Chapter 13: Realizations

Alaric raced waited in the lobby of the police station for over an hour trying to beg the sheriff's assistant to let him in to talk to her. Finally she relented and he hurried in to find Damon in a holding cell near her desk. He was guarded by several armed officers. He was slumped over inside the cell still passed out from the vervain she had injected him with.

"Liz listen to me. Damon has been protecting this town. He may not have been honest with you about who he was but what choice did he have? I can guarantee you there is a threat a huge threat and we need Damon. We're doomed without him." Alaric pleaded his case.

"Mr. Saltzman this man well he's not a man actually this vampire, this demon not only fooled me and the council but he abused and fed from my daughter for months." Liz said shooting daggers at Alaric. "I suggest you stay out of it."

"Look Liz I'm not sure what Caroline told you…but you have to hear me out about her…she's not herself lately. I can explain everything if you give me a chance." Alaric sighed.

"Lies!" Caroline's voice seemed to come from nowhere as she ran into the room. "Don't listen to him mom. He's a liar he came on to me at school the other day and then tried to turn it around on me."

"He what!" Liz said her eyes widening. "I'll kill you, you and Damon both."

"Now, now, now let's not be hasty." A male voice piped up entering the room behind Caroline.

"You must be..."

"Shinichi." He finished. "Word really does get around fast in small towns."

"Mr. Saltzman I'm going to ask you to leave and I'm only going to ask you once. I can assure you my daughter will be pressing charges on you for what you did to her. But for now I want you to leave before I kill you." Liz said glaring at him.

"Sherriff. With all due respect, I don't think you should let the man go. Cleary he in unstable to prey on a teenage girl. And he is no doubt in cahoots with the vampire. I would suggest he be locked up as well." Shinichi said with a snide smile.

"I'd rather just kill them both." She muttered under her breath.

"Don't worry Sherriff, I'll see to it that justice is served but I need these two men to stay alive for now. Like I said they have information I need." Shinichi said and Liz nodded.

"Liz you cannot trust him. Please…you have no idea who or what you're dealing with here." Alaric said.

"Shut up! You sexually harass my daughter, after your vampire friend has used her? How dare you!" Liz said. "I will decide who I trust and who I don't."

"But…"

"Lock him up boys," She commanded.

Alaric glared at Shinichi who wore a self-satisfied expression as Liz's men grabbed him roughly and threw him into the cell next to Damon.

"It's been a trying day sheriff." Shinichi said. "Why don't you grab a cup of coffee? I'll keep an eye on the prisoners."

"Okay yes, coffee sounds nice." She said grabbing her coat and leaving.

"Go with her." Shinichi said to Caroline who nodded and followed.

"So now you've got the police under your possession too?' Alaric asked angrily.

Shinichi shrugged. "So easy…love playing in this town."

"What does that mean? What do you want?" Alaric demanded.

"You're the one in a cell. Why are you integrating me?" Shinichi asked innocently. "You're the one who tried to sleep with your student."

"You know damn well I didn't do that and never would!" Alaric yelled. "You are the sicko who seems to get off on playing with young girls!"

"Ric?" Damon groaned waking up he looked around for a minute then realized where he was and swore.

"Ah Damon is awake." Shinichi smiled.

"Let me out of here you little freak!" Damon stood up and grabbed the bars to his cell his hands instantly seared and he jumped back.

"Vervain." Alaric mumbled.

"That Liz is a smart cookie." Shinichi nodded. "I love the modern woman…their so 'hear me roar'."

"Why haven't you killed us yet huh?" Damon asked his face twisting in anger. "Cleary we're in your way so what's with the stupid games?"

"I love games." Shinichi smiled. "I came here to play. I told you that already. When you die it won't be at my hands Damon. That wouldn't cause enough pain."

"What the hell are you planning?" Damon said narrowing his eyes.

"Lots of things, " Shinichi shrugged. "I can hardly keep track."

"I get you now you little freak. You're so obvious." Damon scoffed. "You can't kill us. It must be your limitation or something. You have to make someone else do it."

"Not true." Shinichi shrugged standing up he walked over to one of Liz' officers and looked back at Damon. He snapped the man's neck quickly and he fell to the ground in a heap. The other officers looked down at him but no shock or sadness no anger seemed to resonate from any of them.

"Why are they so numb where Liz was really angry?" Alaric wondered out loud.

"You people should realize by now that all your questions only lead to more questions. It's time to accept defeat. I'm still willing to negotiate deals. I lovemaking deals." Shinichi smirked.

"You love causing pain and misery." Alaric retorted. "That's what your all about isn't it?"

Shinichi didn't say anything just went and sat down at Liz's desk kicking his feet up.

"It is isn't it? It's the misery and pain that you want." Damon nodded. "Do you feed of it or something?"

"I'm getting a little bored of the Hardy's boy routine." Shinichi said yawning.

"Keep an eye on the prisoners" He said to the officers who all nodded mutely. "Shoot anyone who attempts to help them get out."

The men nodded and Shinichi slipped out of the room.

"Well I think we may have been on to something there.' Alaric mumbled.

"Not that it does us any good locked up in here." Damon groaned angrily.

"Where's Elena?" Damon said looking at the armed guards nervously. He was surprised she hadn't come busting in yet.

"I don't know." Alaric murmured "She was being held back by Stefan and Jenna when I took off after the van. "

"Ric if she comes busting in here and they shoot her…it wouldn't be a supernatural death. They are human." Damon shuddered as soon as the word death hit his lips.

"But they are possessed by a supernatural creature." Alaric reminded him.

"As if I want to take chances with her life." Damon snapped.

"Don't worry. If she was going to come rushing in here she would have already. She's got to be working on something."

"That doesn't help." Damon said through gritted teeth.

"She's got Isobel, Bonnie, Jeremy, and Stefan and not to mention Mason and Tyler looking out for her. She's going to be okay Damon just relax." Alaric said.

"An emotionally unstable vampire with mother issues, an immature baby witch , an even more immature baby vampire with something to prove, A bunny drinking unstable ex-boyfriend, and two werewolves that could kill her if that freak decides to use the moonstone. That is who is protecting her Ric. Sure buddy no problem. Of course she'll be fine. I should just relax." Damon spat out sarcastically.

Alaric just sighed heavily and leaned back against the wall. What more was there to say? He couldn't argue Damon's point.

"It was Stefan." Katherine said quietly.

Elena looked down to the pool of blood on the floor along with the chains. Her mind flashed back to the disarray the upstairs was in when she had arrived felt a chill realizing that all those empty blood bags were most likely all consumed by Stefan. Elena stood mutely staring at Katherine for a moment she saw a flash of sadness in Katherine's eyes quickly replaced by anger.

"What happened?" Elena finally asked.

"First tell me how you knew I was here? " Katherine asked curiously.

"Well everything started going to hell in Mystic Falls. Some freak named Shinichi showed up and…"

"What!" Katherine exclaimed. "You're kidding me right?"

"I wouldn't joke about this." Elena said somberly. "I thought you might know him."

"Oh I know the damn freaky fox all right. How did you know that though?" Katherine asked.

"Some newspaper clippings Isobel had...I'll get to that." Elena said. "So anyway, this Shinichi shows up in town and he has this moonstone that can control werewolves. Luckily we have two of them on our side but he has on the oldest one. Damon has him locked up in the cellar."

"If that freak has the moonstone he can control all of them." Katherine said.

"I know. " Elena sighed. "He's already threatened to use it. But I'm pretty sure he was just using the threat to get to Damon."

"What did he threaten to do with it?" Katherine asked her eyes narrowing.

"He threatened to make Tyler kill me which would result in Damon killing Tyler forcing Mason Tyler's uncle to seek revenge by killing Damon." Elena explained.

"That sounds like Shinichi." Katherine sighed. "What else has he done?"

"He approached Isobel and threatened her. He possessed by best friend Caroline along with the entire cheerleading squad. Now to top it all off he has the police working for him. The sheriff showed up at the door today and plunged vervain into Damon before taking him away." Elena said frowning. "I have no idea what happened to him. That's why I came here. I need your help. I know you dealt with this freak in the past and I was really hoping you would help us now." Elena explained.

"How did you know I would help you?" Katherine asked. "Our first meeting resulted in me putting you in a coma. I mean I know it was for the best, but I doubt you agree."

"Actually while I don't agree with your methods, your forcing me to face my feelings was the best thing that ever happened to me." Elena shrugged. "My gut told me I could trust you that you might be the only person who could help us. So I went with it."

"What about Stefan? You weren't really that surprised that he attacked me. Why is that?" Katherine asked.

"I knew something was very off when he showed back up in town without you. He fed Damon some story about you being unfaithful and expecting Stefan to just deal with it. He claims when he refused you just up and left him." Elena said.

"What!" Katherine exclaimed. "Damon bought that?"

"It is you Katherine…Their main memory of you is being two timed with each other. It made sense." Elena smirked.

"Okay you have a point there." Katherine chuckled slightly. "But you didn't buy it?"

"No… it almost made too much sense. It was too convenient." Elena shrugged. "Plus when Liz, the sheriff showed up this morning to take Damon, Stefan was standing right there and she didn't take him. Stefan was alone with Shinichi at least once that I know of and he didn't come back to us with some kind of warning or whatever…I just knew in my gut that Stefan couldn't be trusted. I hoped I was wrong. But I'm almost certain now that Stefan is probably working with Shinichi. "

"He probably invited him here." Katherine mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Elena asked.

"I'll tell you everything I know." Katherine said. "But first I want to know how you found me."

"I had Bonnie do a locater spell on your necklace." Elena explained.

Katherine smiled. "Of course a Bennett witch, I should have guessed. And it's your necklace now by the way."

"Yeah uh thanks." Elena said awkwardly, "For that by the way."

"Well I can't have you frying to a crisp when Damon turns you." Katherine smirked.

"And my father's ring…" Elena added.

Katherine nodded. "That would rightfully be yours. Thanks for trusting your gut. You saved my life. There are very few people in this world that would save me. "

They sat quietly after that. Neither really sure what to say to the other.

"So how did you get past Stefan?" Katherine asked breaking the sudden silence and tension.

"I had Isobel tell him she put me in hiding." Elena explained.

Katherine laughed and shook her head. "You're a Pierce no doubt about it."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Elena decided.

"As you should," Katherine smiled. "I'm pretty impressed. "

Elena pulled out the newspaper clippings and showed them to Katherine.

"Isobel had these. Shinichi was behind all of this wasn't he?" Elena asked.

"Yes." Katherine said her mouth set in a firm line. "He is a deadly creature. No better than a demon. It's actually sort of what he is."

"A kitsune." Elena murmured.

"Yes that's what he is. He's not of this world Elena." Katherine said her expression serious.

"You mean he's from hell?" Elena asked shuddering.

"Something like that." Katherine sighed. "He's from the underworld. Basically hell before hell I guess. I'm not really sure. All I know is he has to be invited into our world. Once he's in he feeds off of malice. Malice is basically human's negative energy brought on by emotional traumas and hardships. The more chaos and destruction he causes the more powerful he becomes." Katherine explained.

"You said you think Stefan invited him in?" Elena asked.

"He must have….To be invited in it needs to be in a town similar to Mystic Falls. Places that have strong supernatural energies. If the kitsune can find someone with enough inner malice they can get into their head and start offering them deals to get invited in." Katherine explained.

"So why do you think it was Stefan that invited him in?" Elena asked.

"Because he shut it off after we came back to town and you broke up. It was my fault. I fed him human blood even though he warned me not too." Katherine admitted.

"Stefan is not the same on human blood." Elena said her eyes wide. "It changes him."

"I know that now. I thought I could get him through it. But he was keeping everything in so tightly. He was angry at me for messing up his life twice but torn by his feelings for me at the same time. He was angry at Damon for taking you away. He was angry, hurt and heartbroken over losing you. Plus he's a vampire so multiply all that negative energy by ten." Katherine said leading Elena up the stairs.

"So you think Shinichi was able to get in his head while he was still in Mystic Falls." Elena guessed.

"Yes After we left Mystic Falls and came here Stefan was off. At night he would want me and things were good, but all day he would brood and mope when he didn't go off on mysterious hunting trips that would take hours. After a while I got fed up. We started fighting a lot. I realized how angry he was at me for the things I had done to him. I followed him one day and caught him hunting humans. He was draining them dead. I had to strong arm him at that point. He was risking exposure. I threatened to lock him up until he got it under control. He went into a three day brood and then one night he begged me to let him out he made all these promises to me about changing and letting go of the past. We started kissing and then bam he staked me in the back and well you know the rest." Katherine sighed.

"My point in rehashing all this is so you see that Stefan was full of negative emotions and inner turmoil. He would have been an easy target for Shinichi." Katherine added. "I'm sure that Shinichi wanted me weakened and out of his way as a part of his end of the deal."

"So you think Shinichi got in his head offered him something he couldn't refuse?" Elena asked.

"That's exactly what I think." Katherine nodded. She stopped suddenly and screamed as they reached the top of the stairs.

"What!" Elena jumped.

"My house!" Katherine exclaimed. "It's a disaster! What a…Ugh!"

"Seriously?" Elena scoffed. "You're worried about your messy house right now? "

Katherine grimaced looking around distastefully. "I can't help but be shocked I mean Stefan is from the 18th century to leave a ladies house in such disarray is so rude and disrespectful."

"He staked you four times and left you to die!" Elena exclaimed.

"I know." Katherine said darkly. "And I hope you know what that means."

Elena nodded but said nothing. She knew exactly what that meant. She just wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that.

"What do you think the deal was?" Elena asked.

"That's what we need to figure out." Katherine said making a gagging face as she entered the living room she started picking up all the trash with an annoyed look on her face. "You can just stand there or you could help me if you want. I cannot sit and converse in a setting like this."

"So is Stefan under the influence of Shinichi like Caroline?" Elena asked rolling her eyes as she got up and started helping Katherine clean up all the garbage Stefan had left around the house.

"No not exactly. The person who invites him in is tied to him to certain extent. If Stefan breaks his end of the deal Shinichi would destroy him and he knows it. But he is in control of what he is doing. Whereas if someone is possessed by him they don't have any control over their actions. He can possess people at different levels too. He can make them total zombies or keep them slightly in control of themselves. He gets a sick pleasure out of messing with people's emotions even his supposed allies." Katherine explained.

"That's what he did to your sister?" Elena guessed.

"Yes." Katherine sighed sadly. "I wasn't there and she needed me. When I found out what had happened to her I was livid. Shinichi used his own girls to drive the town's people mad with paranoia. He had a partner at that time. By the time I arrived home nearly every women in the town was possessed and those that weren't were going mad."

"What happened?" Elena asked.

"My parents and my sister were dead and I was pissed. I did what I do best I used the man I loved to turn me so I could get revenge for my sister. A witch friend of mine explained that you need to cut off their tail to kill them. I knew I wouldn't be strong enough human. So I turned and went back to Mystic Falls. I killed Shinichi's partner his sister while he watched. Needless to say he doesn't take it so well when people turn his games around on him. Things got really crazy the town was at war. Everyone was fighting and no one even knew why. Shinichi had a few vampires under his control and started turning the town's people publicly. I fought him several times but couldn't kill him. I was very young at the time though. Eventually the man I mentioned came and somehow managed to banish Shinichi from our world. I hoped forever. Cleary I was wrong." Katherine explained taking a deep breath.

"He wants revenge for his sister." Elena theorized.

"Yes." Katherine nodded. "And he's going to try to get it through you."

"Why me?" Elena asked.

"He wanted me put away and started going after your friends and family. I don't know when or how he planned on bringing me into it. But I assume he decided to torture you simply because you look like me. He assumed it would hurt me if he hurt you." Katherine theorized.

"Would it?' Elena asked then felt her face grow red for even daring to ask her that. This was diabolical Katherine the centuries year old vampire. She may have said she didn't want Elena dead but that didn't mean she cared.

"Yes it would." Katherine replied without flinching. "You're my blood Elena. I'm not okay with you being used or messed with because of things I did."

"Thanks." Elena said sighing a breath of relief.

Katherine just nodded and smiled slightly.

"Can I ask you an unrelated question about your past?" Elena asked.

"Shoot." Katherine said.

"When did you have a baby?"

"Before I turned, I got pregnant; I was a loose girl privileged, spoiled and wild. My parents were devastated. My father was afraid to lose his standing in the community so he faked my death and sent me to stay with an aunt. That's where I met my first Bennett witch. When I decided to turn and avenge my family. I left my baby with her and she promised to watch out for her and my blood line. Surprisingly enough that continued through the years. One Bennett decedent after another was drawn to my side and now yours." Katherine murmured.

"Bonnie and I are best friends. But I try not to use her for her magic." Elena shook her head. "We struggled for a little while. She really hates vampires."

"Yes but she still will do anything to protect you. She led you to me right?" Katherine said with a knowing smile.

"I can tell you more about my past whenever you want. It definitely goes beyond the Salvatore brothers." Katherine offered.

"I'd like that." Elena said realizing it was true. "But we have to go. I have to get back to Damon."

"Elena...we can't go rushing in to save him, that's going to be what Shinichi expects you to do. " Katherine chided her. "Besides you've shared blood with Damon right?"

"Yes." Elena blushed. "Why?"

"That means you have a blood bond with him. If he's hurt or in danger you're going to know trust me" Katherine said.

"Really would that be the same for him then?' Elena said her eyes wide. "He must have sensed you drinking from me? He must be freaked out!"

"I doubt it." Katherine shook her head. "You said the sheriff shot him with vervain right? If he was unconscious he wouldn't have felt you. Plus you were only panicked for a second before I realized what was happening and fed you my blood."

Elena sighed and suddenly touched her neck. She glanced in the mirror and smiled seeing Damon's mark was still there.

"So what do we do?" Elena asked sinking into the couch. "I can just sit around here while Damon is locked up waiting to feel if he's in danger."

"We're going to need to come up with a plan." Katherine said. "And we're going to need to get creative."

Isobel was lying in bed trying to get a short nap in and clear her thoughts when she heard a soft knock at her door.

"Mason?" She said rubbing her eyes as she opened the door.

"Can I come in?" He asked.

She nodded and ushered him inside shutting the door behind them.

"You tailed Stefan?" she asked in a low whisper.

"He's not here." Mason nodded. "It's not good Isobel."

"What did you see?" She asked her eyes narrowing.

"I followed him to the police station. He was talking to Shinichi begging him to let him kill Damon." Mason sighed.

"What did Shinichi say?" Isobel asked trying to remain calm.

"He told him to be patient, he said soon Stefan when the pieces are all in place. He's a creepy little dude." Mason said running his hands through his hair.

"So Stefan wants to kill Damon?" Isobel sighed. "I'm not surprised. But this is going to destroy Elena."

"We can't let it happen." Mason agreed.

"How are we going to stop him?" Isobel groaned.

"I have no idea." Mason said looking frustrated. "That's not all I saw either. One of Shinichi's girls left with Stefan after he was done talking to Shinichi. He started drinking her blood in an ally."

"So he traded in bunnies for cheerleaders huh," Isobel smirked.

"Hardly funny," Mason shuddered. "I had to watch that scene. I couldn't blow our cover."

"It really disturbed you?" Isobel asked a curious expression on her face.

"It uh…" Mason stuttered.

Isobel's phone starting ringing. "Saved by the bell," She muttered picking it up and glancing at the screen, "Looks like she made it."

"Hello Katherine." Isobel said as she answered the phone.

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