She tried to close the door, but it was too late. The other brunette halted it midway with her hand and pushed the door open, sauntering into the middle of the room, her heels clicking on the floor.

Elena could feel fear flooding her veins.

"Katherine." She was slightly disappointed by the shaking of her voice and cleared her throat.

"Hello Elena." The vampire said as she turned around with a smirk, before moving to the bar on the side of the room and pouring herself a drink.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, she knew there was a good chance she wouldn't leave anytime soon.

"I could ask you the same thing." She said with a smirk. Sometimes, Elena wondered how they could look so different when they were identical.

She reached in her back pocket, grabbing her phone as Katherine was making herself a cocktail.

Katherine had a way of doing that, Elena realised, invading a space while making it look like she owned it. It was part of what made her so fearsome, the casual disregard, the almost impulsive, yet always rational actions she took. Despite how similar they were, it was what set her apart from Klaus. He preferred ruthlessness while she preferred her cunning.

"There's no point you know," Elena froze but Katherine's attention wasn't on her, "no one's coming to save you."

"Do I need to be saved?" She asked cautiously, voice wavering slightly.

"Not really, no. So don't even try to fight." She swallowed, not loosening her hold on the phone, pulling it out quickly instead.

"I'm not gonna fight you Katherine, I'm not stupid."

"Aren't you? I mean why else would you be here with Klaus?" Elena frowned at the words surprised, Katherine didn't care about her.

"Did Damon send you?" She flipped through the contacts, and was about to make the call when the phone was ripped out of her hands.

"I'm not Damon's little errand boy, and unlike most of the population of that little town, I don't actually care about you." Katherine was frowning down at her phone. "Were you about to call Klaus?"

The other doppelgänger looked at her, frowning as she walked near her, and Elena had to suppress the urge to bolt. When there was barely an inch remaining between them, she tilted her head, looking at her as though seeing her for the first time.

Then, a look of pure surprise came over her face, eyes widening and the usual careless demeanour slipping.

"You're sleeping with Klaus." She sounded almost awed as she said it.

This was the first time it was actually said aloud. Leave it to Katherine to make her feel as though she was being hit with a tonne of bricks.

"Looks like you do have that Petrova fire after all. Do Damon and Stefan know?"

"I thought you didn't care about me." She managed to say, wishing she had a stake in her hand.

"No, I don't. I'm just not sure whether to laugh at your stupidity or be impressed by your gal. Even I didn't sleep with him."

"Just Elijah."

"Someone's been reading up on their family history. Congratulations Elena, you finally found a man who wasn't with me first." She was back to herself now, and Elena could practically see the wheels turning in her head.

"Can you please just get to the point?"

"The big bad wolf slept with the innocent little lamb instead of killing her." She said running a finger through Elena's hair. "Or after killing her. Can't say I blame you though." Her hand was tracing Elena's collarbone now. "The best deals are made in bed, just didn't know you had it in you."

Unlike Klaus' attempts at intimacy, Katherine's actions were clearly done to intimidate her.

The casual touches, the constant power plays, the mocking tone, all made her feel powerless in a way only Katherine could illicit out of her.

She put it out of her mind, instead focusing on her own eyes staring at her.

She didn't deign the statement with an answer but her face probably gave her away and Katherine looked disappointed.

Belatedly Elena realised that she was impressed earlier.

"Oh. It isn't part of a deal, is it? You actually feel something for him. I would understand Elijah but really, Klaus?"

"Look, just tell me what you want!" She snapped in frustration.

One moment she was standing by the doorway, the next she was against the wall, her neck in a vice like grip.

"You don't give me orders Elena. I'm not some stupid teenager to fawn over you." She was gasping, her throat burning as tears stung the back of her eyes. "Unfortunately, I can't kill you, but if you try that again I will hurt you."

She let her go then, and Elena fell to the floor, gasping for breath.

"You won't."

"Why not? Don't tell me it's because of Klaus. He just needs you alive, not intact."

"You may be right, but you don't want me to tell him you were here, do you?" She asked as she got up, irritated about being pushed around.

Katherine, however, was impassive.

"You won't tell him I was here."

"And why is that?" If Klaus always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone, Katherine was two steps ahead. It was probably the only way for her to survive.

"Because you are saint Elena, and you want to save that boring history teacher of yours." Her eyes snapped to her own smirking face, the expression unfamiliar.

"What do you know?"

"Oh, I don't know anything. But I have friends who do." She frowned at her.

"You have friends?" Elena could see the chink in her armour, a minute look of longing that passed before she looked unaffected again.

"Something like that. And they want to help."

"Why should I trust anything you say?" Katherine shrugged, moving to finish her drink. "Why would any of your friends want to help Ric?"

"They want something in exchange you silly girl. How are you even alive?"

"They want my blood?"

"Something like that, at least you're not a complete idiot." Katherine walked towards her again, digging into her pocket and handing her a smooth card. "Tomorrow night, it's a one time offer. Although, I doubt you'd miss the opportunity."

Katherine started walking out and Elena turned around, "what if I don't need their help?"

"Then don't show up. All I had to do was make sure you got it. You might want to be careful though, the innocent lamb always dies in the end." She bristled at the comparison, but Katherine left before she could say anything, closing the door behind her, and Elena walked to the bar, still shaking slightly.

No matter how much time passed, interactions with Katherine always left her feeling out of sorts.

She looked down at the card, sleek and black, with the symbol of an owl in white. When she turned it around, there was a date and place on the back.

She frowned down at the card, before stuffing it in her back pocket.

She wasn't going to need it anyway.

She poured herself a glass of scotch trying to calm her frayed nerves. She wondered if she would tell Klaus about the other doppelgänger being there, but the idea of it didn't quite sit right with her.

She wasn't sure where they stood, and she wasn't ready analyse Katherine's statement about her feelings, no matter how obvious they seemed. Whatever it was that her and Klaus had now, it didn't erase everything he had done. And while she wasn't fond of her vampire doppelgänger, she also didn't want to throw her under the bus, so to speak.

After all, she was running because she narrowly avoided a fate that Elena suffered.

And Elena, probably more than anyone else, understood what that fate looked like.

Even if she didn't want to think about it. Especially when she could still remember how safe she felt in his arms.

Wondered how she got to that point.

She spent more time than was wise at the bar, although she didn't drink too much knowing she had to go out in the evening. She could see the sun on horizon, the time between the sun setting and moon rising, when the sky looked like it was on fire.

It reminded her of herself.

She got up, feeling only slightly lightheaded and went to get dressed.


"I thought you'd enjoy this." Klaus said as he led her into the wide open room, arms outstretched in a way that was just him.

"An art gallery?" She said looking around the place with a frown. "You're the one that enjoys art."

"And you don't?"

"I'm not a huge fan."

He had insisted they visit someplace nice before they went to meet his old friend. Who Klaus insisted on calling a friend despite the fact that he thought the vampire was plotting to kill him. She wondered what he would do if it turned out to be true.

Thought that it would maybe have to do with how close they used to be.

"Oh, you prefer the written word, don't you?" He asked her with some displeasure, drawing her out of her thoughts.

"I do, why do you say that as if it's a bad thing?" She asked as they stopped in front of a painting she didn't understand, something abstract.

"Well, your interests matching my brothers are of no benefit to me."

"I... are you jealous?" She asked as they moved in to the next painting, her heels clicking on the floor.

This one she did understand. It was the profile of a woman standing on the edge of something, half in the light, half in the shadows. Her face was turned towards the admirer who had sketched her vividly although her eyes were pointed towards the shadow.

She couldn't help but appreciate the parallel, the need to stay in the light, yet the attraction towards the darkness. Even her feet, one pointed towards the viewer, the other towards the darkness, were depicting her conflict.

She felt a strange sympathy for the woman in the profile.

She turned away from it, knew that he had already realised what was going through her head from the way he was looking at her, and caught the eye of a woman staring at them.

She knew they made an odd pair, her in a beige cocktail dress while he was in his usual jacket and Henley.

Still, as odd as they were, part of her, a rather significant part in fact, was relieved they weren't in Mystic Falls anymore. They would never have been able to do this back in home.

"Of course not love. Just fascinated as to how you are more like my brother than myself." Despite his words, she could hear the insecurity in his voice. Almost felt vindicated that she wasn't the only one feeling that way.

"I'm pretty sure the saying is that opposites attract."

She wanted to spare his feelings, and it had become easier for now. She wondered if he would do the same for her.

"Yes it is, isn't it?" She had seen that look before, the one he was giving her then, and could feel the heat on her neck.

"Klaus?"

"What?" He had the audacity to smirk at her as though he wasn't leering at her.

"We're in public."

"Yes, I noticed what with all the people around and the fact that I drove us here."

"Then why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what? As if I want to devour you. I do."

"You can't just do that." She said, attempting to keep her voice steady at his words. "We have to actually talk at some point instead of just..." she resolved to vague gestures as he looked at her in amusement.

"It isn't as if I disagree with you love. Do you want to talk about it now? The one weekend we have away from everyone." He asked and she looked towards him. He wasn't exactly wrong, and as much as she was in the city for her family, she wasn't in the gallery for them.

Selfish or not, she was there for herself.

"No."

"Well then, what would you like to do?"

Nothing they could discuss in decent company, she realised, as they headed into restroom, locking themselves in and soon they were making out at the counter all thoughts of wrongness and decency leaving her mind as he claimed her lips with his own.

It was as if she was a different person with him, her body moulding into his pliantly in a way that it never had with anyone else.

He pushed her dress up over her thighs, mouth and teeth scraping over her neck, surprisingly gentle as his fingers danced over her body, playing with her as though she was fragile. She almost yelled that she wasn't.

Although this time they were more quick and desperate, he was still holding her gently, as if he didn't want to hurt her, and it was jarring still, no matter how many times he'd shown her this side of himself.

She could feel herself losing in the way he held her, the taste of his lips, the heat of his skin. She could feel her hands shaking as she undid his belt, the thought of being caught both making her nervous and spurring her on.

He pushed her panties aside, and all thoughts left her mind when he entered her, walls stretching to accommodate him, her body still unused to the weight of him inside her.

She bit his shoulder as he moved in her, the only way to silence her moans, and held on to him.

She could feel the cool glass against the top of her head when she reached her peak, legs holding his waist in a vice like grip, before falling limply to the side.

When they were both breathing hard, and he had pulled free of her clenching walls, she looked up at him, and something chilling went through her. The vulnerability she felt around him never ceased to surprise her, although now it had more to do with how she felt around him than the fear he inspired in her.

It turned her head, how everything she felt for him was intense in a way it wasn't for anyone else and maybe-

"It seems we've taken up more time than I thought we would."

"Isn't that generally a good thing?" It slipped out before she could think over it too much, and he looked at her in mild surprise.

"Well, generally it is. However, it seems we're quite late for dinner." She got down from the counter, adjusting her dress, before turning around and washing her hands.

"So I guess we should leave." Her legs were still slightly unsteady when their eyes met in the mirror, and she could almost feel the smugness in him.

"We could take longer." He suggested as he moved towards her, pulling her into his body, arm wrapped around her middle.

She could see them then, how they almost looked normal, and it was as if her heart could burst with each beat it took around him, warmth spreading through her at his touch.

It was like she was his.

And it scared every cell in her body.


A/N - I'm back, I'm really sorry for the late update, but things have been crazy at work. I'll definitely try and be more particular about updating from here on out.

So, I hope I did Katherine justice, I've never really written her before but her dynamic with Elena is just so interesting.

Let me know what you thought about this chapter! Thanks for reading!