Chapter 7: This is Reality
Damon drove through the town of Richmond the next day and pulled over on the side of the road before the street that Alice had texted them. Elena took a deep breath, preparing herself. She looked at Damon nervously and he frowned at her. "What? What's wrong?"
He was staring at her face intently. "Did you bring any make up with you?"
"Yeah it's in my purse, why?"
"Your beauty mark…can you cover it?"
Elena pulled down the mirror on the visor. "Shit…yeah, I think I've got some concealer in here." She rummaged through her purse for her make-up bag and quickly applied the concealer to the birthmark, blending it in. "Better?"
Damon smiled. "Perfect. Okay, I'll be here waiting for you." He pulled out his phone and dialed her number. "Stay on the phone with me the whole time, let me know if something's not right and I'll come to you. Keep it in your pocket. If I hang up and call you back…get out."
Elena nodded, accepting the call and putting it in her jacket pocket. As she got out of the car, she took a deep breath and mentally tuned into her sister. Canting her head to the side and leaning in through the open window, she smirked. "How's my hair?" she joked, not anticipating his reaction.
Reaching across, he pulled the mass of curls resting on her back down over her shoulders. He smiled back. "You can do this."
Elena walked around the corner, approaching a loft style building. She buzzed the number Alice gave her, and the door clicked indicating that she granted her access. Her heart pounded in her chest as she took the elevator up to the third floor. When Elena stepped off the lift, she sauntered to the only doors on the level. It was a set of white double doors with intricate carvings in the molding. She knocked, and tried the knob, she raised her brow in surprise.
The room was large; covered in modern art and furniture. The entire back wall was floor to ceiling windows and the hardwood was deep chestnut, and her heels clicked against them, echoing as she crossed the room. She let her fingers coast over the back of the couch, glancing around at the pictures of a couple littered on the side tables.
"Kat!" A tall dark haired girl came running out of a back room dressed in all black. She threw her arms around Elena. "I didn't even hear you come in."
When Elena pulled away she shrugged a shoulder, nonchalantly, before walking around the couch and sitting down, crossing one leg over the other. "You really shouldn't leave your door unlocked when you're expecting vampires."
The sound of wood cracking and breaking against the walls made her jump up and turn around. Someone had booted the doors open, and that person was now standing arrogantly in the grand entrance. "Not really the case when it comes to you. Me on the other hand..." She scrunched her nose condescendingly. "I'd worry about me."
"Katherine..." Elena whispered. She looked just like her sister, but at the same time, nothing like her. Her outfit was nearly identical; She was wearing a tight purple v-neck tank, with black skinny jeans and a leather jacket, adored on the shoulders with silver studs. The only major difference was their shoes. While Elena wore ankle boots, Katherine's black heeled boots came up to her knees, making her legs seem longer.
"The one and only...sort of." She added as an afterthought.
Alice seemed confused. "Whoa, what the hell..." Realization came over her. "Oh my God, is she the doppelganger?"
"Shut up, Alice."
"What?"
They both spoke at the same time; one of them indignant, the other perplexed. Elena was about to question again when she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket.
"Well aren't you going to answer that? I'm sure Damon must be worried." Her eyes widened in a mockery of concern. The phone continued to buzz. "Well if you're not..." She seemed to appear in front of Elena as if in fast forward. "I will." Kat pinned her eyes on her sister's. "Don't say anything." She reached into the leather jacket, and pulled out the phone, hitting the green button. "Hey..." her voice changed its tone to something more gentle. "is something wrong?"
"I was going to ask the same question. It sounded like there was a fight." Elena could hear his voice through the phone, but for some reason unbeknownst to her, she couldn't speak up even though everything was telling her to cry for help.
Katherine rolled her eyes at the concern. "I'm fine. Everything is fine; now forget we had this conversation." She compelled through the phone. She hung up the phone and shoved it back in Elena's pocket. "Alice...why don't you be a doll and give me a minute with my sister." She phrased it like a question, but the demand was clear in her tone.
When Alice left the room, she continued. "Did you honestly think that you could pretend to be a vampire? I mean, I'm impressed with your tenacity, Elena...you really gave it a good go." Her sarcasm and patronization dripped off every word. "But if you think for a second that I didn't know what you were up to, you're wrong." Kat looked her sister in the eyes, and there was nothing but a cold darkness in them. "Meeting Damon at the bar...that fight you had in the street." A slow grin turned her lips. "I even caught a glimpse of that tense moment in that grungy motel you stayed in last night."
Elena swallowed nervously. "You followed us?"
Something in Katherine's eyes softened. "I was following you, Elena. You were right...about everything. What you saw that night was real...it was a vampire." She took a deep breath. "And he's dangerous...more dangerous than any vampire I've ever met. I had to make sure you were protected."
Elena had to scoff. "What, like you care now? It's been years since I've seen you, Kat! You made everyone think you were dead!"
Katherine rolled her eyes. "I am dead, Elena. Once I found what I was looking for...I had no choice. All I can suggest; is for you to stop looking. Because he will find you...and he shows no mercy."
Elena shook her head. "Why...why would he want me?"
Kat cocked her hip and extended her other leg to the side, while crossing her arms over her chest. It was a fluid movement that reminded Elena of a panther preparing to strike. "Besides the fact that you're the one that started all of this?"
"You're blaming me? You have no idea how badly I wish I could unsee what I saw that night. This isn't my fault!" Elena was appalled and at the same time guilty...because she was responsible for pushing this on her sister.
The vampire dropped her eyes to the ground. "It's not your fault. Our fate was already written. We're Petrova's...we never had a chance." she trailed off almost sadly.
Confusion washed over Elena's face. "We're what?"
"Petrova." She pronounced it with a roll of her tongue. "Pierce is just a variation of our Bulgarian name. Our ancestors changed it when they immigrated to America."
Elena took a moment to let everything sink in. She dropped back down on the couch and ran her fingers through her hair. "Where's Mia...Damon needs to know, Katherine. Is she alive?" Worry coursed through her, hoping she didn't have to tell Damon that his sister was dead.
Katherine sat down on the arm chair diagonal from her sister. "Yes, from what I've heard...we parted about a year ago. Being around me was putting her in danger, so we flew to Europe; had the time of our lives...and then one morning I left and I never came back. It was in her best interest." She shrugged carelessly, crossing her legs.
"What I don't get is why you would be putting her in danger. Why are you running? And if you are running then why follow me? Why come back to where it all started?" There were so many questions, and she didn't know which one she wanted answered first.
"Alice introduced me to a vampire named Rose. All I wanted was proof...evidence that what you claimed was true. I was curious; but when we met and she realized who I was...that's when things fell apart." Her tone took on a dejected quality.
Elena leaned forward, curiously. "What do you mean 'what you were'?"
"They called me the doppelganger; meaning true replica of one's self. It's a supernatural phenomenon that was created over a thousand years ago as part of a spell. Our ancestors blood was used to bind a curse on a vampire that carried the werewolf gene. If he ever triggered it he would become indestructible. But what they didn't know was Tatya was a doppelganger…and they tend to resurface ever few hundred years." She gestured between the two of them.
It all dawned on her. "They want to use our blood to break the curse."
Her sister nodded. "Like some stupid witchy loophole." She rolled her eyes with bitterness. "When I found out that Rose was going to hand me over for the sacrifice," she scoffed. "as a peace offering to save her own ass, I knew I had to run. Except running from a vampire that has nine hundred and seventy nine years on you...not really easy to do as a human."
"So you became a vampire?"
Katherine nodded once. "Trevor, Rose's friend; he had a thing for me and I used that to my advantage. He didn't want me to die so I begged him to turn me...and he did."
"Trevor..." The name sounded familiar to Elena. "Wait, Alice mentioned him on the phone. She said he was killed." She swallowed painfully, "Was it because he turned you?"
Kat shrugged nonchalantly. "Better him than I." At her sister's appalled look, she leaned forward and caught Elena's eyes with a hard glare. "It's a cruel world, sister. Sometimes you have to make choices that aren't always morally acceptable. But I'm a survivor...and I wasn't going to die just so some unhinged, sociopathic narcissist could break a curse his mommy put on him." She rambled sardonically.
Blinking, Elena leaned back into the couch. "This all sounds so farfetched...I can barely wrap my head around this." She stood, starting to pace the floor in front of her.
"Trust me, I know...but this is reality. Mine, anyway. But I need you to get on with your life, Elena. Stop chasing leads and stop trying to find me, or Mia. It's better for you if you just...move on."
Elena laughed. "Seriously? How am I supposed to just move on, Katherine? Knowing what I know now?" Tears formed in her eyes as she shook her head. "What if this vampire comes after me? I can't protect myself!"
Katherine stood gracefully. "He doesn't even know you exist, and I'd like to keep it that way. As far as Nicklaus knows, it was me he saw that night...and I'm sure he has eyes and ears all over the country looking for me." A sickly-sweet smile, curved her lips. "But I have a lot more people looking out for me." Her eyes softened. "And you. I've got you're back Elena...you've always had mine."
Elena smiled, pulling her sister into a long overdue hug. "I missed you." Her voice was muffled with tears as she cried into her shoulder.
A tear slipped past Katherine's closed eyes as hugged her twin, holding her head and running her fingers over her chocolate locks. "I know...I've made a lot of terrible choices; I've hurt a lot of people, but luckily I don't have to deal with the guilt if I don't want to. I can turn it off. The pain, the guilt...love, I can just turn it off because it's easier." Kat pulled away to look at Elena. "But the humanity always fights it way back in...sometimes I let it. Because of you."
They shared a moment before Elena's phone buzzed. She glanced at it seeing the text from Damon.
How's it going? Haven't heard from you.
Elena wiped her eyes. "I should go before Damon comes up here looking for me."
Katherine grabbed her sister, placing both her hands on Elena's face forcing her to look in her eyes. "Wait. I need you to do something for me first."