Stefan watches as the servants move Elena Pierce's trunks out of the house and into the Gilbert family carriage. Johnathan supervises as Elena thanks his father for his night of hospitality.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather stay with your sister?" he asks, a little baffled by the sudden change.
Elena pauses just the right amount of time, eyes lowered and face carefully sad. "I think my sister would prefer a little space, at the moment," she murmurs. She glances up through her eyelashes, watching his reaction. He looks appropriately uncomfortable with this level of emotion. Good, he won't raise that question again. And if she's judged him right, the rest of the town will know the sisters are on the outs before too long.
Not that they didn't already. After all, Katherine utterly failed to mention she existed until she showed up. The townspeople have got to know what that means.
"I'll just go help John with the horses, then," Giuseppe says uncomfortably. He pats her arm awkwardly, and strides away.
"You and Katherine don't get along?" Stefan asks. Elena turns to him. She had almost forgotten he was there.
"Not quite," she says.
"Why?" he asks, taking a step towards her. She ignores him, turning her face upward to feel the sun.
"It's such a nice day," she sighs happily. "This will take some time. Would you like to take a walk with me in the meantime?" He examines her face carefully. "Careful, Mister Salvatore," she begins to walk away, "if you keep that up, you'll get wrinkles."
He quickly catches up to her, offering her his arm. She considers it for a moment, before taking it.
"Why were you in England?" he asks, hoping to shift the conversation to safer topics.
"I've been there for years," she says, eyes sweeping over the garden. "If you're asking for the official version, I was there visiting a friend when the fire swept through Atlanta."
"And the unofficial version?"
She smiles. "I've been there for years," she repeats.
"Ah."
"I see you play croquet?" she asks, gesturing to the game still set up on the back lawn.
"Yes, although not very well," he admits. "Katherine is very good at it."
"Oh, yes," she laughs, "I'm sure she never loses." She glances up at him conspiratorially. "My sister hates to lose."
"So does my brother," he says, smiling.
"Well, who really likes to lose?" Said brother pops up from nowhere. Stefan whirls around, to see Damon leaning over the low garden wall. Elena turns much more slowly, clearly unsurprised to see him. Stefan realizes she must have heard him coming.
"Do you make a habit of sneaking up on women in the garden, Mister Salvatore?" she asks, thoroughly unimpressed.
Shock flits over his face for a second. "Elena?"
She smiles, turning back to look at the garden. "You thought I was Katherine." She shakes her head slowly. "Shall I teach you the signs?"
"Excuse me?" he asks, much more formal now.
She pins him with a stare. "Shall I teach you the signs? How to tell my sister and me apart? Although," there's a hint of derision in her lip, "I would think someone so thoroughly in love would be able to tell the difference." She lets that hang in the air for a moment. "So, the differences. Well, the best would be our bracelets." She lifts her hand and the charm bracelet jangles around her wrist. "E for Elena, K for Katherine. Simple."
"Hard to spot, though," Stefan adds, trying to defend Damon a little.
Elena has to nod at that. "Well, it's easier for those with – better vision. But easier to see, our hair." She gestures to her own, carefully pinned up in a modest style. "Katherine wears her hair down and curled. I almost never do. Simple enough for you?"
"Are you calling us simple, Miss Pierce?" Damon asks, unsure whether to be offended or intrigued.
"How could you ever think that, Mister Salvatore?" she responds, eyes wide and face innocent. He feels a smile creeping in.
"Miss Pierce!" Johnathan Gilbert calls from across the garden. "The carriage is ready."
"Coming, Mister Gilbert," she calls back. "Gentlemen," she nods to you, and then she's striding across the garden.
"I don't think she likes us very much," Stefan says, eyes following her as she rounds the house.
"She's jealous of Katherine. I mean," Damon gestures to himself, "who wouldn't be?"
"Maybe," Stefan mutters.
"Well, I'm off to find Katherine, brother." And Damon turns to walk back into the house.
Stefan stares off after Elena, trying to figure it all out.
_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_
"Pearl!" John Gilbert clambers out of the carriage to meet the woman standing by his front door.
"John," she says, her gaze warm, at least until she sees Elena.
"My apologies, did we have a meeting today? I've been distracted trying to get Miss Pierce here settled," he says, sheepishly.
"No, no, I just heard that you were taking in Elena here, and I thought I would come say hello." The smile is frozen on her face, and she's giving Elena that classic Pearl stony glare. "I missed you at the welcome party last night."
"Yes, I'm so sorry about that." If this is how Pearl's playing it, Elena is more than happy to play along. "It was all so busy. Although I did have a lovely chat with your daughter." The air grows colder. "She told me so many fascinating things."
"Well," Pearl's smile shows every last one of her teeth, "perhaps I could show you around the town, make up for last night."
"I wish I could," Elena's voice is pure remorse, "but I'm afraid I really need to get settled in here. You know what it's like if dresses spend too long in a box."
"Of course. Later, then."
"Looking forward to it. I'll see to the boxes then." And Elena turns and does just that.
"I'm afraid I need to help her settle in," John apologizes.
"Of course, John," Pearl says softly. "I will come back later." He shoots her a relieved smile and her heart thumps a little harder for a moment. And then he is leading Elena into the house, trailed by several servants carrying trunks.
_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_
"So?"
"So what?" Pearl pulls her gloves off before turning to look at Katherine.
"What do you mean 'so what'? Is she moving into the Gilbert house or not?" Katherine's fuming.
"She seems to be sticking to her word." Pearl says. "For now."
"And yet you don't seem very happy," Katherine points out.
"She's here, Katherine! I'm never happy when she's here. She's a danger, to everyone, because where she goes – "
"I know! I know what comes after! But we knew this was coming."
"Well, it's very different to have it come." Pearl sighs, and begins aggressively reorganizing her merchandise. "You don't seem very concerned about this."
Because I know it won't matter, she thinks. "We still have time. We can still find the stone. Besides, sometimes Elena precedes him by months."
"And sometimes by days!" Katherine steps back, shocked by her friend's rage. "I can't risk it, Katherine. I can't risk Anna on this."
"And what will happen if you run?" Katherine's voice is cold. "If you run, he'll chase, you know he will. And he'll kill you no matter what. Just give it a bit more time, Pearl." Just one more week. Just one more week and it wouldn't matter anymore.
_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_
"Will that be all, miss?" The maid is elderly, and clearly not very fond of Elena. She wonders whether that's actually aimed at her, or at her sister.
"Yes, thank you so much," she says, smiling as winningly as she can. The maid curtseys and leaves as fast as possible.
She sighs and sits on the edge of the bed. Her dresses are apparently the height of fashion here, if the looks some of them got were anything to go by. Nothing but the best, she supposes. That's what he always says. And he bought them all, of course, before he sent her off.
The key to not going unnoticed is to seem like you're always the younger generation. Always follow the latest trends, get very excited about the future. The past is clung to by people who've lived in it. Disregard it, and no one will suspect a thing.
There's a knock at the door.
"Just a moment," she calls, as she stands up and checks her reflection in the mirror. She readjusts a pin in her hair for a moment, keeping it up in the more modest up-do that has distinguished her from Katherine for the last ten years at least. She at least can't wait until women are allowed to wear their hair down again without being accused of being 'loose'.
She opens the door to reveal a young black woman in maid's attire.
"Can I help you?" she asks, quirking an eyebrow.
"My name is Emily Bennet. I'm – "
"My sister's maid, of course." Elena smiles warmly. "Won't you please come in?"
Emily looks at her cautiously, before squaring her shoulders and brushing past her. Elena shuts the door softly.
"I've been sent here to tell you the rules." Emily is very carefully examining Elena's face. Elena gestures to the bed, before taking a seat on it herself. Emily shakes her head, remaining standing.
"My sister's rules, or your rules?"
"Both."
"And what about the other witches? Are their rules yours?" Emily glares at Elena, who stares straight back. "Why does everyone always get so offended when you just say things straight out? You think they'd be glad you're sparing them the bother of finding delicate phrasing."
"There are no other witches here." Emily's fists are clenched.
Elena meets Emily's gaze. "Okay. There are no other witches here. So I guess I'll have to follow your rules then." Emily's eyes narrow in distrust. "And, of course, my sister's. What are those rules, exactly?"
"Mine first."
"Alright."
"My family is to be left alone. You do not kill them, feed from them, or compel them. You tell no vampires outside of Mystic Falls of my existence. You do not involve me in personal squabbles. Do this, and I will never turn my magic against you."
"Agreed."
"What?" Emily's taken aback at how quickly that worked. No proposals of her own terms, no fighting – that's not like a vampire.
"I mean, it makes sense. You want to protect your family. I assume they're on vervain now, you'd have to be pretty stupid not to have them on it, but this way if they're ever off it, you're safe. You don't want word of your line spreading around either. And everyone knows that the worst place to be when vampires 'squabble' is in the middle." Elena hasn't broken eye contact, hasn't even blinked in a surprisingly long time. "So I agree to your terms. You have my word." She extends her hand to Emily.
Emily looks at it for a moment like it's going to plunge into her chest and rip out her heart. Then, slowly but firmly, she grasps it.
Elena smiles. "And the deal is struck." She lets Emily break the grip and step back. "So, now, what are my sister's terms?"
"If you disagree with any, you take it up with her. I don't get involved," Emily warned.
"I understand."
"You are not to kill anyone while here. And you are to stay out of her personal … affairs," the word brings an unpleasant taste to Emily's mouth. What Katherine is doing to those boys is wrong, she feels this in her gut.
"Meaning no interfering with the Salvatore brothers?" Elena asks, bemused. Emily nods. "She's always been rather protective of her toys," Elena mutters. "Alright, alright. What else?"
"That's it."
"That's it?" Elena asks, brow furrowed. "Just those two? Nothing more?"
Emily almost wants to ask her what she means. "No. Nothing more."
Elena considers this carefully for a moment. "Well," she begins, before clearing her throat. "Well, I guess – tell her that I accept her terms."
Emily nods, leaving as quickly as she can.
Elena remains on the bed, picking at her bracelet. "What are you up to, Kat?"
_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_
She pins him against the door, crowding in until there's no space between their bodies, until he can feel her corset as clearly as she can. It's the middle of the day and they're still fully dressed and she shouldn't be doing this. But then she's pressing her mouth to his because it's not what she should be doing but it's all she wants to do, because she shouldn't do it but she can't not. She wants, she wants so much, and she isn't in the habit of denying herself.
And when she pulls her mouth from his, it's only to kiss along his jaw, to suck at an earlobe and listen to the noises that he makes. Such lovely noises, as he holds onto her like she's his whole world and she kisses, and sucks, and licks, and unbuttons his collar.
"I love you," he breathes out, eyes closed and voice almost too soft to be heard.
And she smiles against his skin, happy.
And it's just for a moment, because then she remember that she has to leave, that it's less than a week now, that the plan is already in motion, rolling far too fast to be stopped. And that's when she looks down at artery in his neck,
and bites.
_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_
"Tell me about the Salvatores."
Annabelle turns to see Elena leaning against the door to the herb-drying room. "Don't tell me you're after them too," she scoffs. She doesn't see the appeal.
Elena smiles. "Not exactly. But my sister is going to great lengths to keep me from them, so I thought I'd investigate. And who better to ask but my favorite little spy?"
"You're doing that thing again," Annabelle says, walking towards her.
"What thing?" Elena asks, trying as hard to be innocent as possible.
"That thing where you act all charming and try to get information out of me so I don't realize how dangerous it is," Annabelle mocks. "Tell me the real reason."
"Fine," Elena sighs. "My sister's up to something. She's doing everything she can to direct my attention to the Salvatores. She even sent her witch to warn me off them."
"Seriously?" Annabelle giggles. "That's a little much."
"My thoughts exactly."
"So, what, it's an act? They're just a distraction?"
"Maybe." Elena bites her lip. "But …"
"But what?" Annabelle asks. Elena wanders into the drying room, idly playing with some wolfsbane. "Come on, Elena, don't leave me out of this."
"It's just," she pauses, trying to find the right words. "Well, there I was last night, dancing with Stefan Salvatore. Asking all the standard questions, the questions I always ask humans who 'love' her – "
"Trying to see if he was under compulsion, right?"
"Exactly. So I was thoroughly distracted."
"And what did she do?" Elena gives her a look. Realization dawned. "She interrupted you? Why?"
"I don't know," Elena murmurs, trying to piece it all together. "So, I thought I'd ask you what you knew about them?" She sits down on one of the stools, gesturing to another. Annabelle pulls it over, the legs scraping over the stones.
"I don't really talk to them much," Annabelle admits. "Mother likes to keep me away from bit of Katherine's life, you know."
"But you've travelled with Katherine for – for ages now. You know what she usually goes after. So, is there anything different about Damon or Stefan?"
"I don't know. I guess – I mean maybe the whole two at once thing. Like, maybe the sex is just too good, she's actually starting to care?" Elena shakes her head, biting the inside of her cheek. "I don't know. Sorry."
"What were they like?"
"What?"
"Before she got to them, before she started with the compulsion. What were they like, with each other?"
Annabelle thinks back, to when they had just arrived. To that first night, the welcoming party at the Lockwood mansion. "They were – close, I guess? There wasn't – you know how now they look at one another and you can just see the competition in their eyes? That wasn't there, then."
"She got between them," Elena thinks out loud. "She's breaking their bond."
Anna shrugs. There's something going on here, something Elena's still not telling her. There's some meaning behind all of this that Elena can see that she just can't.
"Well, thanks," Elena says, standing up suddenly. "For doing what you can." She smiles, and Annabelle nods. Elena starts to leave, pausing in the doorway. "Anna?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are you drying wolfsbane?"
"What?"
"That herb there."
"Oh. I don't know. My mother puts in all the harvesting requests."
Elena nods, distractedly. "Alright. Have a good day, Anna." Annabelle waves, and gets back to work.
Elena walks around the block to the front of the store. She's not surprised to see Pearl sitting out front. "Hello, Pearl." She smiles. "How about that tour now?"
_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_
She sends him to go clean himself up. Bandage, change of shirt, and he'll be good as new. In the meantime, she checks in with Emily. Apparently everything went well, which means Elena is probably scrambling around town trying to figure her plan out. Hunting down information about the Salvatores, or bothering Pearl about the 'no killing' thing. Asking the questions he told her to ask, along with plenty of her own. With any luck, that'll keep her busy long enough.
"Katherine!" Stefan comes up the stairs, smiling. "I have been looking everywhere for you."
Damon emerges from his room, wearing a new shirt, neatly hiding the bandage on his neck. Stefan freezes.
"Brother." Damon smiles. Stefan looks away, eyes dark and angry.
Katherine sighs. "Now, now, boys," she says, linking arms with both of them. "Now is not the time for fighting. Why don't we take a walk around town together, hm?" She doesn't even have to compel them, they're dying to do anything for her. And so they walk out together, and she has a Salvatore on each arm, and she will enjoy it as long as she can.
_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_
"What are you doing here?"
Elena laughs, a little bitterly. "What do you think?"
"We need more time." Pearl's grip on her arm is like iron.
"I don't exactly get to choose, you know."
"No, you go where he tells you," Pearl sneers.
"Look," Elena stops walking, and turns to look her in the eye, "I know you hate me. I put you and Anna in danger, I know that."
"You put everyone in danger!" Elena wants to say that Katherine does too, that Katherine's just as much a scout as she is, just as much a harbinger. But she doesn't. "Why, exactly, did he send you here?"
"He's getting impatient," she sighs, longing for the days where she could run a hand through her hair. Now if she touches it, it just gets unpinned. "It's been two months, and he needs the stone. He thinks – " she laughs here, a little bitterly, " – he thinks that you've found it already. He thinks you're plotting against him."
"Tell him we're not."
"Don't take it up with me," Elena says, resuming their slow walk around the square. "Take it up with Katherine. She's the one who's been lax in her reporting lately."
"Because we have nothing to report."
"Then why do you have all that vervain in the drying room?" Elena asks. If Pearl can go on the offensive, so can she.
Pearl's lips thin to an almost invisible line. "We've been too obvious. People are getting suspicious. They'll get more suspicious if I do not fill the order."
"Ah. Hence the 'no killing' rule." Pearl nods sharply. "What else have you been drying?"
Pearl turns to her, eyebrows knit together. "Nothing but vervain for days. We haven't had time. Why?" Her eyes narrow, suspicious. "What are you up to?"
"Nothing," Elena says, as sincerely as possible. "Just trying to understand exactly what's been going on."
"Pearl!" Johnathan Gilbert is rushing across the village green towards them.
"I'll leave you to your gentleman caller," Elena smiles, and leaves Pearl to talk to John Gilbert.
She's thinking over the wolfsbane, not looking where she's going, when she bumps into Damon Salvatore.
"My apologies, Miss Pierce," he says as he helps her to her feet. "Are you alright?"
"Fine," she replies, smiling. "A little dirt never hurt anybody. What are you doing in town, Mister Salvatore?"
"Katherine sent me to fetch something," he says, holding up a small package from Pearl's shop.
"Of course." She thinks for a moment, then links her arm with his. "Walk me to the Gilberts'," she compels.
They set off together, and she waits until they are out of Pearl's earshot to being the questioning.
"Answer everything I ask truthfully," she compels.
"Yes."
"Do you love my sister?"
"Absolutely." She searches his face, eyes narrowed.
"How do you love my sister?"
"With my whole heart, my whole life, my whole being."
She looks away, whistling lowly. "That's – that's very interesting."
They walk the rest of the way in silence.
_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_
Katherine meets George Lockwood in the forest that night.
"Alright, what is so urgent that you had to meet tonight?" she sighs, wishing she could be back in bed enjoying the hospitality of the Salvatore brothers.
"They're moving up the attack," he says, stepping out of the shadows.
"What?" She whirls around to look at him, eyes wide and lip curled.
"They're frightened by the arrival of your sister," he spits the word almost the same way she does. "They think the vampires are preparing for something."
There are so many different things she wants to say, to yell, right now. She bites them back. "When?"
"Tomorrow night." She lets a curse slip through, before calming herself.
"Are we ready?"
"Everything is in place, although …" He stops, searching her face for something.
"What?" Just spit it out.
"It's only in place for you," he says carefully. "I can't bring your sister in on this, there isn't enough time."
She snorts. "Don't worry about it," she says, eyes dark. "She was never part of the plan."
_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_
The next night Elena finds herself in the company of the founding families again. Apparently, the only thing to do in this town is gather at a different house every other night. Last time was the Salvatores', an actual party, tonight is just a 'get-together' at the Gilberts'. There's music and drink, but no one dances tonight. The men drink port and the women drink sherry, and Elena misses vodka so much.
And she watches Katherine spend the whole night with Stefan Salvatore, ignoring the elder brother entirely. Giuseppe Salvatore looks on with approval he doesn't even bother to veil, and Damon stands on the sidelines.
"Why does no one talk to him?" she asks Annabelle, after dinner.
"He was supposed to go fight for the South," Annabelle mutters, sneaking a sip of sherry.
"Why didn't he?" Annabelle gives her a look. Elena sighs. "She told him not to." Annabelle just smiles and returns to her mother's side. "It's not fair to ruin his life, Kat," she says, knowing her sister can hear. But her sister's not listening, she's so wrapped up in Stefan Salvatore tonight, and Elena looks at her face and realizes what's different this time. And she looks around the room, at all the humans here, at Giuseppe Salvatore, and her heart breaks for Damon.
But it's not until he slips out, unable to look at them anymore, that she talks to him.
"It's awful, isn't it?" she asks, making her way over to him.
"What?" he responds. He just wants to be left alone right now.
"Being the ill-favored child."
"What do you mean?" He turns to her now, angry and upset and not in the mood to deal with this. But she's not looking at him, she's looking over the forest and picking at her bracelet.
"My sister – my sister is a piece of work." He has something to say to that, but she just barrels onward. "Everywhere she goes, she makes a mess of things. Literally everywhere. For centuries, she's been making a mess of things. And everywhere she goes, I have to follow. I have to follow and I have to clean up. I have been cleaning up her messes since we were children, and it looks like I'll be doing it into eternity." She's bitter, and angry, and in a very similar emotional place to him, he realizes.
"I suspect my brother feels the same way about me," he mutters.
"Ah, but, you see, there's the difference," she laughs.
"Hm?" He doesn't want to be here, he wants to be alone, and he doesn't understand why she's telling this all to him.
She looks at him now, her eyes soft and sad, and he thinks for a moment that she's going to cry. "Oh, Damon, the whole world can see that your father favors your brother. The town favors your brother. My sister's in love with him, that's for sure. Maybe with you too, but definitely with him."
"And?" His jaw and his fists are clenched, because what the hell does she know? She's been here, what, two days?
She places her hand on his arm, making him look her in the eyes. "And it is the worst to be second. Isn't it? Because, although my sister is, well, objectively, a bitch, somehow, people always like me less." He doesn't know if he's more taken aback by the language or the sincerity. "It's because she's charming, and so men fall at her feet. Our father loved her the most, thought she'd be the one to one day make something great out of herself. Our – patron, at the moment, would choose her over me in a heartbeat. It doesn't matter that I do everything right, she's pretty and charming and ruthless, and everyone always likes her better." There's something desperate in her eyes, something that he can't quite understand.
"You think she's going to choose Stefan," he finds himself saying.
"Oh I don't know. I don't know if she'll choose at all." What? "I just – I feel so bad for you, Damon."
"Why?" he breathes, searching her face for answers.
She smiles, twisted and bitter and, above all, sad. "Because you love her. You really and genuinely love her. Don't you?" He nods, because yes, he does. Because he loves her more than anything in the world. He would die for her. He would kill for her. "You don't deserve this, Damon," Elena says, shaking her head slightly, and she can see that he just doesn't understand. "Everyone deserves someone who will choose them first. Remember that. Above all else, remember that." It's not a compulsion, just a maxim to live by.
He goes as still as stone in under her hands. "Why are you telling me all this?"
"Because you are the first person in a long time that I think will understand. Because as much as I hate her, as much as she is always, always chosen over me, I love my sister. With all my heart. And you love your brother, too. You hate him, but you love him. Don't let her ruin that." She sees him withdraw from the conversation, sees him retreat somewhere her words can't reach him. She doesn't quite know what she was trying to do, or if she even thought she could do anything. She just – she couldn't let Katherine do this to him. Not without him, not to Stefan, not to anyone, not without her at least trying to fix it. She pulls back, withdraws her hands, steps away so they've got room to breathe. "I'm sorry, I'm just feeling a little emotional."
When he speaks, his voice is cold as steel and just as strong. "She's going to choose me. She's going to turn me, and we're going to be together forever. Not him. Me. She loves me. She may be with him now, but tonight – tonight she's all mine." And she knows what that means, and she wishes she could hit him upside the head and tell him how he's being played. But he won't listen.
"Maybe. Just – Just be careful, Damon," she says, stepping back towards the house. "And, forget this conversation," she compels, before slipping back into the party.
_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_
She doesn't struggle, when they grab her from her room. She's in the middle of her needlepoint, and all she can think is, 'Oh.'
'Of course.'
'How did I not see this coming?'
They force vervain down her throat, and she swallows. They bind her mouth in a muzzle, and she lets them lead her away. All around her is chaos, fire, and fighting, but she is calm. They think she's drugged, but she's been taking vervain for decades by now. She waits until they are shoving the vampires into the church, guns with wooden bullets pointed at them, before she runs faster than anyone can blink.
With any luck, the church will be ablaze before they realize she's missing.
_-_-_(-_-)_-_-_
When she hears, several months later, that Pearl was among those in the church, she sets out to find Annabelle. It's dangerous, and stupid, and utterly sentimental, and she does it anyway.
"She's not dead," is the first thing Anna says to her, when she finally finds her. "My mom, she's not – the witch cast a spell. They're fine, they're in the tomb."
"Why would Emily protect them?"
"Damon Salvatore promised her that he would protect her family. He needed to make sure Katherine would be okay." And then Annabelle is grasping her hands like she needs the connection to live. "Help me. Promise, promise you'll help me get her out of there. I can't live without her, Elena."
And she wishes, so badly, that she was more like her sister. That she could just say no, and walk away, because it would be so much safer.
"I promise. I'll help you, I promise."