Chapter 2:

Disclaimer: I don't own tvd, it belongs to Julie Plec and L.J Smith.

I just want to thank you guys for 100 reviews! I'm so grateful for the support this story has received, when I first started with the original version I didn't even think I would get 5 reviews, so thanks so so much :-) xx

Okay, on with the story; I've time jumped into season 5, three months from last chapter, where Katherine is human, and Silas is on his way back to Mystic Falls, having followed her, though I'm not sure if that actually happened in the show or not, I'm adding it anyway :-P The first part is from Katherine's POV, then we'll skip to Silas' as well.

Hope you enjoy.

Katherine ached all over.

It wasn't even an understatement. Her body was sore, throbbing in agony, after being malnutritioned for three months, and her hair hung in knotted clumps around her head.

She hated being human. She hated Elena Gilbert. Death would have been better than this; scrounging for food, sleeping in slums or on the streets, not able to settle long enough before having to run from whatever thing was chasing her.

Of course, she had money. Over the last century or so, she had been saving up money in case she ended up living somewhere where everyone was on vervain, but it wasn't enough to buy an apartment or a car to make a quick getaway. Just enough to stay in a bed and breakfast or rent out a place for a few days, for the first few weeks anyway. Now she was on her last two hundred dollars, and had to resort to wearing a baseball cap and a thick jacket to disguise herself, on the way to her last hope; Mystic Falls.

Popping the last part of her energy bar into her mouth, Katherine pulled her hoodie over her head and walked along the pavement, hidden in the shadows, hobbling along in her high heels painfully.

It was six in the morning, she'd spent the entire summer avoiding this place, just so precious little Elena Gilbert wouldn't get her Scooby gang to kill her on sight. Now with her doppelgänger all grown up and going off to college, she may have a chance of pleading with Damon to let her stay at the Boarding House for a while, out of sight of whatever had been chasing her.

The house was in sight, much to her relief. Two hours of walking with no taxi anywhere in sight took its toll on her feet. Luckily, Elena and Jeremy would be leaving early to go to school so she wouldn't have to wait long, so she hid in the bushes round the back of the house.

She didn't have to wait long; Caroline's car pulled up in the drive not an hour later, and Elena left with her suitcase not long after, giving Damon goo goo eyes. Huh. That was new. Apparently Elena had chosen Damon and they had embarked on a summer romance. She wondered what Stefan thought of it all, whether he had left or had endured. Probably the former. Hmm, maybe her and Stefan could have some revenge se-

A car engine jerked to life, interrupting her thoughts. Looking up, Katherine saw Caroline pulling out of the driveway, disappearing onto the road. Not long after that, little Gilbert left the house with Damon, Damon driving his Porsche out the gates, presumably towards the school. Another shock. So Bonnie had brought Jeremy back to life. Interesting. She hadn't seen her with Caroline and Elena, so where had she gone? To hell, she hoped.

Anyway, time to beg with Damon. Hopping out of the bush, Katherine hurried towards the house, opening the always unlocked door and inviting herself in. She quickly hurried to the kitchen, finding all sorts of food in the fridge. Anything she could eat raw, she ate or drank down greedily until her stomach for the first time in three months was finally full. Then she helped herself to some of Damon's bourbon, which she had conveniently drank two glasses of before he came back, a shocked and amused look on his face at her dishevelled appearance as she glowered at him.

"It's been a long summer, Damon."

His face took on a grimace. "Katherine."

She grinned at him, finishing her drink and pouring out another one. "You'll have to cut me off soon. My tolerance is a joke now. It's just so...glorious." The bitterness in her voice couldn't have been missed by Damon.

"You're miserable." Damon stated.

Katherine snorted. "Please. I'm Katherine Pierce – I'm a survivor." She scoffed.

"You're a liar." Damon shot back, stepping towards her. "Your hair's messed up, your nails are chipped. You're a sad and miserable human being and you want me to turn you. So, here." Damon bit his wrist open and offered it to her.

"Go ahead, drink up. I'll kill you, you'll bite the mailman, you'll be a vampire again." Katherine grabbed his arm, looking at it, tempted but torn. "Go ahead, come on."

"I can't, okay?" Katherine snapped, admitting the fear that had driven her to Mystic Falls. "No one's ever taken the cure before. If I die, there's a good chance I may never wake up."

"And that would be tragic." Damon quipped, looking quite unconcerned.

"And deep down, in that mushy-gushy Elena-loving heart, there's a part of you that doesn't want me to die." Katherine smiled, stroking the collar of Damon's shirt.

"What are you doing here, Katherine?" He asked her softly.

She was saved by the house phone ringing. Damon moved to get it but Katherine grabbed it and answered it first.

"Salvatore residence. Hello, Principal Weber, this is Elena." She smirked, adopting her doppelgängers innocent façade.

The Principal quickly informed her that Jeremy had been involved in a serious fight and had disappeared, but had been expelled.

She added faux empathy to her tone. "Oh, dear. We'll find him."

She hung up and faced Damon.

"So Jeremy's been expelled. Elena will be cool with that, right?"

Damon frowned. "When I get back here, you're gone." He headed for the door. Katherine grabbed his arm, desperate.

"Wait, Damon. There's someone chasing me."

"Then run." Damon deadpanned. "Run far away."

"Damon, you don't understand. I have enemies everywhere. What happens when word gets out that I'm a human? I can't protect myself!" Katherine blurted out frantically.

"I'm weak and I'm slow – do you have any idea what it's like to run in heels?! I have blisters, Damon!"

She closed her eyes, taking in a huge breath. "So, please, just... help me?"

-X-

Katherine sighed in bliss as she soaked in Damon's bathtub, shaving her legs, which were in much need of attention. After a long and irritating argument, Damon had relented and let her stay for a few days, and whilst he was out, she took the opportunity to steal all his soap and shampoo. She was just starting on her second leg when a knock made her jump and look up in alarm. When she saw it was only Stefan, who had made a miraculous return, she relaxed, putting down her razor, and looking up at him with a relaxed smirk.

"Why are you in my brother's bathtub?" He asked, stepping into the bathroom.

"Why aren't you?" She shot back, flicking the bubbles on her body in a playful manner.

Stefan stepped closer, sitting beside the bath next to her. Her breath hitched as he looked down at her, his green eyes bright in the light. They'd never looked like that before.

"I will say that's a tempting offer." Stefan smirked, leaning down.

"Mmm, he flirts. I like Elena-less Stefan." She grinned, sitting up.

"You know," he smiled, reaching a hand out to touch her cheek. "human looks better on you than I would've guessed, Katherine."

Her cheek tingled where he touched it. "I think you just accidentally gave me a compliment." She smirked, dubious. He hasn't shown any interest in her before, why would he now?

"No, I mean it. You, sitting here all weak and vulnerable. It works."

Katherine's smirk faded, her eyes fixated on his hand. He was so close now that his lips were basically touching hers, and she was so so so close to kissing him, when he whispered something in her ear. It sounded an awful lot like "sorry"

She looked up at him, confused, when he suddenly attacked her, grabbing her by the throat and throwing her back into the tub. Black dots appeared in her vision as she clawed frantically at his hand in terror and panic. This wasn't Stefan, it was Silas. Stefan would never attack her like this, not for no good reason.

"Time for a field trip." Silas hissed, using his leverage on her throat to try and drag her out of the bath. That was not happening.

Katherine fumbled at the side of the tub, her hand finding her razor. She grabbed and swiped it at Silas, catching him in the cheek, knocking him sideways, causing him to lose his grip on her. She jumped out of the bath, wrapping a robe around her and hurried down the staircase, looking up at the approaching figure of Silas, when she ran into Damon. He grabbed and handed her to Jeremy.

"Get her out of here. Don't tell me where you're going." He warned as Jeremy ushered her out if the house, into a car and drove off.

The first five minutes were deadened silence, as Katherine recovered from her shock that apparently Silas was not dead and for some reason he was impersonating Stefan and he wanted her.

"Where are we going?" Katherine demanded, glaring at him. She was met with the continuing silence.

She turned around to glower at Jeremy. "Are you deaf? I said where are we going?"

He still wouldn't answer her, much preferring to pick up his ringing phone.

"Hey." Jeremy said into the phone.

"How far'd you get?" Damon's voice floated out of the phone.

"You said not to tell you."

"You pick now to listen to me?"

Jeremy sighed, looking out his window. "We just passed Old Miller Road."

"Good. Turn around, bring her back."

Katherine whipped around to face Jeremy in shock. "What? No!" But Jeremy had already hung up made a U-turn back to where they came from.

"What are you doing?" She yelled, panicked. "Jeremy, stop! You can't take me back there, Jeremy. Damon wouldn't just hand me over, Silas clearly got in his head!"

"Shut up, Katherine!" Jeremy snapped. Katherine looked around, wild-eyed and desperate. She couldn't let him take her back there. Silas would kill her! Instincts took over, to flee, escape and she jabbed frantically at Jeremy's seat belt to get him to stop driving.

"Hey, what the hell!" Jeremy cried, grabbing at her with one hand. The car veered sideways as he lost control, and Katherine grabbed the wheel and twisted it, sending the car skidding right into a utility pole. Katherine's head slammed into the front window, pain erupting across her face and head as she struggled frantically to get out of the car.

Luckily her door had been jarred loose during the crash, meaning with a few pushes it was open and she staggered out into the night. Shards of glass littered the ground, and a few feet away she saw Jeremy on his back, blood covering his face and matting his shirt.

"Hey... please..." He weakly stretched out an arm to her as he coughed and wheezed. Katherine stepped towards him, to help, since she was the reason he'd been thrown from the car, but then stopped. He'd been perfectly fine with selling her out for Stefan before, he was perfectly fine with letting her die, so why should she spare him?

Glaring at him one last time, hand outstretched towards her, Katherine swallowed her sympathy and guilt and hobbled away.

-X-

Silas was not pleased. He'd spent three months travelling all over Virginia, gorging on blood, looking for Katherine, finding out she had taken the cure, followed her back to Mystic Falls, then had had to resort to taking her by force, since his mind control was unusually, for lack of a better word, weak around her at the moment, and then had lost her. It was infuriating, to say the least, especially the guilt he felt whenever he relived the panic and fear in her eyes when he had grabbed her.

Of course, it was partly because she seemed significant to him for some reason, but also because she had the cure pumping through her veins. Though he wished it had been anyone but her, he would do anything to be with Amara again, and his remote feelings for her doppelgänger weren't going to stop him. Nothing would.

Which was why he found himself at some sort of end of summer party, listening to the town's Mayor make some boring speech. Well, after this, it wasn't going to be boring any longer. If what he suspected worked, then nothing would stop him from finding Katherine.

"It is – it is truly great to have an end-of-summer tradition." The mayor - Rudy - was saying. "My daughter has her own end-of-summer tradition of over-indulging in the cotton candy." He paused as the crowd laughed. "Now she's off traveling the world and sending her old man postcards from all her great adventures. Family is one of our core values in Mystic Falls. It's what this block party celebrates." Silas took this opportunity to step up onto the stage, interrupting Rudy's speech. "Family as community - Stefan?"

"Do you mind if I say a few words?" Silas asked, smiling innocently.

"Maybe when we're done here." The Mayor said, before turning back to the crowd.

Silas barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes. "I'll take it from here, Mayor." He used his powers, stretching into Rudy's mind, manipulating, controlling. The Mayor nodded and stepped wordlessly back.

Silas turned to address the audience. "You're probably wondering how I did that. Well, it's pretty basic mind control, but until now, it's been fairly limited to one person at a time." He looked over every person, who had began to mutter frantically, giving him weird looks. It only entertained him more.

"But this summer, I have consumed an immeasurable amount of blood. And I've felt myself getting stronger and stronger every day. And I started to wonder; what are the limits to my powers? How many people can I influence? Two? Ten? An entire town square?"

The rise of worried people chatting became incessantly louder. "Everyone stop talking." Silas commanded, pushing all of his mental strength into those two words. The square fell instantly silent. Birds chirped in the background, trees could be heard rustling in the wind, but not one person uttered a sound.

"Well," Silas mused, half to himself, pleased. "that worked. Now let's try this: No one make a sound, or move a muscle."

Everyone in the square froze, staring at him, completely immobile. Silas walked over to the mayor, pulling out his knife, and without hesitation, sliced his throat open. The mayor gasped soundlessly for air for a second, before Silas let him slump to the ground at his feet, before stepping over him to get to the microphone. During that time, not one person had batted an eyelash or made a sound. His compulsion was working. Which only made what came next much easier.

"Well, now that I have your attention, I need a favour." Silas began, an arrogant smirk beginning on his face.

"I need you to find someone. You all know Elena Gilbert, well the girl that I'm looking for looks exactly like her."

Thanks for reading! Sorry for the lack of kilas, don't worry you'll see much more of them next chapter.