And now Chapter four, for your reading pleasure
When the clock read 7 pm the young man spoke up "Let's go get some food, I can take you to the local watering hole." He said as he stood and offered her his hand to pull her up. She quickly pulled on her boots and threw her leather jacket on as he led her out the door. They got into Stefan's car and drove onto the street toward town.
They pulled into the parking lot of Mystic Grill and Kate laughed out a "really?" to which Stefan just shrugged his shoulders and walked toward the door, holding it open for her. The couple walked into the grill, it was a relatively large restaurant containing a bar and a few pool tables. You could tell this was the place everyone hung out, whether you were old enough to drink or not. And sitting at the bar was a pair of broad leather covered shoulders, sipping amber liquid and ignoring a girl who was chatting his ear off. This made Kate smile, reveling in his minor misery.
Stefan led her to a table toward the pool tables and sat down. After taking their order Kate recognized a few voices by the pool tables and followed Stefan's gaze to three girls, the two she met earlier and the one that made her reflexively reach for her butter knife. Stefan put his hand over hers, willing her to relax "That's Elena" He whispered, "We won't be off to a good start if you try to kill her."
Kate let go of the knife and just huffed out a "try?" which earned her a small smile from Stefan.
At the pool tables, Elena could not help but angrily stare at Stefan as he placed his hand affectionately over the strange girl's. Was Stefan on a date? Was this to keep up appearances? "Caroline?" The girl asked over her shoulder to her blond friend, the town gossip. If anyone knew who this girl was it was going to be Caroline. "Who is that with Stefan?"
"Oh, that's Kate, an old friend of his. Bonnie and I met her this morning. She is visiting him. I am not sure for how long or why, but she was at his house this morning. She just let herself in." Caroline explained, rattling off all that she knew without pausing.
"She wouldn't let me read her, but Stefan says she can be trusted, not sure how much I believe that." Offered Bonnie.
Elena watched as the girl motioned toward her with her head and Stefan got up wearing a small smile. Elena's teeth clenched unwillingly. The girl waved over to them and Caroline and Bonnie waved back. As Stefan approached them the girl got up and made her way toward the bar.
After convincing Stefan it was okay to go talk to his girlfriend she made her way to the bar to get a stronger drink than the ice tea she ordered. She glanced at Damon and noticed that girl was still hovering, looking more disappointed by the second. Deciding she would have some fun she made her way over to them, stomping a little along the way.
"Damon fucking Salvatore!" She said angrily, causing both to turn and look at her. "You sleep with me and sneak out before I even wake up? Who the hell does that?" She accused as she got closer, "and where do I find you the next damn day, doing the same thing to this poor girl!" Kate jerked her thumb to the dumb struck girl. Damon was opening and closing his mouth like a fish, not sure what to say. "You could've at least been better, then maybe I wouldn't be so pissed." Kate continued.
Finally the girl muttered that she had to go and walked out the bar. "Damn, I was wondering how far I was gonna have to go before she actually left." Kate laughed, taking the now free seat next to Damon.
Damon glared at her "You lost me dinner and entertainment." He said taking a sip of his drink "You planning on compensating for what you lost me?" He asked smirking at her and checking her out. Kate hit him in the arm and laughed.
"You got plenty of dinner at home and I am sure you won't have trouble finding entertainment, the night is still young." She turned to the bartender "Can I have some tequila on ice with two limes?" The bartender nodded and started preparing her drink. "So…" She awkwardly offered, "Shit, this is weird"
"humph" Damon only said still looking straight ahead
"You didn't say anything to me, you just left" Kate tried again.
"I didn't exactly expect to see you sitting in my chair without a care in the world when I got home." The bartender placed Kate's drink in front of her "What are you doing here anyway?"
"Stefan asked me to come." She said slowly, Damon just glared at her. "We have been writing to each other for some time. Keeping in touch"
"You've kept in touch with Stefan?" He growled, gripping his glass. He looked over his shoulder to see Stefan and Elena arguing and Elena leave with her girlfriends. An excited look flashed across his blue eyes.
Kate caught it, "you have got to be fucking kidding me!" She growled out. "Have you learned nothing? What the fuck is wrong with you!" Damon just looked at her, trying to form an answer. During their silence, the stool on the other side of Damon moved.
"I hope I am not interrupting anything?" A tan man asked as he sat down in the tense environment. "Are you going to introduce me to your beautiful friend Damon?" Kate looked up to see friendly brown eyes, with a small ring of yellow 'werewolf' she thought.
Damon groaned, "Mason this is Katharine, old pain in my ass; Katharine this is Mason, current pain in my ass." Kate hit his arm again, he knew she hated being called that.
She reached across Damon to shake Mason's hand "please call me Kate"
"Nice to meet you Kate" Mason offered, kissing the back of her hand. She smiled at the gesture.
"Likewise, as long as you don't become a pain in my ass we will have no problem, I have no problem having furry friends." Mason dropped her hand and stared at her. "I have been around a long time, and you have very interesting eyes" He blinked a few times and smiled.
"I like you, no bull shit. You should take a page from her book Damon." Mason suggested.
"I've gotten enough from Kate's book." Damon smirked.
"If you would excuse me, I seem to have a friend in need" She glanced at Stefan who was sitting alone at their table. "It was nice to meet you Mason." She smiled and leaned in to whisper in Damon's ear "It's not like I was hard to find, and they are just pretending so don't get your hopes up." She stood up straight and walked back toward Stefan.
Mason watched the girl walk away, "I gotta say you do pretty well for yourself, how is that that beautiful women are attracted to the Salvatore brothers? Did she spend equal time with the both of you?" he joked, Damon griped his glass again and glared at him in warning.
"I would keep what you don't know to yourself" Mason put both of his hands up in surrender and took a sip of beer the bartender sat in front of him.
"You should have taken your own advice when you put a knife through me." Mason challenged. "Doing things like that could get you killed"
"It's not a full moon anymore so that better not have been a threat."
"I got more up my sleeve then you give me credit for" Mason smiled "I may like her" he motioned to Kate "but I would hate for that pretty face or your brother to get caught in the crossfire" Damon grabbed Mason's hand and forced his face to the table, growling in his ear.
"Threaten me all you want Mason, but the minute you put my family in danger I will rip your arms off and make you wear them as a hat."
"Damon, calm down." He heard Kate whisper low. He looked up and saw her brown eyes staring at him with worry. "Not here." She warned. Damon let go of Mason, rolled his shoulders, and dropped a few bills on the bar. Without another word he walked out of the Grill.
Kate and Stefan approached Mason who took another sip of his beer. "Damon can be irrational and act without thinking. It tends to get messy. And there is no use to try and control him" She smiled sweetly rubbing Mason's sore shoulder. Mason let out a pleasurable moan and Stefan looked away. Kate then squeezed the sore muscle and leaned into his ear "I on the other hand am very rational and plan according the a threat, which is more precise than irrationality. Leave Damon and Stefan alone and you can continue to live safe. I don't mind your kind, but I always protect my own first."
Mason groaned in pain and nodded, Kate smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Fantastic, I will see you around. We should grab a drink sometime." She let go and Stefan followed her out of the bar and into the car.
"Do you think that was wise?" Stefan asked as they drove off.
"He threatened us and drove Damon to react. Mason needs to know that we are all together on this and won't let shit like that slide. I don't know how that little tiff came about but we gotta back our own Stefan." Stefan nodded "When we get back to the house you and Damon need to explain some things." Stefan nodded again and they were silent for the rest of the ride.
When they pulled up to the mansion Damon's Camaro was already parked and the living room light was on. The two found him standing by the fireplace with scotch in his hand. Kate hung up her jacket and went to where she found the wine cabinet earlier to open a bottle of red. "Just making yourself at home?" Damon asked without looking.
"Damon." Stefan warned and Kate laughed.
"I will be sure to replace your wine Damon if that worries you" She could see him smirk as he continued to look at the fire. "A little warm for a fire isn't it?" She just got a shrug.
"You gonna start yelling at me yet?" Kate looked to Stefan and shook her head once before she answered
"Why would I do that? I heard it, Mason threatened you, you kept your cool then he threatened Stefan. You were protecting your brother. There is nothing wrong with that." She smiled and walked to sit in Damon's chair, he watched her move with dangerous elegance. "I agree you could have done it a little more tastefully, but that is just your style. You're the big bad vampire."
"I am bad" He smirked, slipping into their once comfortable back and forth
"I bet you think you're big too" Kate answered obnoxiously scanning him up and down with her own smirk. Stefan shifted on his feet uncomfortably.
"You wound me darling." He joked holding his hand over his heart. Kate shrugged and took another sip of wine, Damon watched as her lips wrapped around the glass and she gulped the red liquid.
"So," Kate started changing the subject "how did you come to be on the bad side of a wolf?" Damon and Stefan then took turns telling her what had been happening, Katherine coming back, impersonating Elena, and killing Caroline with Damon's blood in her system. The Gilbert device trapping and almost killing them, but killing the mayor who was apparently a dormant wolf. How the mayor's brother came, who is a fully realized wolf and almost killed Stefan and Caroline. The information they found at Duke about the moonstone Mason was looking for and the sun and moon curse. And how Damon tried to use a silver knife to kill Mason.
The entire time Kate only nodded and made little "hum" sounds while she sipped her wine. The brothers would argue every once in a while to debate facts and "no it happened like this..." it was like listening to their hunting stories all over again from their human years.
"So where is Katherine now?" Kate asked
"I'm not sure, she met Elena and we haven't seen her since. She'll be back though" Stefan answered "I was hoping you could help with her, but was also hoping that you would have some knowledge about the sun and moon curse?"
"I have heard of it, you need the moonstone, which you say Tyler has, Mason's nephew? The doppelganger, which you conveniently found. A vampire, who there are plenty of here, and a werewolf, aka Mason. The known legend is that the species that breaks the curse is released from their prison. Vampires can walk in the sun and wolves are not bound to change on the full moon."
"We know that!" Damon said frustrated
"That's a lie" Kate stated simply and both brothers looked at her as if she sprouted two more heads.
"Come again?" Stefan asked
"It's fuzzy, but I remember learning that that story was a cover up to get both sides to look for all the ingredients to the ritual. The true ritual is beneficial to only one person; I never learned what the curse actually was. But it does not do what the legend says. The person made it up to have more manpower with their own motivation searching for the moonstone and the doppelganger." Kate explained and both brothers found their way into seats, elbows on their knees staring at her.
"Are you sure?" Stefan asked
"Positive." Kate said confidently.
"So both vampires and werewolves are looking to do a ritual that will not even help them? And Mason knows where the moonstone is." Damon reasoned. "Fantastic, we just kill him"
"We can't just kill him," Stefan argued "He's the mayor's brother in-law. There's gotta be another way. We could tell him the curse is a fake?"
"Do you really think he will believe us? He'd just think we were trying to take the ritual for ourselves." Damon argued back.
"Damon's right, let's wait it out for a bit. He was threatened twice tonight. There is a possibility he will leave it, especially since it is not a full moon anytime soon." Kate reasoned. She finished her wine and got up. "I'm going to go to bed, I haven't slept in over 24 hours and I am starting to feel it. I will see you both in the morning."
"Goodnight" They both answered as she walked up the stairs.
Please, Please, Review, they are better than spiked cider after a day of apple picking (Happy Halloween)