down from the cabinet. "But she does need to disappear, and that is where you come in."
"If you think I'm going to kill Elena, you're crazier than I thought."
Katherine sighed.
"No, Damon, neither of us are going to kill her. Well. . . not yet, anyway."
"Then what the hell are you getting at?"
Katherine took a step towards them, causing Damon to move Elena back.
"You're going to disappear with her."
-Please R & R!-
