Chapter 29

"I told you. I've come back from the future to save you and Stefan before that vile creature makes you like her," I repeated.

"But . . . but . . ." was all he got out, as his eyes continued to dart between me and her.

"Do you want to spend the rest of eternity killing people for their blood or would you rather be with a living, breathing girl, who wants you as more than a temporary diversion?" I asked quietly. Damon had told me once how Katherine had made him watch while she fed on a stranger and his coachman on the road just outside of Mystic Falls. Hopefully, this human version of Damon would still feel revulsion for her act.

He hesitated for almost a minute while continuing to stare at Katherine and Stefan, who were still blissfully unaware of their current audience. Finally, he asked, "So what do you want me to do?"

"You need to go get Stefan and bring him back here without letting Katherine know what is going on. She is an old, very powerful vampire. If she finds me here, she will certainly kill me or do something even worse. And she might just kill you and Stefan, too, out of simple spite. I have certainly seen her do things like that before."

"You know her up in the future?" Damon asked, no longer seeming to question my impossible story. But then if he was willing to admit vampires existed, how much harder would witches and time-travel be?

"Yeah. I've only know of her for a little over a year, but in that time she has become the bane of my existence. She seems to take particular joy in pretending to be me and then fucking with my family and friends. It's nice to turn the tables on her for once."

Damon actually let out a startled gasp at my words and for a second I was afraid it would be picked up by Katherine's superhuman hearing. In these highly proper times, Damon had probably never heard a crude word from a woman before - and certainly not from his precious Katherine. But simply seeing her from a distance was enough to push my buttons.

I grinned up at Damon. "I think you will find my times an interesting place. Women are not helpless damsels anymore."

He continued to stare at me.

Finally, I placed my hand against his back. "Go get your brother. We have less than two hours before the doorway back to my home closes. And it is located out at the cemetery near Fell's Church, so it will take some time to get there." I gave him a small push.

I could see a thousand questions forming in his eyes, but then he merely nodded and strode out into the garden while I pulled back so my shiny silk gown would be less likely to be spotted.

Damon had covered maybe a quarter of the distance to the gazebo when I noticed a commotion closer to the back of the house. Carefully, I leaned further out from my hiding place to see what was going on; afraid it might be the start of the Council's activities. But that didn't seem to be the case. Instead I saw a striking, tall blonde move into view. She was wearing a shimmering pale yellow gown - the upper half of which seemed to be almost painted on her body before the lower portion billowed out into a wide skirt. Her face wasn't well lit and I think it wasn't until I noticed the two men with her that I realized it was Caroline, Harry, and Lester. Since I had connected with Damon, I had almost forgotten about the others. And I certainly hadn't expected them to show up here in full costume for the ball. Nor, even if they did show up, did I expect Caroline to immediately go striding off in Katherine's direction. Did she think that was me out there with Stefan? If so, she would know her mistake the second Katherine didn't recognize her.

I couldn't see anything to do but hang back. Caroline might be able to extricate them from this situation, but if I went barging out there, things couldn't do anything but escalate. I tightened my grip on my hidden weapon and then, needing to be closer to what was going on, I began working my way towards the back of the garden while staying under the cover of the trees.

Damon was on a converging path with Caroline, Harry, and Lester. They met up about thirty feet short of the gazebo. They paused for about thirty seconds, certainly less than a minute, but it was enough time to allow me to complete my trek to the back of the garden. Pausing under the closest bit of cover to the gazebo I dared risk, I could see Caroline and Damon speaking, but they were too far away from my position to hear anything. But I knew they were definitely close enough to Katherine for her to hear every word. As I watched her stare intently at Damon and Caroline, I just had to hope Caroline didn't say anything wrong. Then hoping Katherine's attention was fully absorbed, I crept forward until I was right up to the back edge of the gazebo.

Caroline, Damon, Harry, and Lester walked up to the gazebo together. They paused right before the two steps leading to the raised platform with Damon and Caroline standing slightly in front of the other two.

"Miss Katherine, Stefan, may I present Her Grace, Caroline, the Countess of Dracul. Countess, this is Miss Katherine Pierce and my brother, Stefan Salvatore," said Damon by way of introduction while giving a curt nod towards both women.

I almost burst out laughing at the Countess Dracul title, which definitely would have given me away. I knew the name Dracula wouldn't be associated with vampires for another thirty years until Bram Stoker wrote his famous novel, but using it did perfectly fit Caroline's sometimes goofy sense of humor just as the Writer on her vest back at Buckingham Palace had. I just hoped she could keep a straight face.

"Countess," said Katherine almost frostily. I didn't know if she could sense Caroline was another vampire, or she simply hated having another woman in her presence who was equally striking.

Caroline nodded regally and then gesture to the two men with her. "This is my escort, Harry Windsor, and my solicitor, James Lester."

As Caroline spoke, I saw Harry fighting to keep a straight face. Lester was just displaying the faux bored expression I had seen so often over the last seventeen days.

Then Caroline's suddenly acquired accent sank in. It sounded distinctly Eastern European and unlike anything I had heard from her before. After thinking about it for a moment, I decided it had to be related to the enchanted language pebbles we both had been carrying since the first evening back in Lexi and Rachel's cabin. I had never thought of using it to add an accent rather than cancel out an accent, but it had to be possible somehow. I knew Katherine was originally from Bulgaria, which was in the same general area as Transylvania, if that is what Caroline was going for. Hopefully, Caroline would be equally convincing if Katherine decided to test her by using her native tongue. Of course, since Katherine was pretending to be a young girl from Atlanta, she would have a difficult time explaining how she knew that language.

"What brings you to Mystic Falls, Countess Dracul?" asked Stefan. "We would seem to be off the beaten path for nobility, particularly with the War."

This was the first time I had had the opportunity to hear Stefan's voice since arriving back here. And he sounded so, so young. Studying his face, it somehow looked different, too. I knew he would be turned into a vampire this very night, if I wasn't successful in getting him through the anomaly. So the one hundred sixty year old version I would first meet in the distant future wasn't a single day older, but that version struck me as a lot older. Perhaps even if his physical appearance didn't change, little things like posture and attitude did.

This Damon seemed younger, too, however not to the extent of Stefan. Perhaps being twenty-four when he was turned made a big difference compared to being seventeen like when Stefan was turned. My Stefan had attended high school with me, yet he never quite seemed to fit in. But this Stefan struck me as an utterly ordinary high school aged kid. The little voice in the back of my head suddenly wondered whether I could be happy with someone in high school after everything I had experienced during the last few weeks and months. Oh, I was only seventeen myself, but after training with Becker's commandos and battling predators and dinosaurs, I no longer felt like the same girl I had been on that long ago day when my parents had died in the car crash.

"Please, call me Caroline. Using all my titles seems so bourgeois while I am here in America," replied Caroline. "And to answer your question, Mister Lester is here looking for potential locations for my father to relocate our family and the family business. The old country is so overrun by insurrection, bandits, and creatures of the night like werewolves that America, even at war, seems like a safer place in comparison."

I saw Stefan's eyes dart to Katherine at the werewolf remark. For a second I wondered if he was going to ask if they had vampires back in Caroline's country, but instead he asked. "So what business is your father in, Caroline?"

I watched as Caroline's gaze shifted from Stefan towards Katherine.

"Oh, my father's business is not as important at this moment as who my father is. Well, technically, he is not my actual father. Ah, what is the word in English I am looking for? It is not exactly step-father, no, I think the word I am looking for is sire. Perhaps, Katherine, you have heard of him. His name is Niklaus and I believe he is your worst nightmare."

I had edged around the gazebo until I could see Katherine and Stefan more in profile rather than from the back. Now I could clearly see a brief shot of fear race across Katherine's face. But in an instant it was hidden behind the vampire mask of dark veins, angry red eyes, and protruding fangs.

"I will kill you and your friends and be long gone before HE is anywhere near here," Katherine rasped out in a scarily dark tone.

I took this as my cue; Caroline had her full attention, as I stepped out from where I had been hiding along the side of the gazebo.

"Actually, Katherine, or should I say Katerina Petrova, I believe at this moment it is not Klaus, but I who am your worst nightmare."

Her eyes just barely had time to boggle at my sudden unexpected mirror-image like appearance before I pulled the trigger on Abby's EMD gun. I couldn't risk giving her time to recover from the shock of seeing me, so I fired with the gun still in the deep pocket of my hoopskirt. At its full-power setting it burned an eight inch diameter hole through the skirt, but I didn't care; I wasn't going back into the ball.

As Katherine's body collapsed to the floor of the gazebo, her arms and legs convulsing erratically like someone hit by a taser in a cop show - only a hundred times worse, Stefan's eyes darted between Katherine and me. I wanted to explain what was going on, but I couldn't risk taking the time. I had no idea how long the shot from the EMD would keep her down. I had to be sure she was neutralized before we could pause for explanations.

By the time I mounted the two steps, it seemed like the violence of her reaction was already decreasing. I quickly pulled the gun from the ruined remains of my dress and shot her again. Then shifting the gun to my left hand, I pulled out the first of the small vervain-laced wooden rods that had been holding my hair up.

I had just bent down to stab it through her chest when Stefan grabbed my descending arm.

"What are you doing? Who are you? How can you look exactly like Katherine?" Stefan demanded almost wildly.

End of Chapter 29

Author's Note:

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Duane