Katherine is on her before Elena can even think to run. "It's time for you and I to talk," she says – and then Katherine throws Elena over her shoulder like a bag of flour, and the world is a blur of shadows before Elena closes her eyes.
Katherine comes to a stop in the driveway in front of the Lockwood Mansion. She walks up to the car next to Elijah's, and orders Elena to get inside.
"No," Elena refuses. "And you can't compel me." She won't cooperate with Katherine – not after everything she's done.
Katherine just tilts her head to the side, smiling. "I hear… one heartbeat," Katherine tells her, gesturing to the Lockwood Mansion. "I'm sure that's your dear friend Tyler's mother. Get inside the car." The threat to Mayor Lockwood isn't explicit – but it's there nonetheless.
And Elena unfortunately knows all too well what Katherine is capable of. She gets inside the car.
Elena crosses her arms and looks out the window, refusing to engage as Katherine pulls out of the driveway. She takes a familiar route – right to Elena's house.
"You're not going to ask what we're doing here?" Katherine asks, taunting her, as she gets out of the car. Elena stares straight ahead, refusing to engage. Katherine just laughs. "I was here just last night, you know. I put on your dress, and your shoes, and I sliced open my neck, just enough to get blood all over everything. Sweet Jenna opened that door, concerned her precious Elena was hurt, and ran outside without a thought – right into my fangs."
Elena swallows, closing her eyes, trying to will away the nightmare that Katherine was painting for her. She can't. She can't. She ican't/i.
"Her boytoy ran out after her. I was surprised to see him alive," Katherine says, with a ihateful/i giggle. "Then I noticed the ring, of course."
Elena doesn't respond, squeezing her eyes shut tighter – but it doesn't stop her from imagining Aunt Jenna, running out to help Elena. And poor Ric, giving his life to try to protect Aunt Jenna from the Elena who wasn't Elena.
From Katherine.
Neither of them had a chance.
Elena doesn't think it is ipossible/i to hate someone more than she hates Katherine, in this moment.
"Get out of the car," Katherine tells her. Elena doesn't move. "Do you care about your neighbors at all, I wonder?" Katherine asks, her tone conversational.
Elena does, in fact. She's lived in this house her entire life. Old Mrs. Gibson next door used to babysit her when she was little, and the Harper family across the street has two young kids that she used to babysit – before her parents died and her life went straight to supernatural hell, and… Elena knows all of her neighbors.
She knows they're good people. If Katherine pretends to be Elena, especially if she pretends to be Elena in trouble, they'll invite her inside their homes without question.
Elena gets out of the car. "Good girl," Katherine says, smirking, as she leads Elena up to the front porch. The same front porch with the swing that Elena used to love to curl up on to read, and write in her journal, and hang out with her friends.
Used to.
She can't even look at it now.
Katherine pushes past the caution tape, pulling Elena alongside her with a tight hold on her arm. Then she takes a key - iElena's/i key – from her pocket (from when Katherine stripped her nearly naked last night, and stole her purse, and her dress, and her shoes, and her ifamily/i), and opens the front door.
"Invite me in," Katherine orders. Elena thinks about refusing – thinks about somehow getting away from Katherine, and across the safety of the threshold. But it's impossible. Elena has no weapons, and no help. And even if she manages to get inside without giving Katherine an invitation, she'd just be leaving her neighbors to die. She really doesn't want to invite Katherine into the house, but…
"Invite me in, or I'll make you have this conversation on the swing where I finished tearing out sweet Jenna's neck, while she stared at her lover's dead body," Katherine threatens.
Elena invites her inside.
"There, that was easy enough," Katherine says, pulling Elena over the threshold – and through the living room into the kitchen, where Katherine murdered Uncle John and left him there for Elena to find, less than a month ago. Katherine pushes Elena down to sit in one of the stools at the island, and then she walks around the kitchen – putting her filthy, murderer's hands all over everything.
Elena wants to yell, and scream, and cry. She wishes she were a witch, so she could make Katherine's brain explode. She wishes she were a werewolf, and it was a full moon, so she could tear Katherine to pieces with fang and claw. She wishes she were a vampire, so she could slap Katherine's head from her shoulders.
(She pushes away thoughts of poor Elijah, lying dead and still, his corpse abandoned in the woods for the animals to devour and the worms to turn to dirt, dust to dust. At least he'll never have to kill his brother, now. At least he won't face an eternity alone.)
But Elena is not a witch, or a werewolf, or a vampire. She's a Petrova doppelganger, and her blood is powerful – but not for her. Not in a way she can harness. Sitting here, watching Katherine touch Aunt Jenna's favorite coffee mug, and the knives that Ric brought over because he liked to use his own when he cooked for them, and…
Elena can't do anything but sit here, and watch. It's the hardest thing she's ever done.
"I'm going to tell you a story," Katherine says, finally turning to face Elena. "It's a long story, going back to 1492, when I met Klaus and dear, dead Elijah in England."
Elena looks into Katherine's eyes, mirror images of her own. (Elena hates Katherine so much; she hates her own face.)
"After I left Bulgaria… well, I say left, but I was actually thrown out…" Katherine continues, forcing Elena to listen to the story of Katherine's life – and her death. To sit ihere/i, and listen, when Elena wants to be anywhere else in the world right now. (Or nowhere at all.)
Anywhere but here, in the very kitchen where Katherine murdered Uncle John.
Not here, a living room away from where Katherine murdered Aunt Jenna and Ric, just last night.
Not ihere/i, a floor below where Damon, himself a monster created by Katherine, murdered Elena's little brother after Katherine pushed him into a tailspin.
But somehow, Elena finds the strength not to fall apart. And she listens. And she breathes – and keeps breathing. Because as long as Katherine is here, and talking, she isn't killing.
She isn't killing dear old Mrs. Gibson next door, or sweet Mandy Harper and her family across the street.
She isn't killing iBonnie/i.
Or Tyler. Or Sheriff Forbes. Or…
"You killed yourself," Elena murmurs, after Katherine tells her how she tricked Rose into giving Katherine blood to heal her.
"Klaus needed a human doppelganger," Katherine tells her, smirking. "I was no use to him as a vampire. But don't worry – I'm not going to offer you that choice."
Elena listens to the rest of Katherine's story, wondering how much is true. She doesn't bother to question Katherine, though. It doesn't matter.
None of it matters.
Let Klaus come after Elena, and Elena's human Petrova doppelganger blood – so long as he kills Katherine too while he's here.
"And now, after 500 years on the run, I'm going to make Klaus a deal," Katherine says.
"Me, for your freedom," Elena guesses. "Rose and Trevor just tried to make that deal with Elijah – and Trevor lost his head for it."
She hopes Katherine loses her head too. She hopes Klaus slaps it right off, when Katherine tries to make her deal.
"I'm surprised Trevor made it this long," Katherine replies. "He was far too gullible." Elena isn't surprised that Katherine doesn't even sound like she's sorry.
"You need the moonstone too," Elena points out. Katherine needs the moonstone, and so she tricked Mason into thinking that they were in love, so he'd find it for her.
Katherine nods. "And you convinced Mason not to give it to me. That's why I recruited Matty Blue to help me last night. Too bad Stefan couldn't control his blood lust. And speaking of dear Stefan – he should be retrieving the moonstone for me right now." Elena refuses to flinch at the sound of Stefan's name coming from Katherine's lips.
She irefuses/i.
"Witches are tricky, you know, and the ritual requires more than just you and the moonstone," Katherine tells her. "I also need a werewolf. And what do you know, with your friend Caroline's death, now I have itwo/i. Believe it or not, they're hard to come by." Katherine is entirely too smug. Elena doesn't let herself react, and Katherine just keeps talking.
And why shouldn't she?
It isn't like Elena can get away, and Katherine obviously wants someone to listen to just how ibrilliant/i she is.
"I need a vampire, too," Katherine tells her, matter-of-factly. "But baby vampires are a dime a dozen – not like a werewolf. I was going to use your friend Caroline, but oops – she died before I could. Such a shame, that car accident. I could have found a different way to trigger Tyler's curse. I liked the poetry of it – a Gilbert, and a Lockwood, and a Forbes. The Mystic Falls Founding Families, sacrificed for my freedom. I suppose it isn't too late – there must be another Forbes or two hanging around."
Elena takes a deep breath, not thinking about the very real threat to Sheriff Forbes – and Caroline's dad, if he ever came back to Mystic Falls.
"And now I'll tell you the best part of the story," Katherine says, with a smirk. Elena can't help but listen intently, as Katherine talks about her return to Bulgaria – her return home.
And the "present" that Klaus left Katherine, for "betraying" him.
(Elena hates Katherine with all her heart. But even still, she can't see how Katherine running away was a betrayal of Klaus. To betray someone, you have to owe them something: loyalty. Katherine owed no loyalty to Klaus.)
"That's the punch line, Elena: if you escape Klaus, if you even try, he will kill your friends, your family, and anyone that you've ever loved," Katherine tells her. A pause. "Of course, you don't have very many of those left, do you?"
Elena can't help but flinch, not wanting to think about iJeremy, Aunt Jenna, Uncle John, Mom, Dad, Ric, Caroline… /i
Katherine opens her mouth again – probably to gloat further – but before she gets another word out, Elena's front door iexplodes/i inwards. Elena jumps up, her heart in her throat, wondering if Klaus…
But, somehow, it's iElijah/i standing there, with Stefan – blank faced – at his side. Before Elena can open her mouth to invite Elijah in, Katherine has her by the throat, cutting off her air so Elena can't speak.
"Elijah," Katherine says, too loud – too close to Elena's ear, to her ineck/i.
Elena can't help but notice that Katherine sounds ihorrified/i - as if the monster under her bed has come back from the dead right before her very eyes.
Perhaps he did.
"Katerina," Elijah responds. His eyes rove over Elena, as if to check that she's unharmed. His gaze focuses on Katherine's hand, slowly suffocating her. "I found your pet. Release Elena, unharmed, and I'll return him to you."
"Keep him," Katherine responds, without hesitation. Elena claws at Katherine's hand around her throat, desperate for air. It's to no avail. Just as black spots enter her vision, Katherine lets go for a moment – enough for Elena to take a gasp of air, but not enough for her to say a word. "The moment I let her go, she'll invite you inside, and then I'm dead."
Elijah turns to Stefan. "Go," he tells him – and Stefan walks inside, picks up a shard of wood that used to be part of Elena's door, and presses it to his own chest. Elijah raises an eyebrow at Katherine in challenge.
"Go ahead," Katherine says. "Better him than me." She lets Elena take another gasp of air, and then tightens her grip again, uncaring of the gouges that Elena's scrambling nails leave on her hand. She heals in seconds.
Stefan disappears with a blur – and then materializes at Elena's feet, with a broken neck, stake still clutched tightly in his fist. Katherine barely let go of Elena's throat for a moment to snap Stefan's neck.
Elena ignores Stefan, still at her feet. He'll get up again, unless that stake somehow finds its way into his heart. Elena can barely think – she needs iair/i. Her eyes lock with Elijah's. There's something in the lines of his face that betrays a certain uncertainty – a worry.
Not uncertainty in his ability to defeat Katherine – but worry that he won't be able to get to her. To protect her. (At least until it comes time to sacrifice her for Klaus.)
If only Elena could invite Elijah inside, somehow. Her mind races desperately, as Katherine lets her take another breath. She isn't going to be able to speak – not with Katherine's hand around her throat.
But… would sign language be enough?
Elena figures it doesn't hurt to try. She stops struggling against Katherine's hold, locks eyes with Elijah, and then makes what she thinks is the sign for "come" with her hands. Katherine drops her immediately with a curse – and disappears.
Elijah is at her side in the same moment, and he catches her before Elena can fall to her knees. She can't do more than gasp desperately. The black dots filling her vision get darker, and she wonders if Katherine crushed her windpipe before she left.
Before she can pass out, Elijah holds his wrist to her mouth.
He's bleeding.
Elena somehow manages to get a little of his blood down, despite her gasping. It's enough – she can almost feel Elijah's blood inside her, spreading, ihealing/i. Elena is still desperately trying to catch her breath, but she's no longer in danger of passing out.
Elijah sweeps her into a bridal carry, and then walks into the living room at human speed. He places her down gently – only after moving away a few shards of wood that landed on the cushions.
"She got away," Elena points out, when she finally manages to catch her breath.
"For now," Elijah responds, his voice forbidding, his eyes searching her face and inspecting her neck.
"How are you ihere/i?" Elena asks, staring at the hole in his shirt, right over his heart – where Stefan pushed the stake through. "You – you were dead."
"For centuries now," Elijah replies, his tone teasing. "I'm harder to kill than I look."
Elena can't help a hysterical giggle in response. He already looks pretty hard to kill, from where she's standing (sitting). God, if she could have only seen the look on Katherine's face, when she saw Elijah alive.
"You caught Stefan," Elena remembers suddenly. She looks over to the kitchen, and Stefan is still lying on the floor. (She pushes away the thought of finding another body, also with a snapped neck, in that very spot. Unlike Stefan, Uncle John would never get up again.)
Elijah tells her that he woke up alone in the clearing. He heard fighting deeper into the woods, and followed the sound, hoping to find Katherine and Elena. Instead, he found Stefan fighting with Mason and Tyler over the moonstone. Elijah compelled Stefan, and took the moonstone.
"Tyler and Mason?" Elena asks – afraid of the answer.
"I left them in the woods, unharmed by my hand, and healing from minor injuries caused by the young vampire," Elijah tells her. He says that Stefan told him that he thought Katherine would take Elena to the Salvatore Boarding House, but obviously they weren't there. They tried a few other places around town, before Elijah realized that Katherine was sadistic enough to bring Elena back home to torture her.
"She didn't torture me," Elena points out.
"Not physically," Elijah responds, agreeing without agreeing.
(Elena can't disagree.)
"Did you get the moonstone?" Elena asks. Elijah nods, pulling it from his pocket to show it to her.
It's just a stone – oval, and white, and nothing special at all. Except Klaus's curse is bound by this stone, and Elena will have to die to break that binding. Elena, and a werewolf, and a vampire.
Elena pushes that thought away - she needs to focus on more important things now.
"Is Stefan going to run away when he wakes up?" she asks.
"I compelled him to stay within my sight," Elijah informs her. "He may have information that we'll need, given his recent association with Katerina."
Elena realizes that with Elijah's compulsion, she'll be guaranteed to get an honest answer from Stefan regarding his betrayal – why, and when, and how much. (Why did he kill Matt? Did he just stand there and watch as Katherine slaughtered Aunt Jenna and Ric? Did he ihelp/i her do it?)
"Can I borrow your phone to call Bonnie?" Elena asks. She knows that Bonnie is probably worried sick by now.
Elijah hands his phone over without hesitation. Elena sees several texts and missed calls from Bonnie. (Elena is going to need to get a new phone tomorrow – she doubts that she'll ever get hers back from Katherine.) Elena dials her friend's number.
"Where have you been?" Bonnie asks, picking up on the first ring. "Are you okay? Is Katherine dead?"
Elena sighs loud enough for Bonnie to hear her over the phone, but it's mostly for show. She doesn't mind answering Bonnie's questions.
Because somehow, Elena didn't lose anyone else tonight. And Katherine is probably long gone from Mystic Falls by now, perhaps to track down Klaus to broker her deal. (That's okay. Elijah promises he would kill her – and Elena trusts that he'll keep his word.)
