I know it's been a long time since I updated, but in late January I was in an accident. I haven't been able to keep up with my steady writing since I missed school, had therapy, etc. I have much more time now, so here we go!
Also, it was brought to my attention that Klaus's real name is "Niklaus" not "Nikolaus". From here on, he will be the former rather than the latter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries.
Chapter Seven
"Witches and their spells. So many people to sacrifice."
I've got to get out of here, Katherine thought to herself, glancing this way and that as she made her way down the street, trying to seem inconspicuous. Of course, no one here knew her, would probably just mistake her for her "cousin". But she couldn't handle the thought of what that witch said, her words crawling over her skin like a million spiders.
She'd been waiting there, just beyond the shrubs in Elena's yard, for a chance to go after her doppelganger. She hadn't thought that the girl would have a Bennett witch batting on her team. And where there was one Bennett, there was another. And another. And another. They were a familial bunch, quite powerful separate. But together, they could tear the balance of the world apart with barely the batting of an eye.
This witch, though, had given off such a powerful aura that even Katherine, a centuries-old vampire who'd traveled all over the world, had been petrified. Then, to find out the girl was not only a warrior, but an oracle as well? To see a witch with more than one strong suit was unnerving; Bonnie held power over the oracle, the warrior, and the casting. She was the most frightening triple-threat Katherine had ever seen.
When she'd turned those glazed over eyes to Katherine's hiding spot...shivers went up the vampire's spine. And she knew exactly what the Other Side was trying to tell her.
Katherine might have died, but she'd returned. That meant that there were two doppelgangers and they were not interchangeable. One needed to be protected, one needed to be sacrificed. Even if the witch didn't remember, even if Damon and Elena didn't figure it out, Katherine knew exactly which was which.
I've protected my life for far too long to turn back now.
Tucking her jacket closer around her, she moved just a little bit faster as a chill raced down her spine. Someone was watching her. She knew full well the number of monsters in the town, as well as the enemies she'd acquired over the years. They could be lurking anywhere; on a darkening day like the one she was walking through, they could literally snatch her from the shadows without a backwards glance.
"You have nowhere to run, Katerina. There is no one that will protect you from me."
The words echoed, unwanted, in her mind as her memories flashed back to the last of her human days. He had laughed as she'd run through the forest to get away from him, unable to completely dodge the roots that swept her up. There was a cottage, she knew, and humans who lived there. They would surely help her. Wouldn't they? Could they be under the control of the Original that was threatening to kill her to unlock some silly curse?
"Anyone that might house you will face my wrath. Would you really wish upon them what I did to your family?"
It had happened on the first day that she'd become a true vampire. After her transition, she had fled the country, wanting to go back home to see her mama and papa. Her family would help her where her vampirism failed. They loved her, even with any shame she might have brought upon them. They would be there to comfort her, to help her go someplace safe.
Only they hadn't been there. Already Klaus had ripped them apart as part of her punishment. Throughout her life, her mother's garbled last words would haunt her, even when she felt nothing at all.
You can't always run from the past, Katherine thought to herself. But I'll keep going until my last breath.
She was so trapped in her own head that she didn't even realize that there was something...magical in the air. Nor did she notice the two witches, chanting quietly from her right, until it was far too late.
Her feet stopped moving, her chest constricted. Never had she felt such a sudden invasion of claustrophobia. She wheeled around violently, breath heaving in and out of her lungs. No. No, they couldn't do this to her. She couldn't finally be caught when she made her first mistake.
Stay away from the doppelganger, she'd told herself before. Stay as far from Elena as possible to be safe from the Originals.
"Let me go!" she shrieked, slamming against the invisible barrier with desperate strength. How could she have been so stupid? Now she would be torn apart for the slight she'd given Klaus five-hundred years before. Now she would die, with nothing to show for it. I was going to take him with me, she thought as abrupt tears came to her eyes and her knees collapsed beneath her.
"Calm yourself, vampire. We don't want to harm you." The voice was old, feminine. It made Katherine's head fly up before the woman spoke another word. "You are something we need to protect our own."
Two Bennett witches, the vampire thought to herself as she saw Bonnie and who must have been her grandmother striding purposefully towards her. Anger rose within her at these mortals' belief that they could use her. No mortal would ever use her again. No human would ever have any control over her. Baring her fangs, she snarled, "You can't use me for anything! I'll sooner tear out your throat than be contained by the likes of you."
Just below the surface, Bonnie's matching fury flared, though she easily covered it. "My grandmother isn't a liar, Katherine. We know who and what you are. And what we need you for."
"I don't help humans," Katherine replied darkly as she rose to her feet. It felt like there was a weight on her back, holding her down, but she fought against it to rise shakily. "You often die too soon for anything to really matter, anyways."
"We haven't asked for your help. Yet. But I know what you've been through, Katerina Petrova," the grandmother went on saying, meeting Katherine face to face. "I know the vengeance that rages through your heart, the only thing that has really kept you going all these centuries of being a vampire."
The doppelganger said nothing, just looked on with disgust that she couldn't feel in her heart. She wanted nothing to do with these women, just wanted to get the hell outta Dodge.
Sighing, both Bennetts made the motion of tugging at Katherine, forcing her to follow them back to their house.
"We want Klaus—and all the other Originals—dead. If you don't want to help us, you'll never get your revenge."
That got Katherine's attention. Enough so, at least, that she didn't rip their throats or run out the moment they released her while standing on their porch.
"You're not going to kill her."
"Watch me."
Peeking into Elena's bedroom, Damon saw that she was definitely out cold. Must be tired from having to sacrifice herself, he thought angrily as he tiptoed back down the stairs, careful not to wake her. Their argument had gone nowhere, as he'd known it would, and she'd finally stormed up to her room without a backwards glance.
And he was too caught up in the fact that he couldn't trust Stefan—the good brother—that he knew he had to go find the little bastard to get the truth out of him. Damon couldn't be left in the dark on any part of the Originals' plan if he wanted to keep Elena alive and kicking.
He quickly called in reinforcements to assure himself that she would be kept in the house. A werewolf and vampire pairing would do quite nicely, he decided, as Caroline answered the phone.
"I need you to come to Elena's house and protect her while I go take care of some business. You should be able to get inside without an invitation, since you don't mean her any harm. Bring Tyler."
He hung up before the blonde could respond, leaving his phone in the key-bowl beside the door. He couldn't leave anything to chance; even having a ringing phone on silent could cause trouble if his brother overheard it. Which he would. Damon knew Stefan's tendencies and they were towards secluded, quiet places.
So, he followed that knowledge, wondering to himself where he would find a secluded, quiet spot in a town bustling with supernatural activity. Vampires would still be in their homes, preferring the night. Werewolves would be in packs at the bars, swapping stories about tearing apart prey or something of that nature. Witches would be busy selling or seeing to spells. Where would he find the traitor?
Suddenly he knew. The park. There was a forest in the middle of town that was called the park—though it was more so werewolves would have somewhere to hunt safely—and inside the trees was a clearing that few knew about. Stefan would be there, probably with his accomplices, and be a sitting duck.
Racing there, he stopped gracefully in the center of it, calling out, "Stefan! Come out to play!" He would tear him apart, throw his corpse into an incinerator. There was nothing he would enjoy more at this moment, nothing that would stop him from his new found need for vengeance. It had been one thing for Stefan to force Damon to become a vampire; it was another for him to go after Elena.
Damon didn't know when she'd become so important to him, knew that it didn't matter. He would protect her throughout her life—which he hoped to make eternal at some point—and this was the first step. Get rid of Klaus, get rid of immediate threat.
"Brother, I know you're out there!" he shouted once more, keeping his eyes and ears peeled for even the smallest amount of movement in the vicinity.
"Trying to be a white knight, are you, Damon Salvatore?"
His head jerked at the voice behind him and he spun around with a hiss. Standing before him was a man in his late twenties with red-brown hair that curled slightly around his face. He was taller than Damon by only a few inches, but the way he held himself gave him an air of importance and strength. Blue-green eyes flashed wildly as a smirk curved his mouth, showing shockingly white teeth.
"Klaus," Damon said with a smirk of his own. He gave an exaggerated and rather mocking bow. "So good to finally meet you, sir."
"We've met before. You just don't remember. I didn't want you to remember."
Damon's head jerked up. He had met Klaus the Original before? Since when? And why the hell couldn't he remember it? But he quickly covered his shock with a taunting raise of the eyebrow. "Guess I just don't remember when trash crosses my path. Comes with a long life, you know."
Klaus let out a chuckle, stepping closer to the younger vampire. "Oh, but you've been searching for me since you were turned. You've been wondering, 'Who the hell gave me vampire blood to turn me in the first place?' Your brother did at one point too." He moved in a tight circle around the blue-eyed Salvatore, scratching his chin in comical confusion. "I used to wonder to myself, 'Why would I make these two men into vampires? I have no need for followers. I'm strong enough on my own.'" With that, he grabbed Damon around the neck, lifting him easily as he fought the hold. "But I always do as my oracles tell me. They said that the Salvatores would lead me to the new doppelganger. If I could be patient, one of you would be my helper, the other my bane. Who would have guessed that the bad brother would be trying to be good for a human woman?"
He bodily slammed the other man to the ground, still choking him. "Your brother is doing his part to help me. Maybe I should make you do the same. I noticed the little spell your witch put over Elena's house long before Stefan reported back to me. It'll be an easy enough one to break, should I feel the need to." His voice darkened when he spoke again, watching with perverse pleasure as Damon's eyes began to roll to the back of his head. "Bring me back the necklace, and I'll make sure her death is quick and painless."
Still, Damon mustered up the power to spit in Klaus's face. "Never," he breathed just before the pressure on his neck increased.
"You're lucky I need you, Salvatore. Otherwise I would have torn your head from your shoulders the moment you stepped foot into this forest. Still, I feel as if I should punish you for your disobedience." Snatching up a thick branch from beside him, Klaus raised it, forcing it into Damon's chest inches away from his heart.
The vampire coughed up blood, flinching each time the branch found a new wound to create all over his torso, careful to keep from killing him.
His vision hazy, he noted that Klaus had let him go. But he couldn't move and everything was starting to fade to black as the Original walked away from him, a chuckle rising from his throat.
Blood, he thought desperately. I need blood.
"I can take you."
"Wanna bet?"
"Yeah. I do."
"Brother, I adore when you teach lessons. Poor creature didn't stand a chance."
Klaus's eyes cut towards Rebekah with a certain light of annoyance. "Sometimes I have to be the bad guy." He shrugged, turning back to his book. They were staying in the largest house just outside of town, using it as their own personal play-house. Passing through the barrier around the town was difficult—their Witches' Council was a strong one—but not impossible, so he made the trek daily into their city, terrorizing the doppelganger so she would not think to run from him.
"Well, you're quite good at it," Rebekah complimented, dropping into the sofa across from him with her drink in one hand. "But I am getting bored of this routine, aren't you? We should simply kill the girl; I'm sure the spell dies with her. Then we can search the house for the necklace and stop this needless worrying."
"No," he growled, slamming his book down on the table hard enough to crack the oak surface. "If she already has the necklace, I'm in danger. Any squeeze from her could potentially kill me. And who knows what other magic the necklace holds; it might kill me as I kill the doppelganger." He stood up, pacing in front of the warm fire. "No, I have to have the necklace's power stripped before I can kill Elena. There can't be any mistakes."
Rebekah sighed, leaning back in her seat. She knew that her brother wanted back up plans for everything she could possibly think of, but what power did the necklace truly hold? If there had been so many doppelgangers, why hadn't they killed him long before this?
As she opened her mouth argue this point, the large, thick front doors slammed open. Turning her head as Klaus froze, she was shocked to see their brother Elijah standing there, dusting off splinters of wood from his neatly tailored suit.
He glanced up at them with an almost bored expression, standing in their foyer as a perfect gentleman. "Niklaus," he said with a slow nod of his head. Turning to her, he added with a bow, "Rebekah. How do you fair as of late?" So surprised was she that she couldn't even form a coherent response, merely hmm-ed dispassionately. "Did Mother not teach you proper manners for a lady, Sister?"
His mocking scold was enough to snap her back to her usual self, even though Klaus did little more than stare at his brother. "I've been well, Elijah. And I must say that you look rather well after being dead for a few hundred years. I trust you are well-rested?" She made sure that her tone was mocking, though she was frightened of what Elijah's reappearance meant in their lives.
That cutting glare turned towards their brother, intelligent eyes stabbing at Klaus. "I am quite well-rested, thank you. But I wonder why our dear brother would think that I needed such." He crossed the room, pouring himself a drink slowly, drawing on the mood his appearance had set. "Luckily, a human found where I was hidden and took out the dagger to conduct an 'investigation'." He swirled his drink, watching Klaus carefully as he raised it to his lips. "But we both know that I didn't come here for pleasantries."
Their eyes held as Elijah quickly finished off his drink, setting the glass carefully on the table.
"What do you want, Elijah?" Klaus finally demanded, taking a forceful step forward. "Would you betray your only living family for some woman over hundreds of years gone?"
Elijah glanced at the ceiling, a small smirk playing on his features. "Oh, Niklaus, we both know that she is not gone. Different, yes, but she is still out there. I know you know where she is and I know you are trying to exact revenge; why else would you have stuck a dagger in my heart so long ago?" He flashed across the room, standing toe-to-toe with his younger brother. "I hope you don't beg forgiveness; it makes this all the more untidy, you know."
Klaus was across the room in a moment, keeping his distance from the other man. He had no intention of fighting his older—but slightly weaker—brother on this subject. "I won't hurt you, Elijah. You are my brother; what I did was for your safety. Until I found the doppelganger, I couldn't let you ruin things for me."
"Ah, ah, ah," Elijah said, wagging his finger as if scolding a child. "You did it for yourself. You want the doppelganger. You are afraid for your life. I wished only for the girl; I could have protected you from the power she held over you. But you didn't want to give me that happiness, did you? Because she fell in love with me rather than being seduced by you."
"She was a slut!" Rebekah shrieked, having hated the woman they spoke of for centuries. "She played you two against each other like toys! You were supposed to stick together as true brothers! We were supposed to be a family! And she destroyed that! We're just lucky she didn't go after Finn and Kol as well!"
She noticed that she was shaking, but not necessarily from fear. Of course, she had always been afraid of her oldest brother's wrath, but now she was simply angry. Furious. How dare he come charging in to protect the woman that had caused all of this! He simply couldn't see the grand picture anymore! Blinded by love, he was disgusting.
Flashing over to her, Elijah said quietly, "Rebekah, you know little of the situation. I suggest you leave my sight before I am forced to remove you myself."
Blinking large blue eyes at him, she whispered, "You wouldn't hurt your own sister for such a dangerous woman's reputation, would you?" Noting the flare in his eyes, she turned away, crossing her arms over her chest as she strode with her nose in the air to the door. "Fine. Choose some harlot's side. I have no need for a brother like you when I have Nick to protect me." She left the room without another backward glance.
Leaving Klaus and Elijah in the charged air of promised violence.
"Brother, don't start something you can't possibly win," Klaus warned.
"I thought no such thing, Brother," Elijah said before side-stepping the younger Original's brash attack.
I hope you liked this chapter! Again, I'm sorry for the late post.
