A/N: Here's the first official chapter of The Outlaws. I hope you all enjoy it! It may just be Damon and Katherine at the moment, but I plan on having all the Vampire Diaries characters playing a part in this story eventually.
Summary: Wild West AU. All human. Katherine Pierce is one of the more ill-famed outlaws around the town of Mystic. Damon Salvatore is a free roaming ranger that is only passing through town. After a rather short poker game, Damon finds himself roaming the desert with Katherine, who is looking for someone. A notorious outlaw by the name of Klaus. Adventure, romance, and action ensues.
The Outlaws.
1.
"A pair of kings." Damon said, placing the cards down. This was the final stretch, the hand that wins or loses it all. He watched Katherine's face for anything that would tell him that if he'd won the hand. She was known for stealing a few things and money while on the run, and Damon wanted that money. It would make him a very happy man for a few months at least. Or maybe more, depending on how much she had. That's why his blue eyes were studying her face, her eyes. He wanted to see a sparkle in her brown eyes, or a bit of disappointment. He wanted to see the slight uplift of her lips to tell if she's won, or the frown to tell him that he's the winner.
Anything.
But, Katherine's face stayed in that infuriating poker face that she's had all game, the line that was her lips, not yet a smile or a frown, was driving Damon insane trying to read. She placed her cards down, finally. Her mouth lifted up into that sly smirk that Damon was becoming more and more accustomed to.
"Straight." she said, Damon staring at her cards to make sure that she hadn't made a mistake or read the cards wrong. She was right. A nice, solid, straight. He watched as Katherine stood, smirking down at him.
"Well," she said, "I'm out of here in the next hour or so. Gather your stuff and we'll head out."
"Now, wait. Who says I'm going anywhere with you?" Damon demanded, standing. Katherine chuckled, fixing her vest slightly.
"I just won you in a poker game, sweetheart. You'll do whatever I say if you know what is best for you." she said, then turned and walked out of the saloon, leaving a pissed off Damon standing by the table.
Damon managed to get his canteen filled and bought some food. He looped his canteen around his waist and put the food in a bag that was tied down to his saddle. He climbed up onto his brown mare and rode his way to the edge of town where Katherine was waiting on her horse, looking like she was ready to take off at any given second.
"Took you long enough." she snapped once Damon got near enough for hearing distance. "I'm not exactly welcome in this town, and the longer I stay, the more chance of people recognizing me."
"Yeah, well, you just dumped this whole thing onto my head, so it would be nice if I had a little more than an hour to gather myself." Damon snapped back at her, Katherine only rolling her eyes as she turned her horse slightly.
"You ready?" she asked, glancing back at him. "We'll head north until sun down, then take camp for the night."
"Yeah, sounds good." Damon said, watching as Katherine dug her heel into the flank of her horse, Damon doing the same to his mare before the two started to trot out of town limits.
"So, what exactly do you need me for?" Damon asked after a few minutes of riding, Katherine keeping her eyes ahead of her as she answered him.
"I heard that you knew how to handle a gun, some might even call you the best." she said, "that true?"
"I like to think it to be true." Damon said with a smirk of his own, he could hear Katherine chuckle up ahead of him.
"Good. Because you are going to help me kill a man." Katherine said, "and there will be a lot of shooting involved. I thought that it would be nice to have an extra pair of eyes watching my ass." Katherine said, giving him a sort of cheeky smile.
Damon only rolled his eyes in response to that. "So, Miss Pierce, you mind telling me what I'm going to be putting a bullet in a man's head for? I don't like to go around shooting people for no good reason."
"He took my sister." Katherine called back, "right out of our home a few years ago. I've been tracking the bastard ever since. When I think I'm getting close, he does something completely out of the blue and I lose him again. But, I have him this time, and I'm not going to let him get away. Not this time."
"Who is this man?" Damon asked, kicking his mare on the flanks again to try and catch up with Katherine.
"Name's Klaus." she said, "you might have heard of him."
"Might have heard of him?" Damon asked, his voice going from calm to incredulous. "Every town from Mystic to Deadwood has heard of Klaus."
"Good!" Katherine chuckled, "It should make it easier to kill him then, huh?"
"Not really." Damon muttered, shaking his head. "It'll be a miracle if he doesn't kill us first, we'll be lucky if he doesn't tie one of us to the back of his horse and drags us across the desert."
"You make it sound so difficult." Katherine said, "you get the right aim and the right distance, you can have his head shot before he even knows you're coming."
"Who says I'm the one shooting him?" Damon demanded, "I don't remember this being part of our terms if you won the poker game."
"Our terms were that if I won, I got you." Katherine said, "which means that I can make you do anything I want."
"Right. Well, what if I turn around right here and head back to Mystic? No damn winner's agreement is going to make me bound to you."
"No, but my gun to your head might." Katherine said, kicking her horse to make him move faster before crossing Damon's path, making him pull back on the rains of his mare. Katherine's pistol was out of her vest and was pointed at his head.
"You turn around." she said, smiling. "Try it. There'll be a bullet in your skull before your horse even completes the turn."
Damon looked at the barrel of her gun, the metal shining in the sun. He glanced up into Katherine's face and raised his hands.
"Alright, fine." he said, "I'll play along with your little trip here, no need to scatter my brains out on the sand."
"Great." Katherine said with a satisfied smile, tucking her gun into her vest again. She pulled on the rains of her horse, digging her heels into the flank as her horse continued to trot in the direction they were going. "Enough talking! I want to make it to the canyon by night fall, so dig your heels in and ride."
Damon sighed, digging his heels into his mare's flanks a few times until she reached a full gallop, both Katherine and him heading towards the canyon in the hot sun, leaving a trail of dust behind them.
Nightfall came quickly, Katherine pulling over to the side of a few bushes once she decided that it was too dark to keep going. She guided her horse over to the bushes, quickly dismounting and tying her horse to the bush, her horse moving to go eat the vegetation eagerly. Katherine patted her horse's flank a few times, glancing back to see Damon tying his horse down also.
"We'll rest here for the night." she said, pulling a pack off of her horse and tossed it onto the ground. "As soon as sun rise, we'll hit the trails again."
"How long will this trek of yours take?" Damon asked, raising his arms above his head to stretch the muscles in his back. Katherine bent down and emptied the contents of her bag out onto the ground. She had a blanket, a few pieces of drift wood and a can of beans.
"A few days." Katherine said, answering Damon's question.
"A few days in your terms is?" Damon pressed, placing his bag down on the ground.
"A few weeks." Katherine said with a shrug. She glanced up to see Damon's annoyed expression on his face. "Oh, relax will you? There will be towns that we will stay in along the way, just as long as I'm not greeted with guns when I enter."
"Oh, right." Damon muttered, "you're a wanted woman."
"Well, you will soon be wanted man, Damon." Katherine said, "one of the perks of working with me."
"Wonderful." Damon said, pulling out his blanket and spread it down on the ground. He sat down on it with a groan, feeling good to be sitting on solid ground and not his hard saddle.
Katherine set to work on making the fire between the two of them. She soon had a decent sized one so that the both of them weren't freezing.
"You hungry?" she asked, Damon glancing up as she tossed a can of beans at him. Damon caught it, turning it over in his hands.
"Beans?"
"I'm sorry. I should have packed some pork in there, too." she said, her tone biting. "Suck it up."
Damon peeled back the lid that was already open, half of the can gone. He pulled a face, lifting it up to smell it. "How long ago was this opened?"
"A few minutes ago." Katherine said, "A woman's got to eat."
Damon shrugged, eating the beans contently to himself. He didn't realize how hungry he was until the can was empty, he placed it down on the ground beside him as she fell back onto his blanket to look at the stars above them. Katherine turned to look at him, raising her eyebrows slightly.
He was attractive, she's give him that. But, it wasn't enough to make her want to mess around with the only ally she had at the moment. She sighed, curling up on her side and listened to the howls and bays of a few coyotes as she drifted off into a light sleep.
Damon was just waking slightly, he could have easily drifted back into a deep sleep again when he felt a sharp pain in his side of his ribs. Something hitting him against the side, making his eyes pop open and yell out in pain. He looked over to see Katherine standing over him, hands on her hips. The sky above her was still dark, but the sun was rising over on the horizon, causing the sky to look pink just above it.
"Why did you kick me?" Damon asked, pressing a hand to his side as Katherine smiled down at him.
"Get up. We have a long day ahead of us." she said, "Gather your blanket, can, and get on your horse."
Damon sighed, pulling himself up and off the ground. It had been a long time since he had slept outside and on the ground. He had forgotten what it had felt like. The dull pain in the centre of his back reminded him why he didn't sleep on the ground often.
Damon picked up his can, looking at it for a few seconds before putting it in his bag. He picked up his blanket and draped it over the back of his horse before untying the mare and got on her.
Katherine looked at him with an eyebrow raised, Damon raising his own in return.
"Are you always this slow in the mornings?" she asked, "we don't have time for you to chew fat, the more time we waste, the farther Klaus gets."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Damon muttered to himself as Katherine set out on the trail again. Damon sighed, digging his heel into the flank of his mare and took off after her. Then sun was just rising and Damon was already tired of Katherine.
It was going to be a long day indeed.
