Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries / The Originals, or any of the characters, plot-lines, dialogues from the shows or books

However, I do own Catherine Matthews/ my very own Katherine Peirce, her backstory, the storyline, and any additional characters that do not belong to The Vampire Diaries or The Originals. Characters in this story may not have the same opinion as you. These characters are all fictional.


The first thing I saw when I woke up was Enzo's face so close to mine that I punched him in the face on a reflex, and scrambled back a bit, letting out a yelp and hitting my head into the headboard in the process.

"Fuck!" I swore for being that startled in my morning haze. I completely forgot about the rescue and massacre I partook in the other day for a second there.

"Bloody hell!" Enzo cursed, setting back his broken nose. "You've got a mean punch, gorgeous."

"What the fuck are you doing in my room?" I cried out.

"I am waiting for you to wake up, of course," Enzo said as if it was so damn obvious.

"Why?"

"You told me to hold off my fight until you have a good night's rest, remember?" Enzo reasoned. "And now that you had your beauty sleep, I am gonna go get my revenge on my old friend." And in a blink, he was gone, and there was a scream from downstairs, making me groan.

One peaceful, nonviolent day is all I ask. Is that too much to ask in this stupid world.

I made my way downstairs, still clad in the oversized tee I wore to the bed other night, hearing another shriek. I stood at the bottom of the stairs as I witnessed the scene in front of me. Damon was tied to a chair, which I think Enzo had tied him to even before he got into my room. Although, I am still surprised Enzo waited for this long.

I slept, suspecting a debate and argument between the two vampires. But Enzo stayed silent the whole time after we got home, not responding to any query from a stunned Damon. And once the raven-haired vampire decided he won't get any answers from Enzo, he turned towards me as the next best thing, but Enzo just snapped Damon's neck and calmly looked up to me, saying, "Go on, Love. Sleep the day off and after a nice hot shower. I will take care of Damon for now. We will have a busy day tomorrow."

So, I reckon he is just snapping Damon's neck since last night, not giving him a chance to wake up.

"A little help here?" Damon asked me with a haggard expression, his hand was in a weird shape, and it was healing in the same way. He probably has to break it once again to heal it properly, I thought as I gave him a once over. There were also a few cuts and gashes on his arms, wrists, and cheeks, and the whole room smelled like vervain, and so I presumed the British Vampire dipped the blade in the vervain stack I kept in the kitchen before he got to work.

"Can you not kill him, Enzo," I said with a grimace as Enzo broke yet another bone. "I kinda like him, and I really don't want to answer all the awkward questions his brother and girlfriend will have for me."

"It's quite hard. But I will try for you, gorgeous," Enzo smiled charmingly at me and turned back to his work, while I just shrugged my shoulders at Damon, stating, that's all I can do for you, buddy.

I automatically let out a wince when Enzo gripped Damon's neck tightly, with a pleasing face, bending down towards him.

"See, Damon. That's the sound you hear when I break your cricoid cartilage and trachea," Enzo explained to his old cellmate. "But don't worry, you won't die temporarily for it. I will have to fracture your cervical bones for that," He chuckles to himself, darkly, before saying, "It's funny what you learn about your body when it's taken apart like a bloody automobile right before your eyes."

"What do you want?" Damon's voice was scratchy as he spoke, his bones already healing. "You want me to feel guilty that I couldn't save you?"

"No, Damon. I don't care if you feel guilty or not," Enzo said with gritted teeth. "While you were out running wild, I had only one single thought, that I'd have the pleasure of killing you. But now that I promised the gorgeous over there, I will just have to manage with making your life hell," Enzo smiled, "Sometimes you've got to work with what you've got, right?"

"What the hell is going on here?" Stefan announced his presence just then. He was out all night the other day, doing something I don't know anything about, so he didn't catch up on a few things.

"Oh! Look at that. Is this your little brother, Damon?" Enzo drawled as he looked at Stefan.

"Leave him alone, Enzo," Damon said. "He doesn't know anything about us."

"He doesn't?" Enzo asked, walking to a confused Stefan. "Well, have a seat then, mate. Been waiting for seventy years to tell my story," he said, urging Stefan to sit on one of the couches.

Stefan would've probably put on a fight and saved his brother, no questions asked, if he hadn't seen me leaning over the staircase casually. And so, as Enzo started his story, right from the beginning of his birth, I decided it was more than enough bloodshed during this early in the morning, and went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee for myself.

The bloody state of Damon brought back a few memories from the other day. It was the first time I witnessed a massacre. The screams of the victims, and the sound when their bodies fall to the ground with a thud -lifeless- one after the other. I honestly didn't know what to think about it. What to feel about it. I mean, sure I saw Mikael ripping the hearts out of Klaus's hybrids, and Elijah decapitate Trevor, and I, myself, have experienced torture on first hand in the hands of a thousand-year-old Hybrid, but yesterday was different. It felt different.

Killing people in this world is almost as common as going to Walmart. So, every time I watched someone die in the show, I was like, eh. I was the same way, even when I came here. I mean, come on! It's a bloody TV show.

I guess I believed deep in my subconscious that I was in some sort of coma due to the malfunction of the TV, or I am just on the floor drooling all over myself. Later, as days went by, I came up with a new theory that it might be a witch thing - that somewhere, someone got a spell wrong, and I am paying the price for their stupidity.

However, in all three cases, there remained a possibility for me to come back to my own place and body at the very end. So, I just went on with the shit. I played, I planned, I plotted, and I even killed. I did everything with the feasibility that even if I were to fail or die in the little game I've been playing, I would go back to my world. But then, without even realizing, I started caring for people around me little by little. I started seeing them as more than some cartoon characters that entertain people. And worst of all, I started letting them in. And I don't normally do that. I don't let people in. It just wasn't me.

Who would be dumb enough to trust fictional characters? Right...Me! Maybe that was the reason why I didn't react as strongly as I should when Tessa revealed I couldn't go back to my world. Something must be seriously wrong with me. And I know the one person that could help me with my dilemma without blinking an eye.

With that thought in my mind, I went back to my room and had a quick shower. When I went back downstairs, I heard all the three male vampires still having their heart to heart, about trust, guilt, and betrayal.

"Guys, I am heading out to take care of something. So, try not to kill yourselves, alright?" I announced my presence.

"Where are you going?" Stefan was the first one to ask.

"To talk to my Greek Psychiatrist about something," I said vaguely. "Anyways, behave while I am out. Love you." And just like that, I stepped out, not answering any of their curious questions.

Shit! Did I just say, Love You, to all three fictional vampires in the room, and actually meant it? Oh, God! I am going full-on loony tunes mode now.

Wait! Maybe this is a side effect I am starting to show due to Qetsiyah's spell. A decrease in my IQ levels, and over time I will start losing my memories, and the next thing I know, I am brain dead.


I made my way to the top of the mountain, walking up along the waterfall, taking deep breaths to calm my nerves as I went. Once I reached the top of the hill, I fished out my phone and looked around the place to see if anyone is present in the hearing vicinity. When I was sure there wasn't, I dialed Melantha, taking one last deep breath.

"Catherine," The grump old lady answered the phone in Greek after a few rings, "I am attending to a customer right now. Can I call you later?"

"Mel, I think I am going to die, real soon," I blurted out. There was silence on the other end, and then I heard Melantha shooing out the customers from her voodoo shop.

"What happened?" Melantha inquired.

"I...I am starting to have feelings," I said, earning an exasperated sigh from the old witch. But I paid her no heed as I continued. "I have been saying I love you so casually and actually meaning it most of the time."

"Omorfe Kopela (my beautiful child)," Melantha exclaimed, "You have fallen in love."

"Wha...what? No!" I cried out, slipping back into English before to enthusiastic witch could plan my wedding.

"Is it a boy? Or A girl," Melantha asked excitedly.

"Mel," I stressed out. "I am not in love with anyone."

"Well, you just said-" She began, but I cut her off.

"Platonically, Mel. I have been saying it in the most innocent way possible. Like people generally say to their friends, or siblings and family," I explained.

"Oh!" She sounded dejected for a second before questioning. "Well, why are you worried about such a silly thing?"

"Why am I worried about it?" I asked incredulously. "I am worried because something is absolutely wrong with me," I all but shouted. "You know just how many people I can count on now. You, Stefan, Damon, Rose, Hayley, the Cresent Wolves, Caroline, Alaric, Jenna, that little bugger Jeremy, and even Enzo, who I just met the other day for gods sake," I exclaimed.

"My mind is playing tricks with me. I think it's the side effect of the body-swapping spell Qetsiyah performed on me. I mean, I am not even worried that I am not going back to my world," I said, freaking out. "I think the next stage of this illness is Death, Mel," I whispered.

"You are not dying," Melantha said in a deadpanned tone. "It's Perfectly Normal to love, to have friends."

"But I am not normal, am I?" I retorted. "I am like the very definition of trust issues."

"But you trusted me, didn't you?" She shot back. "You showed me who you really are. You shared your weird story with me. You cried your eyes out in front of me and showed me your most vulnerable and human side."

"Mel, I thought we decided not to talk about it," I said when she reminded me about one of the most embarrassing moments in my life.

"What I am trying to say is - It's okay to care. It's okay to love someone and be loved without asking and expecting anything in return," Melantha continued. "You are a wonderful woman, Catherine. You stumbled, you fell, you rose. And you did everything on your own. Why is it hard for you to believe people love you and that you love them back?"

"People don't love me, Mel," I said. "I manipulated everyone around me to love me. That just makes me a good liar and a very unlovable human or vampire in my case."

"Young lady, if I were in front of you right now, I would have smacked you on the head with my wooden spatula," Melantha interrupted me, fiercely. "Yes, you manipulated them. But you had to do that in order to survive. It was not even your problem, to begin with. The real Katherine left shit behind, and you had to clean up her mess for taking her place. But trust me, it's not as easy as you think it is to change one's opinion on someone. Especially hate and distrust. And no matter what you might believe, Catherine, these people might've fallen for your bullshit, but that doesn't mean they trusted you just by hearing the creative sob story you've come up with. They trusted you - for you. Catherine Matthews. They saw you and cared for you for the times you really cared for them without even realizing it. They like you for the weird quirks you have and the reckless behavior you seem to display at the most ridiculous times."

She took a deep breath, before continuing her lecture, calmly, "Catherine..." she sighed. "When will you start believing you are not a terrible person?"

"I killed someone yesterday," I whispered after a moment, my voice small. "And I...I didn't feel guilty about it."

"He must be a dick then," Melantha was quick to defend.

"Yes, he was," I agreed. "But what if the next person isn't. What if the next one is an innocent bystander."

"Child," She started. "This world is very different from yours. It might be good to watch on a TV, but once you truly experience it, only then can people understand the struggles. It's a world where life is full of pain, full of suffering and horror, full of death and tears, more so than it is in yours. The supernatural community is just a game of survival. Everyone around you will always be striving to be at the top of the food chain, leaving death and destruction in their wake. Trying to be human is the most difficult thing for people like us. Yet, we try. We try to think with our hearts than our minds, as much as possible. We try because that's who we are- deep down, we are humane. Some of us might leave it behind in order to go further high up, while some others carry their guilt along with them, drowning in it, aiming to do better."

"I am not saying you won't make mistakes in the long life you will have now. Because you will. You will always think back to the times where you could've done better, but didn't. And my best advice - Let it go. At least, try to let go. The pain, the guilt, the heartbreak, and anger," Melantha said.

"I couldn't do it," she confessed aloud. "Nor do I have that strength now. I always knew I will die with a heart full of anger, revenge, and guilt. And I don't want you to have that life. You are a Vampire now. You will always be, until the day you die. That might be 100 years from now or 500 years more. And I don't want you to hold grudges till then, nor do I want you to drown in the guilt for the things you might've to do in the future. I want you to live, Catherine. Live a life you always thought you will never have. Even if you don't find someone to love, I need you to love yourself above all else."

"So, what I am trying to say from my long arsed speech is, I don't care who you killed or who you will kill in the future. No matter what, I will always love you. And you will always be the daughter I couldn't have." She spoke softly, making me smile.

"I love you too," I spoke.

Melantha's tone turned cheerful at that as she said, "Now that you've got everything out of your chest, tell me about all the devilry you've been up to?"


So, Apparently, It's been two years since I started this story. And so, on the second anniversary of Catherine Matthews, I decided to write this chapter.

Thank You, guys.

For all the love and patience.

IamMHR.