And we all know how to fake it baby
And we all know what we've done
We must be killers
Children of the wild ones
We Must Be Killers – Mikky Ekko


"Well, what do we have here?" The devil herself stood in the doorway, dazzling with long dark waves and a tiny black dress.

"Hello, Katherine." The corner of Damon's lip twitched up.

She tilted her head, looking him over. He almost didn't notice her sliding partially behind the door, out of arm's reach from the threshold. "You wanted to talk?"

He stepped forward to push the door open, but an invisible barrier stopped him.

"You're living here with someone?" His eyes darted around. He didn't take roommates into account.

She winked. "Can't have you wandering in uninvited whenever you want, now can I?"

For old time's sake, he lowered his voice, trying for something more seductive that she used to pretend worked for her. "You're not going to invite me in?"

Dark laughter in her eyes glittered. She didn't budge from behind the door. "I told you where I was when you called. I think that's close enough."

The game was lost on them both. The lifetimes he wasted pining for her—chasing the feelings she awoke inside him—were almost a distant memory. It took a second for Damon to remember she hadn't come back through town to bug them in a while. Like she was avoiding them on purpose. She took up residence so close to Mystic Falls for some reason though...

Realization suddenly dawned on him. "Did you come to my house and fuck with my dreams?" The question sounded more impressed than he intended. He tried stepping forward again, his hand brushing against the doorframe.

"Oh please, like that's fun anymore." She raised one shoulder in half of a shrug and made to close the door.

"Katherine!"

She stopped and turned back around. She looked exasperated more than anything. "I didn't paint any pictures for you. You can't hold whatever Dream-Katherine did to you against me."

Damon leveled his stare.

Katherine smiled, gesturing one hand around vaguely. "You two were being ridiculous. I may have poked around to clear some denial away so you could remember the plot once you woke up." She paused, examining him. "Something happen?"

He closed his eyes, exhaling slowly. "Of course something happened."

She perked up, immensely more interested. "Well why didn't you start with that? Finally!" She flung the door wide. "I'll get the lady of the house to invite you."


Stefan leaned against the doorframe as everyone started leaving. Caroline gave Elena a hug before getting in the car. Elena waved as her friends left before coming back into the house. Her usual smile seemed uneasy, and she looked wistfully at the car driving away.

He took her hand and she followed him to the couch. The sat together, an unusual weight between them. Her presence beside him on the couch made him remember Damon walking in on them. How he stumbled inside only to end up beside Stefan. Sprawling out across the furniture together. The first crack in his wall that made Stefan think he could really have his brother back. Elena would never fill the need he had for Damon. Stefan didn't think the end would come so soon, but the letting her go seemed to be the only thing fair for her.

He regretted the worried look on her face. "Is everything okay?"

She had that sad small crease in between her eyebrows when she looked up at him. "They think you're going somewhere. But you wouldn't leave without telling me, right?"

"No, I'm not going anywhere." He grimaced, realizing that may not be true, "Not yet."

She nervously ran her fingers through the ends of her hair. "Does it have something to do with whatever happened last night with Damon?"

Stefan tried to clear the tightness out of his throat. "It has to do with me."


"Did you finally get what you wanted?"

"It's not like that." Damon had a new drink in his hands. Some supermarket whiskey that was barely aged. At least it gave him something to look at instead of her smug delighted face.

"Why not? Little brother turned you away so only his morality could keep him warm?" Katherine sneered, tired of Stefan's perfect boy act as anyone.

He could still feel Stefan's hands running over his chest, could still taste him when he licked his lips. No, Stefan hadn't been turning him away. Damon frowned at the ground, not wanting to look her in the eye. "Not exactly."

She cocked one eyebrow. "Oh?"

Damon set the glass down on the table in front of them.

"Ah, ah, coasters."

Blithely, he ignored her and slumped back. "It went too far. I don't want to be the reason he hates himself anymore."

"Interesting. And here I thought you just wanted to stick it to your brother. Something for fun to ruin the one person who actually cares about you." After moving the glass she looked thoughtful for a minute, a dark gleam in her eyes. "But you really do love him."


"What is this hold Damon has over you? You were so sweet the first time we met."

Stefan shook his head. He could hardly remember what seemed like a lifetime ago in someone else's life. "He showed up almost right away. You barely knew me when he came back into my life."

"I still remember thinking something was different with him around." Elena pushed her hair back. "The way you would stare at him when you would talk to me. Like you had these silent conversations that were completely different than what you were saying out loud. I thought it was anger, but then he was always around."

"I was angry at him. We were angry at each other for a very long time." She was the one that broke down those walls between them. Ultimately, it was Elena who made Damon come home in the first place. Stefan leaned back against the couch, wishing he had a drink in his hand. He didn't want to leave whatever strange dimension they had fallen into that finally allowed them to have this conversation.

"Even after everything he had done, you never did anything to make him leave. Not really. You say you have all this control over him, but he looks sideways at you, and you go running after him."

Frustration started clawing under Stefan's skin. "Would you have preferred if I killed him? I thought you were friends."

"We are. I don't want you to kill him. I learned to care about him too. Because you did. But you and I were going to be epic. Remember?" She curled her hands around her knees. "When he showed up, he changed everything."


"Someone had to make sure he was protected. From our father. From you. From himself." Damon looked at Katherine and scowled. "Of course I care about him."

She swatted his arm as if she were admonishing a child. "I don't mean caring about him. Everyone knows that. But I know how severely in love you are with him."

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "But Stefan was just confused, right?"

"So he let you know he wanted you too?"

"He didn't exactly say that." He dropped his hand. He flexed his fingers, eyes catching on his ring. Stefan said his feelings changed but he couldn't have a normal life with Damon, he said he wanted to try but he said ElenaElenaElena… Damon sighed. The space Damon left every time he walked away was constantly taken up by that damn girl.

Katherine smiled softly as she leaned against the armrest. "He didn't say 'no'. Ask most siblings, even with the questionable morality of vampires and you'd be hard pressed to find a pair who would remotely hesitate before rejecting their brother's advances. He should have killed you." She patted her hands on her lap, looking at him expectantly.

Damon relented and lay down, spreading out on the couch till his head was on her thigh and he was looking up at the ceiling. He was in love with Stefan. The wanthotneedyesplease thumped around inside filling out his edges. It didn't feel wrong anymore. But she wasn't going to be the first person that heard him say it out loud.

She ran her fingers along his hairline. "You've always loved him. And he loved you too." She had finished asking questions. All she had left were facts.

"I don't know if it's the same thing. If he's trying to do what he thinks I want?" He closed his eyes, letting the soft touch attempt to soothe him. "I don't know."

"That doesn't matter." She started scratching her nails lightly along his scalp. "You love him regardless of how he feels about you."

"Maybe." He covered his face with both his hands and groaned. "But it wasn't like this when we were human."

"When you were human?" She laughed with a cruel hint of distain. "Before me, you spent almost every night in each other's beds. Then I came along and Papa Salvatore graciously invited me in. Until your father suspected what I was, he encouraged me to come between you. He was grateful; he thought he didn't have to worry about your philandering proclivities endangering his reputation anymore." She traced a finger around his ring. "You two grew up because of me."

Damon opened his hands shaking off her touch. "Which means we grew apart because of you."

"Your father thought you needed the motivation." She replied dryly, like they didn't both know she was behind every calculated deception for her own personal amusements.

"Giuseppe was a bastard. We were just brothers then. Neither of us liked sleeping alone. It was never more complicated than that."

Katherine raised one delicate shoulder, looking indifferent. "It didn't have time to be."

Damon sat up. Her comfort was cold and not all that comforting. "That's what I needed to know. I mean, I know my flawed reasons, and I know how Stefan ended up in this life. But why did we have enough blood in us when you were taken?" He turned so he could look at her. "Why did you plan to turn us both?"

She sighed. Her legs folded underneath her. She picked up the glass of whisky off the table and took a sip before putting it back in Damon's hands.

"That struggling ember between you two couldn't really mature into anything useable before you died. But it sparked because I offered the opportunity. You started calling on me whenever I left his room. Every time and only after." Her eyes narrowed again. "I think you liked his smell on me. You weren't there yet but you were getting there. And Stefan, well…" She shook her head and looked away.