Author's Note: Aw, I got nice reviews. :) I kind of didn't expect that. Thank you. I had fun writing this chapter, but I don't know if Katherine seems very... Katherine-ish... It's hard to get it right with this story because I have to make her mean but a little tiny bit nice at the same time, haha. (:

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nuffin. Nada. Zip. Zero. I take no credit.

Katherine's Point of View

I walked into the Boardinghouse, Klaus's blood in hand. It was easier than I had expected; all I did was stroll through the front door, which wasn't even locked.

Silly boys didn't seem to understand basic safety precautions.

Oh well. It wasn't like I was there to hurt them, anyways. Just the opposite—I was bringing the cure for Damon. He probably thought I wouldn't bring it, because of the wait I'd put him through. I made sure I didn't wait long enough for him to die, just to draw out the illness a little longer.

If you think about it, it was kind of a nice thing to do. Elena was dead and he was mourning. The sickness would distract him from his grief, or something. Right.

He was lucky I was bringing it at all.

After I gave him the blood, I was leaving town. Klaus would come back for me; I was almost positive. He let me go because he liked games even more than I did.

I was about to head up the stairs, but I heard voices in the living room. Curious, I followed the sound. It was chanting... I assumed it was that witch doing some type of spell.

I was right (of course). The witch was holding a wand and pointing at Caroline, who was sitting on the floor.

I decided to interrupt. "Well, what is going on here?" I asked in amusement.

Bonnie spun around quickly and then froze. The wand was pointed straight at me and I started to make fun of it, but suddenly I was in agony.

I screamed and fell onto the floor. It felt like I was being ripped open from the inside out, like everything inside of me was being rearranged. It hurt.

I vaguely recognized voices talking above me, but my they sounded far away and fuzzy. I couldn't understand them. A hand grabbed the vial of blood from my hand and I didn't try to stop them. The pain was becoming completely unbearable. I thought, for a moment, that I was dying.

Just when everything started going black, the pain stopped. There was total silence. I realized I was laying on a hard floor and tried to sit up, but then I felt pain again.

It wasn't the torturous pain from before; it was just a throbbing in my chest. It was hardly even painful compared to earlier, really, but it definitely wasn't comfortable. I grabbed my throat, wondering what the hell was going on.

Something hit me on the back and a voice that sounded like Stefan's commanded for me to breathe. Breathing was for humans, though. It was pointless for a vampire—we were dead enough to not need air. But the pain in my chest was getting worse so I took the advice. I tried to remember how to do it...

I inhaled and the pain stopped. But if breathing was necessary...then did that mean I was a human? I hated being so unsure of myself—wondering my species. It was ridiculous. I was a vampire, for God's sake, not some pesty human.

I looked around the room. Everything looked so fuzzy. Oh God. My senses were way too dull. I couldn't remember ever being this unclear except for when I was still human. Human...

Breathing...dull senses...Oh.

I was a human. But how? The witch...? She pointed at me, and then pain, and then humanity. But that wasn't really important at the moment.

What mattered was now what? I was vulnerable. Easily injured. Fragile. I'd die eventually. Fear enveloped me at that thought. Death. I'd avoided it for so long, and it was finally going to happen. Just another eighty years at most... Humans had such short life spans.

Then I realized that I was afraid. I hadn't been afraid in centuries... Damn humanity. It was such a terrible weakness. An annoying weakness.

The fear ebbed away and was replaced with anger. I glared at the witch.

"You!" I accused. "You turned me into a human!"

"You startled me," she defended. "I turned around and accidentally turned you back into a human, yes. But don't act like it's my fault, Katherine. This is all on you."

What a little bitch. Like it was my fault that she didn't know how to contain her power? I was doing them a favor and just look what I got in return.

This is why I didn't do nice things. Being helpful, or kind or whatever, just ended with me getting myself screwed over. It didn't do any good for me—and I was my top priority. Call me selfish; but at least I was alive.

I'd been perfectly fine. Klaus was out of my hair for a while, even. Then I'd done something to help Damon, and was suddenly a level down on the food chain.

Damn it.

Think of the devil, Damon and... Elena... came down the stairs right then. She was supposed to be dead... Figured that they'd figure out some way to avoid the precious Elena's death.

"Why is no one holding her down?" Elena asked.

Stefan and Bonnie explained the situation. The witch was turning Caroline human, and apparently she pointed at the wrong vampire.

"I, for one, am extremely upset about this," I said, bringing the attention back to me. "I'm human. Which means vulnerable. Which is not good."

I didn't exactly expect pity or sympathy; I was just complaining. So I didn't get mad when Damon said some rude remark. I just ignored him.

I figured it couldn't hurt to ask for one of the vampires in the room to turn me, so I did, even though I was pretty sure they'd say no. "It's a chance to kill me," I tempted after my question.

"We could just kill you normally, you know," Damon sneered. "Since you're so vulnerable."

The fear came back. Damon really did seem serious, and he was scary when he was angry—I knew he had the ability to hurt me while I was disadvantaged like that.

I put on a brave face, and challenged, "You wouldn't."

He gave me a mean look, but thankfully didn't try anything. If he did, I'd bring up how he'd be dead without me—that would hopefully work. Even Damon wouldn't kill the person who saved his life—usually.

Then Stefan spoke up, and decided it was time for me to leave.

I was shocked. "You're kicking me out? When I'm like this?" I squeaked.

"Did you expect to stay?" Elena asked sarcastically.

I almost said that that was no was to talk to your ancestor, but decided against it—I would need to find a way to actually stay, without being bitchy to anyone. It was the safest place to be in the Boardinghouse and I intended on staying safe until I could protect myself again.

I decided a guilt trip would probably work. I did just involuntarily give up eternal life for Damon, after all. So I tried.

Caroline defended me, which was a surprise. She had every reason to hate me. And even more shocking, Elena agreed. Sometimes I thought she was too nice for her own good.

I'm pretty sure Damon and the witch didn't want me here, but Stefan let me stay.

I was content. For at least a little while, I'd be protected, somewhat.

"Thank you," I said. I really was grateful.

"You're...welcome," Stefan said, unsure.

I realized that was probably a very un-Katherine-ish thing to say, and grimaced. "Damn emotions," I mumbled to myself.

Caroline snickered. I glared at her and she stopped immediately. Old habits die hard, I guess. She had a deep-rooted fear of me.

"Is she really staying here? She could stake you all in your sleep," Bonnie said suddenly.

I pursed my lips, annoyed. "If I wanted them dead, I'd have killed them long, long ago. I obviously don't."

"You could have changed your mind. Now that you're human; you're probably pretty angry."

"If there's anyone in this room I want dead, it's you, witch. Not Stefan and Damon. Or even Elena for that matter."

"Too bad you can't kill me, huh?" Bonnie mocked.

I shrugged. I didn't really want her dead, anyways. A good slap in the face would suffice.

"Shouldn't you like me now? You know, now that I'm not on your 'disgusting supernatural species' list?" I said with a mean smile.

"Well this could lead to a very interesting fight and all but I'm pretty sure Bonnie would kick your ass right now, Katherine. No offense," Caroline cut in before things got carried away.

I snorted. "I'm at a temporary disadvantage," I defended.

"Temporary? We're not letting you get yourself turned again, Katherine," Stefan said.

I turned towards him. "Well, Stefan, that's none of your business. I'm not going to grow old and die, and possibly be caught and tortured by Klaus, because you forbid me from becoming a vampire."

"I will forcibly keep you from it if I need to," he growled. "You cause far too much trouble when you can."

"'Far too much trouble'? What, you mean for not bowing down at Elena's feet? Well forgive me for having a sense of goddamn self-preservation! Maybe you should get some too!" I exploded.

I was sick and tired of having Elena put first. Stefan was willing to die for her, and so was pretty much everyone else. What was so special about her? She was friendly—that's pretty much all I could see about her. Wow. Interesting.

"I love her; she comes first."

I laughed. "Please. You love her because she looks like me. Admit it; she's just a replacement because your sad little heart was broken and you needed something to fix it."

That was mean. I actually regretted saying it. I almost apologized, but caught myself before the words came out. Damn feelings were starting to weigh me down already.

"Katherine, that's enough. You're officially a guest at this house and you're being extremely rude," Elena said...or more like scolded.

I raised my eyebrows in amusement. "Oh, you're right, of course. Sorry, mommy."

She scowled.

I sighed and decided to play nice—or not so much play as actually want to, for some reason. "I apologize. Whatever the hell your reasons for loving her are none of my business. I know I'm right but if it makes you feel any better about your delusion of love than I'll keep my extremely strong opinion to myself," I said. That was the best they'd get out of me.

Everyone seemed shocked at my apology. Well, damn, was I really that awful?

I smirked to myself. Of course I was.

"As pathetic as that apology was, it's accepted," Stefan said. Hurray.

Cue the awkward silence.

"Well, I'm going to go now," Bonnie announced.

Caroline said she was leaving too and Damon seemed to have already sneaked out without anyone knowing.

"So where am I sleeping?" I asked when only Stefan and Elena remained. Apparently she was staying the night. Something about Jenna being dead.

Stefan said to just pick one of the many guestrooms. I shrugged and left them to whatever they were planning—probably something naughty, naughty for Miss Good Girl Elena. The thought made me cringe... who wouldn't? My lookalike relative and my ex having sex was not a nice mental picture.

I found a nice room but then realized I had no pajamas...or anything. I'd just go shopping tomorrow; I didn't feel like going to get my old stuff. Besides, shopping was fun.

I slept in my clothes, which was a little uncomfortable, but better than nothing.

I woke up in the middle of the night with my stomach growling.

Stomach. Growling.

And that meant I'd have to eat food. The thought disgusted me.

But blood wouldn't sustain me and the hollow feeling in my stomach was starting to make me feel sick, so I decided to go search the Salvatore kitchen for something that looked even a little bit appetizing.

They probably didn't have much food, but they had humans over often so I figured they had at least a little bit.

Once downstairs, I trudged to the kitchen, still half asleep. I searched the cupboards, and found a bunch of canned things and cereal.

In the kitchen I found an apple and decided to eat that. It was healthy and not nauseating to smell.

I grabbed the apple and turned around.

And gasped.

Damon was standing right behind me, smirking.

I put my hand on my heart. "What the hell, Damon?"

"Stealing our food?" he inquired.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm hungry and no longer having a craving for blood. So I'm making myself at home." I fake-smiled.

"At home? Kat, darling, you won't be staying long."

I narrowed my eyes. "Until I'm a vampire, I'll be around. As soon as I'm undead again, I'll be out of sight but probably not out of mind."

"Or until I kill you," he threatened.

I fake laughed and stepped around him, and sat down on a chair. "You wouldn't kill me." I learned that earlier that day. Damon was all bark. "If you do, Klaus will probably be pre-tty pissed," I said, singing the word "pretty." "And then he'll come back here and find Elena alive, and then kill her to spite you. He'll probably kill you and Stefan too. And possibly the rest of the town," I added.

"You expect me to believe Klaus likes you enough to avenge your death?"

That made me laugh for real. "Oh, God no. I mean that if anyone gets to kill me, he wants it to be him."

He made an agreeing expression.

"Where'd you sneak off to earlier?" I asked.

"Out."

"I see."

It was quiet for a moment, the only sounds of me chewing my apple. I looked towards him but he wasn't there.

I frowned and cursed my crappy human hearing.

As soon as I was done with the apple, I threw the core away and headed back to bed. As I passed Stefan's room, I luckily didn't hear any noises. Either they were asleep after their little fun time or they didn't have any. I was hoping for the latter.

I slipped back under the covers of my bed and was asleep in seconds.

The next morning, I woke up earlier than everyone else. The clock said it was seven thirty. When I went downstairs I sat on the couch and watched television. After about an hour, Elena came down the stairs. She looked surprised to see me.

"Hi," she greeted and went into the kitchen.

I cocked an eyebrow. "Hey."

"Uh, how did you sleep...?" Elena asked.

I shrugged. "Fine."

I could have been polite and asked about her own sleep, but I wasn't in the mood to play nice, so I didn't.

She nodded her head. "Did you eat my apple?"

"Yep."

"Did it taste good?" she asked, walking towards me. She plopped next to me on the couch.

I gave her a weird look. "Sure."

"Oh."

"Any particular reason you're being polite?"

She shook her head.

I took pity on her (read: got annoyed with her). Twisting my body to face Elena, I said, "Don't pretend, then. There's no reason to be fake. Trust me, you're not the only one who hates me, anyways."

She raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips. "Alright then?"

Stefan showed up then; quite suddenly, he was in front of us. "Everything okay?"

I smiled sarcastically. "Of course, darling. Everything is peachy. Amazing. Fantastic. My life could not get any better right now, actually. Seriously. I've suddenly been struck with the beauty of the world."

Elena and Stefan both just stared at me for a minute, as if I was insane.

I ignored their looks, stood up, and announced, "I'm going shopping."

"How do we know you're not headed off to find a vampire and get yourself turned?" Stefan asked suspiciously.

I didn't answer him, just asked, "Can I borrow your car?"

"Maybe we should take her," Elena suggested to Stefan, ignoring me in return. "To the store. Or just I could go with her."

I noticed how she didn't offer for just him to come. Maybe she didn't trust him as much as it seemed. Or maybe she didn't trust me. Probably me...

"I don't want you alone with her, she could hurt you," said Stefan. "We can all go."

"Oh, a shopping spree with the two people I just love spending time with most!" I squealed with mock enthusiasm. "Are you seriously putting me on suicide watch? I can't be trusted to just go buy some clothes without—"

And then right there, in the middle of my rant, everything just went black. I fainted.

It happened so quick. I always thought that when humans passed out, they were dizzy and stumbling for a while, and then theactual fainting occurred. But it wasn't like that. It was unexpected and sudden and fast.

I didn't even feel when I hit the floor.