Klaus gently laid her down on his bed and caressed her pale cheek. He was still in a state of shock. Everything had happened too quickly, and soon enough, he had left the warehouse as quickly as he had gotten there. He wasn't even sure if his siblings were still alive. All he knew was that she wasn't.

"Katerina… Can you hear me? Open your eyes."

Katherine didn't answer, not that he expected her to. But he hoped, he hoped she would open her eyes, for him.

But she couldn't open her eyes. There was no breath escaping her lips, and her pulse had long stopped beating. He couldn't admit it to himself. She couldn't be dead. After everything, it couldn't end like this.

He grabbed her shoulders and roughly shook her body, hoping it would wake her. "Katerina, dammit Katherine wake up!" He bit his hand and pressed it to her mouth, desperately hoping her heart would start beating again.

He heard the door open downstairs and three sets of footsteps enter. He sped over to them but only stopped in front of Elijah.

"She's dead," he said bluntly.

"I know."

Elijah put a comforting hand on Klaus's shoulder and sighed before slowly making his way to where Katherine laid. When he saw her lifeless body, he gently put his hand on her cheek and fought back the wave of emotions that flooded into him as he did. He flinched when he felt how cold her skin was compared to her usual, bright warmth. He blinked away the tear that threatened to dwell up in his eye.

"I failed you," he managed to apologize, before quickly leaving the room.

A couple hours later, Elijah opened the door to his brother's art studio, and as he expected, he saw multiple bodies lying in a trail across the room. Klaus's calm face and the shirt he was wearing were both covered in blood, but he didn't seem to care. He was painting quietly with blood from the neck of a woman half-laying on his lap.

Elijah sighed and shook his head. "What are you doing Niklaus?"

"I am painting with the blood of my enemies."

"And are people your enemy?"

"Yes. Either they are working against me, or they are food, and they're worthless."

"You know this is not wise Niklaus. There are still people out there who want to harm you, and are planning so this very moment."

"Great, let them. I will kill them all."

Elijah sighed. "Mikael and Esther are gone for good, by the way. I just wanted to let you know."

"I figured, or else Mikael would have come here already. And you would be dead."

Elijah tightened his jaw. "You know, it's not fatal to show emotions once in a while, Niklaus. When you admit to yourself that you cared about her, you'll feel much better."

Klaus put away his paintbrush and stood up to face his brother. "You know nothing of how I feel."

"I know nothing? Niklaus I loved that girl for 500 years," Elijah muttered, making Klaus avert his eyes with a new saddened expression.

He sighed and slowly made his way out of the room, bumping past Elijah's shoulder before heading in Katherine's direction.

The room was empty and quiet when Klaus held her cold hand wrapped in his own. All conversation, traffic, and white noise had vanished entirely from his line of hearing. All that mattered to him was the two individuals in that room in New Orleans. Right then and there.

"This is my fault," he started. "You deserved better than this, it's the fault of my own stubbornness." He looked down at her and stopped for a second. He couldn't help the immense feeling of guilt building up in his chest. "I may have hated you once, Katerina. But you are as precious to me as my own family. You were one of the few who accepted me, who didn't look down on me for what I have done, and who… Who managed to understand me, and I repaid you like this… I'm sorry. "

He halted suddenly and glanced down in his lap when his hand suddenly moved as if one of her fingers had slightly stirred. He thought it to be his imagination until Katherine suddenly gasped aloud as if she had held her breath for three hours. She sat up quickly and clung onto Klaus' arm as she caught her breath.

"Katerina!" he sighed and pulled her into his embrace without hesitation. He had never believed in God, but the one time he had prayed, God answered.

Her breathing slowed, and she started to relax in his arms. He held her just like that for a short while, just happy that she was back. He couldn't remember the last time he had hugged someone so tight.

After a while, he slowly pushed her away when he realized that she was supposed to be dead.

Katherine furrowed her brows at him and moved her hand to where the bitemark was supposed to be. When her fingers graced the smooth area of her skin and felt no ridges, she smiled. "I'm a vampire."

"No... no, it can't be. It's probably just the blood I fed you."

Katherine raised her brow. "I was dead, Klaus. Blood can't bring someone back to life."

Klaus quickly grabbed her arm and bit her wrist with his non-lethal teeth.

"Ouch! What the hell was that for?" she snarled and snapped her wrist back to herself to look at the wound. As she moved her thumb over it, it began to heal.

"How..." Klaus started, still baffled.

"Elijah," she breathed and met his quizzical look. "Elijah fed me his blood when I was attacked this morning. I still had it in my system when I died."

His eyes darkened. Suddenly all the worry and sorrow he had suffered for her felt useless. "You planned this, didn't you? Why would you be so uncareful? Katerina I needed your blood!"

Katherine got up from the bed and glared at him, shocked that he could even say such a thing. "Why can't you just be happy for me? I get something I want for once!"

She didn't even bother waiting for a response as she stormed out of the room, knowing he would follow right after. She hurried down the stairs towards the storage room, wanting to finish her transition quickly.

"I've been alone all my life, Klaus," she continued when she heard him follow her downstairs. "No friends, no family, but you have siblings who support you no matter what. That's why I need to be a vampire, so I can take care of myself."

"You have me now, you were going to turn after I created the bloodstone! Now the chance to create more hybrids is gone forever. You should have listened to me when I told you not to leave this building!"

Katherine let out a scornful laugh, despite her hurt. "Is that really all you care about? I am alive, I'm living after getting my neck snapped because of your problems, and you just complain about my blood," she snarled and pulled open the door to the storage room.

She quickly found a blood bag and finished it, the returning vampiric powers making her finally feel like herself again. Next to the normal blood bags, she found her own, marked with 'KP' for distinction. She snorted.

"You know what? Go to hell, Klaus," she quickly threw the blood bags to the wall before he could stop her, making her blood splatter everywhere. She picked up the last four and held them tight in her hands. "Here goes your last chance to make your stupid hybrids," she scoffed and squeezed out the last of her precious blood.

Blood dripped down her arms and mouth, and her tears threatened to spill. Klaus was also half-covered in her blood from when she had thrown them on the walls, but he surprisingly didn't flinch. He didn't move at all. She didn't understand. She thought he cared about her in one moment, but he was so cold in the next.

"What is your problem?" he asked in a dangerously low voice.

"You want to know what my problem is? My problem is that I love you, and maybe a little too much so. And it makes me crazy, because I shouldn't love you. You're the reason for everything! And you don't even seem to care about me. You manipulated me into feeling like this, but whatever I do, I can't shake it off."

Klaus's angry expression fell quick, and he calmed down. "I love you too."

As soon as she heard him, she let the empty blood bags drop the floor, and her eyes widened. She hadn't realized what she was saying, her words coming out quicker than her thoughts. She wanted to say she didn't mean it, but she couldn't.

Katherine had always thought Stefan was the one, but it had never been real. She never truly loved him; she loved the idea of being loved by someone like him. Someone so kind and gentle. After all, how could she love someone she could hurt so easily? She knew if she had chosen Stefan that fateful year of 1864, he would have done everything to make her happy, and she had envisioned choosing him again would lead to the same. But it never would.

However, Klaus made her love in another way. She had been in control for the last 500 years. She was always in control… except when she was with him. He only played by his own rules. There was something about Klaus that Stefan could never deliver, not Elijah, not even Damon. With him, she was one, and she couldn't get enough of him no matter if she loved him or loathed him. He was her weakness, no matter how hard she tried to resist him.

"I never stopped," he continued.

She put her hands on her head as it all came crashing down way too fast. "But-"

"But my desire for revenge has overpowered any feelings I've had for you for over 500 years, until now. Until we got a chance to be together again. I realized, I never stopped."

"What does this even mean?" she asked, tears filling her eyes. "We'll never be happy together, it won't work. I shouldn't have said anything."

"You're a vampire now. We have forever to figure things out."

"I just want to be happy," she said, defeated.

"You will be," he promised. "We have been alone for so long, and now we don't have to be. All you need to do is give it a chance. Give us a chance."

Katherine looked back at him as if it was the first time she had met him. She let herself see him in a new light, and it was terrifying. How could she fall for her worst enemy? Was this some kind of messed up fairytale?

"I want to be with you," she rushed to him and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head in the crook of his neck.

Klaus sighed with relief and held her tight yet again. "You'll be happy Katerina, I promise."

Katherine smiled against his neck and took in his infatuating scent. "I do, by the way."

Klaus raised a brow. "You do?"

"I do forgive you. For what you did to me. My family's death will never be justified, but after 500 years the pain is gone… and, I love you."

Klaus smiled against her hair before pulling away, still holding her in his arms as he looked into her eyes. He held onto both sides of her face gently and pulled her lips to his.

Now she smiled as well and ran her hand up from his neck to his hair to pull him closer, intensifying the kiss. He soon slammed her into the wall behind them, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. It didn't hurt, she was a vampire now, and the emotions were only heightened. She wondered if it had felt this good for him the entire time.

Soon they heard a noise that made both their heads turn to face the door to the two onlookers. Kol raised an eyebrow to Rebekah while she just shrugged her shoulders. "Told you that would happen."

"Uhm..." was all Katherine managed to say. Klaus sighed at his siblings, annoyed that they had been interrupted.

"We're a little busy here," he said plainly.

"We were just getting dinner," Kol said, picking up two blood bags from the fridge. "Not our fault you want to have sex all over the place," he said smugly.

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Let's go Kol," she urged and grabbed his arm, dragging him out. "Clean up this place before you leave Nik, it looks like a bloodshed took place here," she said before closing the door behind her.

Klaus watched his siblings leave the room before he turned towards Katherine again. He was going in to kiss her, but she put her hand up, stopping him. "No, I have to go talk to Elijah. He needs to know that I'm okay."

Klaus let out a slight growl. "Fine, I'll be in my room."

Katherine knocked gently at Elijah's open bedroom door, making him turn to her. "Can we talk?" she asked.

"Katerina! You're alive," he breathed, relieved, and pulled her in for a hug. She closed her eyes and smiled before pulling away.

"Better yet, I'm a vampire. Your blood saved me, so I guess I owe you twice now."

"A vampire... Well, I've always thought it was a better look on you."

"No you haven't," she smirked. "You always used to whine about how you miss the old Katerina." Her smile faded slightly. "Which reminds me. Elijah, I need to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"When we were together, why did you never tell me that I was married to Klaus? You kept that from me. I can understand him, but why you?"

Elijah sighed and looked at her with a guilty look. "Back in 1492, after you ran, I swore an oath to Klaus that I would never talk about our past with you. He saw the way I looked at you, and made me swear to keep it hidden if I ever pursued you. And I… I used that to my advantage, because I didn't want you to look at him the same way. I'm sorry."

"It's fine… I already figured as much, but I wanted to hear it from you. And since you were so honest with me, Elijah, I need to be the same with you… I want you to hear this from me, and not from any of your siblings. You deserve to know."

Elijah raised a brow and waited for her to continue.

"Look, I'm not the girl I was in 1492. The sweet, little Katerina you fell in love with is gone. I'm Katherine Pierce. Ruthless, bitchy, a survivor." She paused a second before continuing. "And therefore I think it's time we end this. You'll always have a place in my heart Elijah, but I have..." she sighed, "I have feelings for your brother."

Elijah put his head to the side. He didn't seem surprised. "Which one?" he teased.

Katherine rolled her eyes playfully. "You know which one." She smiled and took his hands. "I love him, Elijah."

Elijah didn't ask why. He didn't question her feelings. That was a part of the reason why Katherine loved him so much. Eventually, he had found the right words to say.

"If you're happy, and my brother is happy, then... I'll not stand in the way of your love. It was I who made the decision to end our relationship, so it's only fair that I accept that you have moved on."

He kissed her forehead.

"Be happy, Katerina."