Thicker than Blood

Chapter Six

Despite our complicated pasts, I would do anything to protect my brothers. We are all each other have in this world. Our parents are long dead and our descendants are few and far apart. Blood is thicker than hatred and only love is thicker than blood.

While I can forgive them for their misbehavior and trespasses, I cannot find it in my heart to forgive the woman who brought this upon us. One day, I will find Katherine Pierce and I'll rip her heart out.

I won't let her near either of my brothers again.

~ Elizabeth Salvatore's Diary

2009 – One Hundred and Forty-Five Years Later

"What the hell is she doing here?"

Stefan and the girl broke apart. With her dark hair straight and her petite frame dressed in denim instead of a dress, she looked a far cry away from the Katherine Pierce who had arrived at Vertias one hundred and forty-five years prior. She had adapted to the times easily.

"Lizzie, this is—"

She held up a hand, cutting him off. "I know who that is. What is she doing in this house?"

"I'm sorry," the girl said, sitting up straight. "I didn't mean to cause trouble…"

"Trouble? We're well beyond 'trouble'!"

"Liz-"

"You don't get to talk," she hissed at Stefan. "And you… how dare you show your face here, you conniving, back-stabbing bitch?!"

The brunette backed away quickly, looking almost scared. Which was preposterous because Katherine didn't get scared. She got even.

"Hey! Hey!" Damon's voice broke in, his strong hands closing on her arms. She felt him physically pull her away from her twin and the vampire vixen. "Cool it!"

Liz struggled in his grip. "Let me go! I'm gonna kill her!"

"Oh, no… that's not Katherine. That's Elena… her doppelganger."

"Either way, she's dead meat!"

Damon pulled her further away before she could lunge again. "That's enough! Knock it off!" he hissed.

"Let me go! I have to kill her! She has to die!" Liz hissed, still trying to break free. But Damon was older and stronger. "She cursed us!"

"That is NOT Katherine!"

"I should go," she said, looking at Stefan. "This is a family thing…"

"Elena, don't go," her twin said. "Damon's got this."

The girl, this Katherine lookalike, shook her head again. "I'll come back later. I promise."

She scurried out the door, leaving Liz still stuck in Damon's grip while Stefan sighed. Her older brother guided her to the couch.

She pulled free from his grasp as the front door shut. "I do know how to sit!"

"Stop acting like a spoiled child then," Damon snapped. "Lizzie."

Before she could get up, Damon pushed her back down. "Sit! Stay!"

"You're both crazy—that's Katherine Pierce. She's supposed to be dead!"

Stefan crossed into her line of sight, standing beside their brother. She loved seeing them united, just not against her. "That was not Katherine, Liz."

"Then who the hell is she?"

"Elena Gilbert, dear Stefan's human girlfriend. She just happens to be dead ringer for Katherine," Damon said. "That's why he likes her, right, brother?"

"Shut up, Damon."

"Is this… she's the reason you both came back, isn't she? Have you idiots learned nothing?!" she hissed.

"Well, since we're already vampires, what's the worst that could happen?" Damon asked, crossing his arms. "She breaks Stefan's heart again when she realizes I'm the better looking brother?"

"Since we've established why I'm here in Mystic Falls," Stefan said coolly, turning his attention to Damon, "why don't you enlightened us about your reasoning?"

Her beloved brother smirked. "That's for me to know and you to dot, dot, dot. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Damon crouched before her. "And you, Lizzie, dear… leave Elena alone. She's not Katherine.

"I know. If she was, she'd already have a stake through her black heart." She stood up and brushed past her brothers. "I'm not gonna stand here and watch you guys kill yourself over her ghost. Call me when you grow up."


People are dying. They are being torn apart, their blood missing. Father is trying to shield me from the news, but I hear the whispers.

They say its animals but I've heard another word – one that turns my blood to ice.

Vampire.

A living dead creature who survives off the blood of others. A killer. Here. In Mystic Falls.

More than anything, I wish Damon were here. I'm so scared we're next. He'd know what to do. He'd make sure we were safe.

With any luck, the vampire will take Katherine.

It's a terrible thing to wish, I know, but I don't trust her. There's an evil behind that pretty face. If I didn't know better, I would think she was behind the deaths. After all, they didn't start until after she arrived.

But a woman? No woman could do that. Not to men. Children, perhaps.

Women aren't killers. Not like this. Ripped out throats and stolen blood? No, never. These bodies are mutilated. I just pray their deaths were quick.

~Elizabeth Salvatore's Diary

Three Weeks Later and a Few Hundred Miles Away

The bodies were beginning to pile up. Couples attacked just outside the town, their bodies drained and their throats torn apart. "Animal attacks" was what the official reports read. But Liz knew better.

She knew her brothers.

"Damon, you idiot…" she breathed, tossing her suitcase into the trunk of her Charger. She'd have to knock some sense into her oldest brother before he either killed half the town or the Founders realized vampires were walking among them once again.

When did I become the responsible member of this family?

Liz started her car up and pulled away from the motel she'd been staying at. If she could be in the Carolinas and hear about deaths in small town Virginia, her brother was getting out of hand.

Unless, the Ripper was back. In which case they were all screwed six ways to Sunday.

While Damon revealed in death, Stefan killed simply because he couldn't get enough blood. He couldn't stop. Only Lexi, his best friend, knew how to tame the beast inside.

He was like an alcoholic. One drink of human blood and Stefan was off the wagon. Her twin was a mindless, soulless killer when the Ripper had control.

It would take both her and Damon to get him secured and dried out.

She had no choice. She had to go home.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long wait. It takes Liz a long time to warm up to Elena. She can't look at her and not see Katherine yet. Next chapter is the past, then we're back to present. Soon we'll get to meet Ric and a stranger Liz is drawn to.