I knock on the Boarding House door, and it is quickly answered by Damon. He smiled at me and greeted, "Hello Erin." "Is Stefan here? He called…said it was important." I explained, and Damon ushered me into the house where I saw Stefan.

"Hey," Stefan said, and I adjusted my bag and tried not to look into his eyes. "What is this about?" I asked. Stefan stepped aside, and I could clearly see Rose walking towards me. "You." I stated and looked at Stefan for an explanation.

"Ok, you have to understand I only know what I've picked up over the years and I don't know what's true and what's not. That's the thing with all this vampire crap, but Klaus I know is real." She started, and I questioned, "Klaus? Who is he?"

"One of the Originals, he's a legend." Damon stated, and Stefan added, "From one of the first generations of vampires." "Like Elijah?" I asked, and Rose argued, "No. Elijah is like the Easter bunny compared to Klaus. He's a foot soldier, Klaus is the real deal."

"Klaus is known to be the oldest." Stefan informed me, and I put up a hand to stop them all from speaking as I processed everything. "So you're saying that the oldest vampire in the history of time is coming after me?"

Both Stefan and Rose replied with a yes and no at the same time. I gave them a questioning look as Damon explained, "What they're saying us that if what she's saying is true-" "Which it is." Rose interrupted. "And you're not just saying this so we don't kill you." Damon continued, and Rose said, "Which I'm not." "Then we're looking at a solid maybe." He finished.

Stefan then moved over to the couch next to me and spoke, "Look, Elijah's dead, alright. So no one else even knows that you exist." Rose interrupted him and said, "Not that you know of." Damon cut, "That's not helping."

"Look, I've never met anyone who's laid eyes on him. We're talking centuries of truth mixed with fiction. We don't even know if he's real, for all we know he could just be some stupid bedtime story." Stefan said, and this frustrated Rose. "He's real, and he doesn't give up. If he wants something, he gets it. If you're not afraid of Klaus, then you're an idiot."

""I just got called an idiot." I jokingly said to Stefan, trying to lighten the mood. Stefan cracked a smile and Damon said sarcastically, "Alright, we're shaking. You've made your point." I then got up, and an idea hit me.

Stefan stopped my silent musings as he asked, "Where are you going?" I sighed and lied, "To school, I'm late." Stefan got up from the couch, "Let me grab my stuff, I'll go with you." I decided that I have to be cross with him if this was going to work, "That's okay, I know where it is."


I then walked out of the Boarding House and called Caroline on the way home to grab some things. I met her by my car at the edge of the woods. "Tell everyone I wasn't feeling well, and that I went home from school." I informed her and explained what my plan was.

"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. I'm a terrible liar." Caroline muttered, and I added, "Keep Stefan busy, I don't want him knowing what I'm up to. I already texted Elena and told her to keep her mouth shut about this." "And I'm even worse at duplicity and you know this!" Caroline exclaimed, and I rolled my eyes as the entrance to the tomb approached us.

"You managed to keep Elena occupied when Katherine paid Stefan a visit." I offered. "Yeah, because she threatened me. Not that you should use that as a tactic it's- Stefan's gonna see right through me!" She babbled. "Caroline, as my friend, do you promise?" I pleaded with her and she rolled her eyes.

"You always break out the girlfriend code!" She uttered, and I smirked as she promised. As we walked down the steps, Caroline asked, "Why don't you want Stefan to know?" "Because he would never be okay with me doing this." I answered her.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Caroline questioned me as she looked at the door. "Yes, she's the only one who knows the truth about Klaus. The only one who can tell me how to stop him." "But, you're asking for the truth from someone who has never given it." Caroline argued, and I gave her a look.

"I can't just sit back here and wait, I have to know, Caroline." I told her, and she sighed and took the door off of the tomb. I yelled Katherine's name into the tomb, and then I turned to Caroline, "I'll be okay from here."

Just as Caroline was going to say something, footsteps interrupted her and Katherine appeared. "Hello, Erin." Katherine said hoarsely. "Come to watch me wither away? Goodbye Caroline." She stated, and I told Care, "As long as I stay behind the door, she can't hurt me. Please." She hesitantly walked away, and I finally got my shot at the truth.

I put the bag down as she asked, "Does Stefan know you're here? What about Damon, have you two admitted your feelings yet?" I ignored her questions and stated, "I brought you some things." "You came to bribe me? What is it that you want?" She questioned me as I threw some clothes down in front of her.

"I want you to tell me about Klaus." I spoke, and she smiled, "Huh, you've been busy." I pulled out the book from the basket and showed it to her, "I also brought you this, it's your family history. It says in here that the family line ended with you, obviously that's not true." "You think that if you brought some old family keepsake that I'd open up." She sneered.

I pulled out the bottle and showed it to her, "I also brought you this." She ran into the door, and when she couldn't get out I smirked, "You don't look so good, Kat. How long does it take before your body shuts down, 10, 20 years? It must be painful to desiccate and mummify, I can't even imagine."

Katherine sat down on the tomb floor while I poured a bit of blood into a small cup. I slid it to her using a stick. She shot down the blood when it reached her side. "You have the Petrova fire." She stated. "More blood?" I taunted her, and she pushed the cup towards me.

"A girl on a mission. So, you're just here for information on Klaus even though you hate my guts." She commented, and I replied, "I don't hate you, Katherine. I don't necessarily like you either, but you're still family. No one is fully evil. There was a reason you were running from Klaus for so long, and I want to know what it is. And I'm pretty sure that whatever it is has driven you to become the person in front of me."

"It's a long story, Klaus and I. It goes all the way back to England 1492 after I left Bulgaria, or was thrown out." She started telling her story as a poured and pushed more blood towards her. "Thrown out?" I asked and she explained, "My family, your true ancestors, they disowned me. My indiscretions were not tolerated at that time. I had a baby out of wedlock, the shame."

The gears in my brain started turning when I thought of when Elijah said it was impossible that I was alive. "It was kept secret." I stated. Katherine hummed in agreement and added, "My baby was given away. I was banished to England, and I had to learn to adjust. So, I quickly became English. It was there that I caught the eye of a nobleman names Klaus. I was taken with him at first until I found out what he was, and what he wanted. Then, I ran like hell."


I stood up and asked, "What did Klaus want?" "The same thing that he'll want from you, he wants to break the curse." She told me. "By sacrificing the Petrova doppelgänger." I said. "He wanted to drain every single drop of blood from my body."

I sat back down and gave her more blood. "What does the Petrova bloodline have to do with Klaus?" I questioned as she gulped the blood down. "It's really tedious, but the curse was bound by the sacrifice of Petrova blood. Witches are crafty with their spells. The doppelgänger was created as a way to undo the spell, so when the doppelgänger reappeared, the curse can be broken."

"So you ran, before he killed you." I said, trying to get every piece of information that I possibly could. "Something like that." Katherine muttered and told me the story. "So Rose never brought you back to Klaus, did she?" I asked. "No, and not because she had a change of heart." Katherine spoke.

"You killed yourself." I gasped, and she shrugged, "Klaus needed a human doppleganger, as a vampire I was of no use to him." "But it didn't work, and you didn't really escape, you've been running from him ever since." I stated confusedly, and she rolled her eyes, "I underestimated his spirit for vengeance. Living out of a suitcase is better than dying so you can have your blood spilled over a silly little rock."

I knew she was right, but I couldn't run. "What's wrong, afraid I'm right? You don't wanna die? There's another way out." She taunted me as she cut herself. I watched the wound heal itself up, and almost slapped myself at thinking of turning.

Katherine scoffed and spoke, "I made the other choice." She then told me of how she turned. "Rose and Trevor spent 500 years running because you used them. Trevor just got killed!" I exclaimed, and she just drawled, "Never thought he would have lasted that long."

"You don't even care that you ruined their lives." I muttered, appalled at my ancestor. She snapped her gaze to me, "I was looking out for myself, Erin, I will always look out for myself. If you were smart, you would do the same."


As Katherine was looking through her family history, I stood up and started pacing. "So how much of your little story is actually true?" I asked. "I have no reason to lie, Erin. I can't really do anything except sit here and read and rot." She drawled, and I said, "So assuming this was even partially true, that's why you came back, isn't it? You wanted to be the one to hand me over to Klaus."

She shut her book and turned to me, "500 years on the run, I figured he'd be willing to strike a deal." "So you got Mason Lockwood to find you the moonstone." I stated, and she smiled, "Right again." "What else is needed to break the curse?" I snapped. "I always knew you were smart, Elena's the weaker link if I do say so myself."

I ignored what she was saying and continued, "It's not just me or the stone, is it? Otherwise there would be no reason to trigger Tyler's werewolf curse." "Witches and their spells, so many ingredients, so many people to sacrifice." Katherine said vaguely, but I still went on, "So you need a werewolf."

"Believe it or not, they're hard to come by." Katherine said, and I demanded, "What else?" I could see that as I got the information, Katherine stood up straighter. "A witch to do the spell, mine bailed, but little Bonnie will do just fine." "what else?"

"A vampire." She stated, and realization dawned on me, "Caroline." Katherine shrugged, "It could have been anyone I suppose, but I like the poetry of Caroline." I shook my head and responded, "So you were just going to hand us all over to be killed."

"I didn't want you to be killed, I hoped that Elena would be the one needed for the sacrifice. But, I guess life works that way, you never get what you want. Better you die than I." Katherine spoke, and backed away into the tomb. I waited for her to come out, but she didn't. I tried to process everything, but I gave up and started to pack up the things I brought. "Erin." I looked at the stairs to find Stefan there. I inwardly groaned and knew I was in trouble.

"Stefan, what are you doing here?" I asked him, and he responded, "I could ask you the same question." I sighed, "Caroline told you." "No, she kept your secret. But, it didn't take me long to figure out what was so important that you had to keep it from me." He said.

I shrugged and replied, "I knew that you would stop me." Stefan pointed to the tomb and spoke, "Listen, whatever she said to you is a lie. Do not listen to her, she is a liar." I snapped at him, "What if she isn't? You didn't hear what she said."

Stefan shook his head and said softly, "You don't have to worry, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you." "That's the problem, Stefan. You won't, but you'll die trying, how is that better?" I asked. Stefan looked at a loss for words as Katherine interrupted, "There's nothing you can do, Stefan. I haven't even told you the best part of the story."

Katherine then proceeded to tell us how Klaus slaughtered her family. "He killed them, my entire family just to get back at me for running. Whatever you do to escape Klaus, he will get his vengeance. On your friends, your family, on everyone that you've ever loved."

Stefan then grabbed me by the shoulders and made me look him in the eye, "No, don't listen to her, okay?" Katherine scoffed, "Always the protector, even you must realize that she's doomed. There's nothing you can do to stop it, unless you have this." She then showed us the moonstone, and Stefan spoke, "There it is, it's the ultimate lie isn't it? You spun this whole thing, so we would have to get the moonstone from you."

Katherine looked hurt for a second but said, "I didn't spin anything, Stefan, it's the truth." "No, let me guess, you want to trade that stone for your freedom. You manipulative psychotic bitch." Stefan spoke angrily, and I was surprised at his tone. I had never heard him talk like that.

"My freedom? That's where you're wrong, Stefan. I don't want my freedom because when Klaus comes to kill us all, and he will. I'll be in the tomb where no vampire will enter because they can't get out. I'll be the safest psychotic bitch in town." She argued and walked away, and Stefan turned to look at me.


Stefan dropped me off at my house and walked me to the door. "Erin." He spoke, and I argued, "I can't talk about it, Stefan." "You have to, don't shut me out." He pleaded, and I took my key out of the door and turned my back to him. I started crying and Stefan said, "Erin, please."

I faced him and put my hand up, silencing him. "I wanted to know the truth, Stefan, and I got it. It's not just me that's in danger, it's Caroline and Tyler and Bonnie. They're all part of breaking the curse. I can't blame anyone else anymore. Because it's not that you came into town, or that you dated Elena. That's not why everyone that I love is in danger, it's because of me, everything is because of me."

Stefan pulled me into his arms and I sobbed onto his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his neck. I could feel Stefan kiss my head and stroke my hair. I felt comfort in Stefan's arms, and I knew that I needed to act on whatever I was feeling for him sooner rather than later.