I do not own Vampire diaries, but I hope you like this.

Semper Ama

Chapter Twenty-Five – Katerina

My eyes stung when I awoke, I had spent half of the night cry for a man that was a complete stranger and yet there was something about him that drew me in. Apart of me felt no need to worry, that he wasn't really dead, but there was no denying him looking like every other dead vampire. It seemed unrealistic to believe anything else and yet I couldn't shake the hope that he was still alive. It scared me to feel that because if he was alive, he would be angry and that would put my friends and family in danger. I didn't bother showering as I had done it last night, so I braided my hair into a mermaid braid, before I changed from my PJ's into a black off the shoulder, quarter sleeved top, black skinny jeans and black high heeled boots. I looked my face the tear marks had been washed away but my nose and eyes remained red, to sleepy to apply any make-up, I waved a hand in front of my face and watched as any evidence of crying was gone.

"Hey" I greeted Elena and Jeremy as I walked into the kitchen "Are you wanting breakfast?" I asked in what I hoped was a cheerful voice. "no, us three have to get to the boarding house, Kathrine wants to tell us her story." Jeremy told me as he put his empty mug of coffee into the sink. I nodded in understanding and grabbed my keys off the side and headed to the door. "Wait where is aunt Jenna shouldn't she be coming to?" I questioned noticing that the rest of house was silent. "She's with Alaric, if you know what I mean. They are going to meet us there." Elena responded, and I nodded in understanding, however the though of the two having relations made me feel a bit sick for some strange reason.

While driving I tried to be happy, full of life as I talked with my sibling properly for what felt like the first time since our parent's death. There was laugher when we entered the boarding house, it was an unusual sight to see Kathrine lounging on the sofa gossiping with Lexi while Stefan fought a smile and yet I felt like I should be there with them. I didn't know why all these feeling kept coming out to play. On the other side of the room was Caroline – she to looked like she wanted to join them – Josh who was happily talking to the blonde with a child-like look upon his face and Bonnie looking very out of place.

I heard the door shut and in came Alaric and Jenna holding hands, Alaric still looked scruffy, with bed hair and his tie crooked. My hands itched for me to go and sort him out, but I fought the urge and instead went to sit next to Kathrine who seemed to automatically rest her feet on my lap. It didn't take long for everyone to be there, all sitting getting ready for Kathrine to tell her story.

"Mayrah will you do a spell for me, it will show you my memories to watch?" she asked as she handed me a scrap of paper at least twenty years old. I studied it intently trying to rack the spell around my mind when I realised that I had already used this spell twice. Both times a red head spirit had lead me through her life. "Yes, do we need to do it in the woods or will it be okay to do it here?" I questioned, directing it to Stefan and Damon. I had always done it in the woods but that was due to aunt Jenna not knowing about magic rather than because the spell was destructive. "It's fine to do it here." Stefan assured as I stood from the sofa and began to chant the spell, I had never done it with other people, but I got it right the first time and blinding purple light filled the room. "Why was the light purple?" I asked thoughtfully every time I had done it the light had been white. "every person has a different coloured soul." A voice answered from behind me, instead of just the red-haired women who had become a little bit clearer then last time. Though this time her hair was covered by a headdress and she wore a 1490 styled dress, Kathrine was beside her though she too was ghostly in appearance and wore a similar outfit to the red head.

We where suddenly in the first memory, in a small wooden home and Kathrine lay on the bed, her mother between her legs as she screamed. "A little more dearest, a little more," Her mother comforted as Kathrine screamed once more. "Push…a little more." She kept offering words of comfort as a little girl tried to help and an older man stood in the doorway overlooking the birth. Soon a daughter was born. I stepped closer ignoring everyone else as I looked closer to the baby, who squealed and wigged. "She's beautiful Katrina." I whispered not noticing Kathrine's knowing smile. Suddenly the memory become very sad as the child was taken by her father before the new mother even got to hold her and was ripped from her life for what seemed like forever. It broke my heart to see her beg to just hold her daughter once. "You never even got to hold her." I heard Elena brokenly whisper as I turned to look at them "Don't worry a very good friend got her back for me." She reassured as the memory began to change.

We watched as Kathrine ran through the forest, tripping over and landing painfully into a ditch. Riders where calling out her name but nobody more than Elijah. "Katerina, come home, Katerina the woods are not safe." He shouted a hint of desperation in his voice, it made me stifle a gasp, he had lost his gentle, nobleman tone and how good did it sound. Was Kathrine the women he loved that thought sent pain straight through my heart. But Kathrine stayed quiet until the men headed in a different direction. She lay in silence until she was sure that they were gone before she tried to run off once more. Only she was stopped. Trevor. He held her to the tree a hand clamped over her mouth. He looked into her eyes – compelling her. "Head East. I can't lead them astray much longer. There is a cottage. Go now! Go!"

The memory stopped and we where back in the boarding house. "Wait is that it?" asked Damon as he scoffed and went to sit on the chair. "So, what did Klause want?" Elena questioned. "At first, he wanted to drain every drop of blood from my body, but I became very good friends with his sisters and then I become apart of the family and we discovered away to break the curse without me dying." She answered as the living room began to spin and we where somewhere else again.

Katerina ran through the clearing until she came to a cottage. "Help, please help me," she gasped as she banged on the door hoping someone would open "Please, help me." She whispered as an old woman opened the door. "I don't invite strangers into my home." The old women answered as she began to close the door until Kathrine began to shout. "No, Trevor. He said that you'd help me." Rose come to the door looking at Kathrine before scoffing. "Damn him. Always making promises I don't want to keep. Let the girl in." Rose snapped before she compelled the women to go get some water leaving the two women alone. "You must be Rose. Thank you. Trevor said to show you this." Kathrine pulled out the moonstone.

"wait if the curse is broken why is the moonstone so important, and why are you running?" I inquired as the memory stopped and I turned to face Kathrine. "Trevor is the reason I'm running. He fell in love with me, but I didn't return his advances, so he stopped feeding me vervain without me realising and he compelled me to run, that I was in danger." She answered a sad lint to her voice as another memory began to play.

We were once again swept up in a memory, Kathrine lay on the bed the side of her dress painted red from blood, pain etched onto her face, but she refused to let a single moan slip from her lips. "You stabbed yourself!" I exclaimed running over to the human Kathrine, hovering my hands over her wound that wouldn't heal. A hand fell softly onto my shoulder, stopping my efforts. "Mayrah this has already happened you cannot change it." She whispered softly as if afraid to raise her voice. The door to the shambling room opened and Rose stepped into the room a long piece of rope clutched it her hands. "When did this happen?" she demanded inspecting the wound. "mm. in the woods. I tripped." Kathrine moaned a sound that was so like Elena's I winced, as a hand grabbed mine, Alaric smiled softly in reassurance before quickly letting my hand drop. "That's a lie. I would have smelt it." Rose pulled out a long knife that had been hidden in Kathrine's dress. "I'd rather die than go back to them," She moaned, trying to pull herself up. I winced again as if I had been physically struck by her words and out of the corner of my eye I saw the red-haired spirit do the same. "please just let me die." She begged. "if you die then Trevor dies with you." Rose snapped as she forced her blood down Kathrine's throat, she screamed and struggled but she was no match to Roses strength. Just then Trevor barged through the door. "Where is she!" he demanded a deranged look in his eyes that I did not like, Rose flashed them both from the room.

I watched with bated breath as Kathrine moved from the bed, I whimpered as the noose was placed around her neck and I screamed as her body hung, her feet of the ground. She was dead.

I don't know why I cared, but I felt like I was choking, my eyes welled with tears, the scene was too much, whether because had grown to care for Kathrine or because she looked to much like Elena for comfort, I didn't know. But I was quickly pulled into Alaric's arms, the embrace felt comforting as I rested my head of his chest listening to his steady heartbeat and as I calmed the memory began to play again.

They rushed back into the room, after they heard a clatter and before their eyes was Kathrine's body swinging. We watched as they cut her body down and placed her gently on the bed. "What did you do, Katerina?" Trevor asked as she began to awake his voice sad, but I couldn't feel sorry for him. "I would have helped you to live." He carried on. "helped me to live," she gasped "you took me from my family, compelled me to leave, how dare you say that you did any of this for me. You did it because you can't take no for an answer!" she screamed, her eyes wide with tears. "You did what!" Rose demanded before she rushed to Kathrine a stake in her hand, but Kathrine was faster in pulling the human towards her before the stake hit. She drank human blood finishing the transformation before she rushed from the hut.

Instead of the memory stopping it carried on, we watched as she rushed through the forest in tears until she came to a clearing and let herself fall. The sun was nearly rising when we heard voices shouting her name. "майка" Kathrine called out and, in a flash, a red-haired vampire was by her side, pulling the still crying new born into her eyes. "не исках да напусна, съжалявам, ме накара да повярваш на майка ми." Katerina spoke in broken Bulgarian as she cried upon her 'mothers' shoulder. "Shush child I have you, have you fed?" the women's voice sounded choked even to my own ears. "yes, I hurt an innocent." That started another wave of tears.

The scene dissolved then, and we were once again in the Salvatore boarding house. "what happened after that?" I asked as Alaric helped me to the sofa just as my legs gave out. "Well, they took me home and helped me get over my self-hate for harming that poor old women and they gave me something much more precious, my daughter." After a while everyone got board of lounging around the sitting room in silence and broke away. Alaric and Jenna left first, muttering about finishing what they started. Damon led Elena away with a bottle of scotch. Bonnie told everyone she was leaving to study more magic, but everyone knew she wasn't yet ready to be around so many vampires for, so long and Jeremy was going with her. Lexi, Kathrine and Josh headed upstairs to talk about God knows what. I was left alone as Caroline and Stefan headed towards the kitchen.

Alone. I had never felt so lonely. Images of Kathrine and Elijah both dead echoed in my mind, it was hell. Actually, I think I would have preferred hell to the pain I was feeling. "Hey, I just though you'd like to know, Elijah's not dead, a stake can't kill an original." Kathrine whispered to me and with a wink was gone like she had never been there.