Disclaimer: I don't own tvd, it's storylines or characters, I am just using them for the purposes of my story.

I hope you guys like this chapter :-)

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Chapter 3:

Daytime. Finally.

Katherine sagged with relief as morning approached. Having had a fitful sleep huddled between two trees for a few hours, in nothing but a damp robe, her joints now ached, her head hurt from the car crash, she was freezing cold, her feet were bruised and filthy from wandering around the woods all night, and somewhere along the way she'd developed an awful cough that scratched and tickled her throat and produced some sort of yucky flem. In other words, what it meant to be human.

She stumbled towards the edge of the forest, approaching a neighbourhood, and saw a van driving down the road. She hobbled into the road quickly and hailed it down, waving her arms desperately. The van stopped, and a young woman got out and approached her.

"You okay, hon? You're gonna get yourself sick out here."

"Thank you so much for, stopping." Katherine gasped out the last word, wrapping her arms around herself for warmth. Her lungs felt like they were burning.

The woman stepped closer, then stopped and frowned, examining her. "You look just like Elena Gilbert." She sounded pleased, which irked Katherine's suspicions.

"Actually, I'm much prettier." Katherine remarked as the woman dug around in her bag.

"Katherine Pierce, right? I'm supposed to be keeping my eye out for you." The woman pulled out a bottle and sprayed Katherine in the face with it. Katherine yelled as the mace stung her eyes and her cuts as the woman pulled out her phone and started texting on it. The woman must be working for Silas. Katherine gritted her teeth.

She was not getting caught because she'd been maced. No way.

Katherine threw herself at the woman with all her strength, knocking her down, then snatching her phone and smashing it on the ground before punching the woman in the face violently, knocking her out.

Pain flared through her hand and wrist as she stood up. "Agh! Damn it, urgh!" She massaged her wrist and shook it, trying to alleviate the agony.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" A voice called out. Katherine whipped around to see Matt, cocking a shotgun aimed at her.

"Not as much as this will."

Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse.

-X-

Turned out, they could. Not two hours later, Jeremy had arrived, smug from one look at her condition, and she found herself being tied up and shoved into a car by Matt whilst Jeremy called Damon and informed him that they had caught her.

"Those blue eyes," she mused, shaking her head and looking at Matt as he knotted the ropes tight around her wrists. "They made me soft, I should have ripped your head off when I had the chance." She added snidely, coughing.

Matt merely smiled at her, and tightened the ropes further, making them dig into her skin.

"Are these ropes really necessary?"

"Bullet would've been more effective, but we're trying to be nice." Jeremy said sarcastically. She shot him an annoyed look. "You crashed my car and left me to die."

"You were gonna hand me over to Silas to get Stefan back. I was just protecting myself." Katherine sneered at them.

"How many people have you killed using that excuse? Just be glad we got you some clothes." Matt retorted as he finished tying her up.

"Don't play the hero. You two are just waiting for the convenient time to hand me back over to him. I've done this a thousand times. I get it. I'm the leverage; I'm that thing that everybody wants." She said with grim satisfaction. Then a thought struck her.

"I'm the freaking moonstone!"

-X-

He had to find her.

It wasn't even a choice to him. Like it was engraved into his DNA, the urge pumping through his blood.

Which was why he found himself at Whitmore College, searching relentlessly for Amara's other doppelgänger, and most conveniently, Damon's girlfriend.

Ah. He saw her through the crowd, talking on the phone; there was no mistaking her beauty. He would have recognised her from miles away.

She laughed at something, then froze as Silas approached her. "Stefan?"

"I don't know. Probably mope at him." Damon's voice came through the speakerphone.

"Stefan's here, right now." She said, as Silas stepped right in front of her.

"What?"

Silas pushed his influence into Elena's mind. Seeing as she was so happy to see 'Stefan', it was perfectly easy. "Turn off your phone."

Elena smiled, then pulled her phone away from her ear.

Damon sounded panicked. "Elena, woah, that is not S-"

But Elena ended the call, looking up at Stefan happily.

"I know you're upset that I didn't call, so I just wanted to apologise in person." Silas said, giving her a faux smile. Elena smiled, looking at him almost pitifully before hugging him. He tensed slightly; he hadn't been touched so intimately by another person for two thousand years, and the sensation was uncomfortable, claustrophobic, almost.

"Never do that again, okay? I thought something terrible happened to you." Elena said, pulling away.

"Well, something terrible did happen to me-you fell in love with my brother." Silas said bluntly, smirking as hurt filled Elena's eyes. Just because he like to torture Stefan, didn't mean he liked other people hurting him. And besides, he didn't like her anyway.

She looked down shamefully. "Ouch."

"Can't blame me for needing a little bit of space."

"I know. Where did you go?"

"Well, that's not important, I'm sure Damon will fill you in eventually." Silas shrugged.

"You talked to Damon?" Elena frowned, confused. "Because I just spoke to him, and he didn't really say anything."

Well, Silas thought, almost bitterly. That might have something to do with him stealing you from his brother. Strange, considering he didn't even like Stefan that much. He guessed he just liked him more than people who betrayed close family.

"Oh, weird. Maybe he has his hands full with the whole, you know, Jeremy situation." Silas replied, adopting an innocent expression, knowing full well she had no idea what was going on.

Elena's eyes widened suspiciously. "What Jeremy situation?"

"Oh, it's not a big deal. Jeremy got expelled." He waved his hand casually, as though brushing the issue aside.

"Expelled? Wha-?"

"Yeah, and then he and Damon got in this fight, and Jeremy bolted..."

"Wait, how do I not know about this? Where the hell is Jeremy?"

"That's why I'm here, I was hoping maybe you'd know." He said, brow furrowed, though he already knew the answer, judging by the clueless and annoyed look she was giving him.

-X-

"Ugh. Thank God, we're stopping." Katherine said hoarsely, leaning her head on the window. "If I can only get out of the car..."

"Well, you can't, because as soon as we get gas, we're getting back on the road." Matt said, pulling the keys out of the ignition.

Katherine scowled and pouted crossly. She hadn't asked to become human again, and she didn't want to have the flu or a cold, or whatever it was she had, and have to keep on running from her enemies with the ex-boyfriend and brother of her doppelgänger whom she had tried to kill. "Ugh, but I'm dying back here!" She cried, her throat flaring up again.

Jeremy whipped around, glaring at her. "You're not getting out of the car because you want an aspirin!" He snapped angrily.

"Then maybe I can get out of the car because I need to pee?" She shot back. "Like, in a bathroom. Like a lady."

She smirked inwardly when she saw Jeremy visibly grit his teeth, before getting out of the car to go round and untie her, eyeing the ladies restroom warily.

"Hurry."

Katherine touched her sore throat dramatically."My throat is really scratchy, and my head hurts like, right here." She prodded her temple where a migraine was lurking. "And when I cough, it's green." She stuck out her tongue for emphasis. "So, get me some stuff for all that."

"Silas knows I'm with you, sorry, I can't risk being seen." Jeremy shrugged.

She glared at Jeremy, before turning to Matt. "Please?"

"Fine." Matt sighed, shutting the car door. Katherine smiled in triumph and headed to the restroom, whilst Matt went into the convenience store. There, she quickly made use of the bathroom and washed her hands and face to clean them up after her exhibition in the forest. She didn't think she'd ever felt so ill or exhausted in her whole existence. She slowly stepped out, peeking around. Jeremy was tending to the petrol pump, his back to her, and Matt busy at the counter in the store with a clerk. The clerk looked up to give Matt his products, and saw her behind the door. Realisation dawned in his eyes. He was another Silas spy. He grabbed a phone on the counter and Katherine didn't hesitate in running for the main road.

Jeremy saw her run past him and started sprinting after her, easily catching up with her before she got to the road, grabbing her arm to stop her.

"Stop. Running." He said, before grabbing her bodily around the waist to take her back to the truck, clawing and kicking.

-X-

"Jeremy's still not answering. I'm gonna hold onto your phone in case he calls back." Silas lied, pushing Elena's phone into his back pocket so that Damon couldn't call her.

"Why are you so worried about him?"

"Damon made a mess, and I wanna clean it up."

"Did he really think that I wasn't gonna find out?" Elena said. Oh, she was so damn annoying. Five minutes into meeting her and all Silas wanted to do was throw himself into the bonfire the college was making. All she did was whine and moan about her brother and Damon, despite her choosing to be with him, even without him manipulating her thoughts.

He snorted. "He's Damon. Are you surprised?"

"I just figured we were at a place where he wouldn't have to lie to me." She sighed, then stopped, realising what she had just said. "I probably shouldn't be talking about this... with you."

"It's okay." Silas smirked, pushing and directing through her mind, reading her thoughts. "I know exactly what you're thinking."

His phone buzzed, alerting him to a message from one of his spies.

Katherine Pierce. Route 9.

"Sorry, I don't mean to cut this short, but someone says they just saw Jeremy on Route nine. Do you know where he might be going?"

"Route nine?" Elena frowned. "I mean, there was this old campsite that we used to go to when we were kids."

"Huh." Silas nodded, biting back his triumphant smile.

Then she looked at him, suspicion in her eyes. "Wait, who texted you?"

And then he grabbed her. It was easy enough, he had already pushed her thoughts towards hatred and rage, aimed at Damon, to fantasise killing him until the task was complete. He needed Damon out of the way, and if Elena killed him, she would be so self-absorbed and consumed with guilt that no-one would be standing in his way. All he had to do was set an emotion trigger, compel away some of her memories of him and send her on her merry way.

Not long after, Damon arrived, searching through the crowd, frantic and annoyed. But he was too late.

"Hello, brother." He smirked, enjoying Damon's reaction as he spun around, heading towards him with purpose in his step. "But I suppose distant nephew is probably more accurate."

Damon grabbed his throat and squeezed. But all it really felt like was someone pinching the sides of his neck.

"Where the hell's Elena?" He demanded.

Silas sighed. "There's no need for violence, Damon. You'll find her eventually." He used his mind control, easily pulling Damon's hand away from his neck.

"There you go. Look, I get why you like her. I mean, I have a soft spot for brunettes, too." Silas shrugged, then threw in one last dig. "What I don't get is why she likes you."

"That's 'cause you haven't had sex with me." Damon shot back.

Silas laughed. "Hmm. Cockiness masking fear. How transparent."

"You expect me to believe you came all this way just to talk to her?"

"No, that doesn't really make much sense, does it? But if I told you exactly what I did, then it would ruin the fun." He grinned gleefully at Damon's confusion and patted his arm as if to comfort him. "Enjoy the bonfire, Damon." Before leaving with the incredibly satisfying knowledge that he had won.

-X-

Katherine hovered by the campfire, hands out searching for warmth as the bitter cold of night fell. The two geniuses hadn't even considered getting her a jacket, so she was absolutely freezing in her thin, sleeveless top. Her eyes had been hopelessly fixated on one of the shotguns opposite the fire, when Jeremy and Matt returned bearing blankets and food. Maybe she could use it on herself, since with those two as bodyguards, her death sentence was inevitable.

"Don't even think about it." Matt warned.

"Please. I wouldn't even know how to use it. I've never shot a gun in my life." She sniffled, sitting up straighter. "Didn't need to-I was much more deadly."

"Keyword: was." Jeremy interjected.

Matt stood up, grabbing the lantern near Katherine. "I'm gonna go get some wood for the fire. I'll be back."

A sudden breeze ran through the clearing and Katherine huddled in on herself, barely holding in the urge to cry in frustration. "I survived childbirth, the death of my entire family and five hundred years of running from an immortal hybrid." She sniffed, her chest suddenly clogged up with emotion. "You can understand why I'm a little upset that I'm on the verge of being defeated by a sinus infection." She sniffled. She coughed again, miserably, and rubbed her hands together again for warmth, when something warm brushed her shoulders, making her jump. She looked up; it was only Jeremy, placing a blanket around her.

Katherine wrapped it more tightly around her, and briefly wondered at what part of her story had Jeremy began to pity her.

-X-

He had found them. Hovering in the forest in some old campsite, he didn't have to wait for long before the busboy, Matt, appeared, holding aloft a lantern in one hand, and a hatchet in the other. Silas stepped out from behind a tree, using his psychic tendrils of power to reel Matt in.

"Not a word out of you. You can't talk, and you can't scream."

Matt whirled around, confusion, then realisation dawning on his face as he realised his will was intact.

"Yeah, actually I can. Jeremy, run!" Great. The cure, and Katherine slipping from his grasp once again, though it should have been impossible. The boy had no particular strength of will, nor could he keep his mind protected, so how could he be free?

Silas stepped closer to him, tilting his head, the boy more of a curiosity and an annoyance than anything. "Why can't I get inside your head?"

He used Matt's wary distraction to grab his head between his hands, attacking viciously, and slicing through his memories. One struck him in particular; A women giving Matt a ring, then a man performing a passenger spell on him, allowing him to see and track him through Matt.

"Now I see why. Somebody's already in there." He leaned in closer. "Why are you watching me, Traveller? Odpowiedz mi!" He snapped Matt's neck, letting him slump to the ground, before moving back to hide behind a clump of trees.

Good. That seemed to solve the problem of passengers, for now. The last thing he needed was for the travellers to know he was free.

-X-

Katherine made it to the truck, tired and panicked, Jeremy on her heels. Jeremy tossed the keys to her.

"Get in the truck and drive."

"Where are you going?" She said, as he headed back up the path.

"I can't leave Matt." He protested, before turning around.

"Wu-wu-wu-wait!" She pointed her fingers at him. "How do you think I survived five hundred years? It wasn't because I was a vampire - it's because I never. Looked. Back." She stepped towards him.

"Don't be dumb - survive."

"That's why people treat you like an object and not like a person." He retorted, and ran off into the darkness as she watched, shocked.

It was clear that she had an ultimatum. Abandon Jeremy and Matt again, who were certainly going to die facing Silas, unprepared as they were, and continue running, with her experience she'd succeed, unprotected and alive, but alone. Or, she could take the shotgun, run after Jeremy, and somehow sneak up on Silas and figure out how to shoot him, endangering her life further. But she wouldn't be alone. And she'd be protected, more safe.

Instinct told her to take the truck and run. Run far away as she had done so many times before. But when as she stepped towards the truck, Jeremy's and Matt's words resonated in her head.

That's why people treat you like an object and not a person.

How many people have you killed using that excuse?

Katherine clutched the keys tightly in her hand, and stepped back. She didn't like Jeremy or Matt, both would see her dead, but Jeremy had told her what he thought of her, and apparently the human in her wanted to prove him wrong.

She grabbed the shotgun.

-X-

"Matt!"

The Hunter had returned. To Silas' confusion, he calmly crouched over Mary's body, looking at the ring the woman had given him, and visibly relaxed in relief. It was then that Silas made his presence known.

"Now, if my best friend died, I'd at least pretend to cry. Which leads me to believe he's not really dead. I take it that tacky old ring somehow protects him?"

Too bad you can't get inside my head to find out for sure." Jeremy said, standing up to face him. "Hunter's perk."

Silas smiled at his stupidity. "See, that's what you don't get. When I can read your mind, I at least have use for you. Now... I'm just gonna kill you." He shrugged.

"You can try, but none of your abilities work on me, so right now, you're nothing. Slower than a vampire, weaker than a vampire. I, on the other hand, am a hunter." Jeremy replied, deftly picking up Matt's small hatchet from the ground.

"Plus, I work out."

Jeremy suddenly threw the hatchet at Silas, who instinctively dodged it, which Jeremy used as a distraction to run at Silas and shove him up against a tree.

Silas pushed him violently away, causing Jeremy to stagger back, but he rebounded quickly, swinging punches at Silas. One caught him round the face and he doubled over, the pain quickly fading and he straightened, swiftly blocked the other blows the Hunter was throwing his way by grabbing his fists. Silas then head-butted Jeremy in the face, making Jeremy stumble back again, blood dripping from his nose. Silas grabbed the lantern and swung it lopsidedly at Jeremy but missed the boy by inches. Jeremy charged at Silas again, jumping on his back and gripping him in a headlock from behind.

Silas gritted his teeth. He wasn't letting this boy stopping him from getting to Katherine. He snapped a small branch off a tree in front of him, aiming it at his chest. "You might be stronger than me, but you're forgetting... that I... am immortal."

Silas slowly shoved the sharp end of the branch through his own chest, until it poked through his back and impaled Jeremy's shoulder. Jeremy groaned in pain and dropped off Silas' back as he pulled the branch back out and slumped to the floor. Silas picked up the hatchet, looking at Jeremy, who had pulled himself up on all fours. Smirking sadistically in triumph, Silas swung the hatchet back, aiming for Jeremy's head when the gunshot hit. It wasn't until the pain exploded in his chest and he saw the blood spreading across his shirt that he realised that he was the one who had been hit.

Looking up, he saw Katherine, grubby and tired despite her beauty, wielding a shotgun in her hands. He choked, paralysed from the position the bullet had hit him and dropped the hatchet, hands searching weakly for the bullet.

"I thought you didn't know how to use that." Jeremy said, the relief evident in his voice.

"I figured it out." She replied, then pulled the trigger back, and without any hesitation, shot him again in the heart. The pain shot across his system, knocking him to the ground, his vision swimming.

For some reason, one he refused to acknowledge, the pain wasn't nearly as bad as knowing that she had been the one to hurt him.

-X-

Exhilaration. That was what Katherine felt when she pulled the trigger. Because whatever Silas wanted with her, at least now he knew she wasn't to be messed with.

She smirked at Jeremy's shock and his reluctant impressed look, even as they headed back to the truck, carrying Matt's body as quickly as possible. They dumped him in the boot to wait for him to wake up.

They didn't have to wait long; after a few minutes he jerked awake, looking around in confusion at his new surroundings.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." She said to him, leaning on the truck.

Matt looked at them, his eyes widening in shock when he saw the blood on Jeremy's T-shirt.

"What the hell happened?" He asked, sitting up and rubbing his neck.

"Well," Jeremy replied. "Silas killed you, tried to kill me, then-"

"I shot him." Katherine smirked, with a deserved air of superiority. Matt looked at her, surprised, and almost respectful. "So we're even now. No more whining." She added, helping Matt out of the truck.

"Let's go, Silas won't be down for long." She said, closing up the boot with Matt and grabbing their belongings.

Jeremy seemed distracted. "Hey, I left a hatchet, I'll be right back." And he ran off into the forest.

He was back after a few minutes, during which Katherine and Matt had managed to have a halfway decent conversation, where Matt thanked her for helping them, and she replied jokingly that they were the only people who could help her, even if it was forced.

-X-

His veins were flames. Licking his body and destroying his blood, leaving him hungry and disorientated.

She'd gotten away. From him. The most powerful immortal being in the world, not to mention psychic and immortal, and she, Katherine Pierce, now a mere mortal, had taken him down with a shotgun.

When he'd woken up they were long gone. Which left the only food source as the spy he had at a convenience store two miles away, which he had spent the better part of two hours stumbling towards. He opened the door and sluggishly walked into the shop. The compelled clerk stared at him, a red welt and fresh bruises covering half his face.

"Did you find that girl that you were looking for?" He asked in a dull, almost robotic voice.

Silas turned towards him, "Yes. And then she shot me." now more irritated than ever by the reminder.

"So now I'm a little bit angry, and a little bit hungry." He said, approaching a stocked shelf near the counter. "But luckily, you can help me out with one of those things." grabbing a plastic cup from a shelf, and a pocket knife from another, then headed back towards the clerk.

He placed the cup on the counter, then held out the knife to the man, compelling him. "Filler up."

The clerk took the knife from Silas, and used it to slice open a vein in his own wrist, and let the blood drip into the cup. Suddenly the front door opened, and a short man with thick bushy hair appeared, followed by the woman, Nadia, he saw in Matt's mind. The travelers had found him.

Silas rolled his eyes. "Oh, goody. Gypsies are here. Oh, I'm sorry, you call yourselves 'Travelers' now, right?" He raised his eyebrows mockingly and smirked. "It's much more P.C."

The man-Gregor-pulled out a knife. "You can call me whatever you want... when I'm gutting you." He trembled slightly, and Silas chuckled. His wavering act of bravado was truly pathetic. A knife. Really? That would barely cut open his skin, let alone gut him, and there'd be no way Silas would even let him stop him from finding Katherine.

"I see, you're mad that I killed your blonde-haired, blue-eyed host, right?" Silas sighed, walking over to them. "That's what you get for taking over somebody's body to spy on me. But congrats, you found me. So now what? What do you want?"

"You, back in that tomb, sealed away for eternity." Gregor replied tersely.

Nadia took a step closer to the man until she was standing directly behind him. "That's what the Travelers have always wanted."

Then, to Silas' shock, she shoved the knife in Gregor's hand into his own neck, killing him instantly, letting him fall to the floor. He should have read her mind earlier, found out her intentions. It would have been a big time saver.

"Luckily for you, I've never really considered myself one." She smirked. "I know you can see inside my mind..." She added, letting Silas use the opportunity to read through her thoughts. "and I have my own agenda."

Katherine's daughter. Things had just gotten a lot easier. Using her, he could find Katherine and then leave Nadia behind. It would be simple enough; he could just compel her to forget him, or to leave afterwards.

"Yes," Silas smirked triumphantly, as a plan began to formulate in his mind. "I see that you do."

Thank you for reading guys. Heads up: next chapter is where things are going to start being more AU.