Here is chapter three, and I really hope you enjoy it. I must apologize for it being so short, but I've been trying to update all my stories this week (didn't really happen, lol). It's going to get better.

Please tell me what you think. Criticism is much appreciated.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or its characters. L.J. Smith created the TVD world, and I'm just playing with it.

Chapter 3

Katherine sat in on her bed thinking. Here she had two men vying for her love, and yet she felt affections for them both. Gudren, her maid, was standing by in case she needed anything.

"I do not know what I shall do," Katherine told her.

"I am sure you will make the right choice," was Gudren's simple reply.

Stefan, Katherine thought to herself. I have never met anyone who loves as blindly as he does. The way he looks at me is so genuine. So pure, honest, and unconditional. I am perfection in his eyes. But what about Damon? He has a soul like fire. It blazes within him so strong, and I can feel it every time he is near. But even with his fire, he has a tenderness that cannot be matched. What name did he give me? Kitten. Yes. He called me his little white kitten.

Smiling at the recollection, Katherine closed her eyes and heaved a sigh. She was torn from her thoughts when she heard a knock on her door.

"Enter."

Damon sauntered in and Katherine, pleasantly surprised, stood from where she was sitting. As she opened her mouth to speak, Damon held his finger up for silence.

"Please, don't speak. Just listen," Damon began.

"Gudren, would you please give us a moment?" The maid nodded and left the room obediently, shutting the door behind her.

Once she had left, Damon continued. "I could go on for eternity explaining why I love you, and how you should be mine. I could list the thousands of things that I would do to make you happy. But I am afraid we do not have that long. Therefore, I will state it simply." Damon approached Katherine and held her face in his palms.

"Let me have your hand in marriage."

Damon stared deep into Katherine's blue eyes as he waited for a response. Katherine stared back, and then shifted her gaze in deep thought.

"Stefan," she muttered without thinking.

When Damon had been speaking, his ebony eyes were filled with sincerity and warmth. Now they were hard and angry.

"I see. Your heart really belongs to my idiot brother, no?"

"Do not call him that!" Katherine admonished.

"It is alright, love." Katherine and Damon hadn't noticed when the bedroom door crept open. Stefan leaned against the doorframe with natural grace.

"It is not polite to enter a lady's room without knocking," Damon said as he faced his brother. "And a nobleman should always stand up straight."

"The maid let me in. And just what do you know about being a nobleman?" Stefan replied.

"That is enough." Katherine stood in between Damon and Stefan, and looked at both of them in turn. "There's no need for you to fight anymore. I did entrust both of you with my secret, after all."

Both brothers stood directly in front of her.

"What do you mean?" Stefan asked.

"I love you both. Unfortunately, I do not know which one of you will live in the shadows for me," Katherine replied.

"I will," the brothers answered simultaneously. Katherine smiled.

"Katherine, please make a choice. Why do you seem so amused by this?" Stefan's voice was pleading, but Damon looked very calm and sure. That was another thing that Katherine liked. Damon didn't let things faze him – or at least he would never let it show.

"By tomorrow's sunset, I will have made my choice. Meet me in the garden if you wish to know what it is. You may go now," Katherine dismissed them. Slightly angered, Stefan turned to leave immediately, but Damon gave Katherine another glance before exiting the room himself.

"You can come back in now." When Gudren entered Katherine spoke to her again. "There is something I need you to do," she said.

"Ask me anything and it shall be done."

"I need you to have two talismans against the sun made."

Gudren nodded at her request and set out immediately. Katherine hugged her elbows and smiled, knowing that she couldn't be happier. The loves of her life were going to be hers, and the three of them would be together forever. She twirled, watching her favorite dress wrap around her heels.

It is simply perfect.

That's what Katherine thought until dusk came the following day.

Because she chose them both, Katherine gave each brother her blood. When they found out that Katherine had done this, they surprised her by being angry. They demanded that she choose one or the other, but that was something that Katherine couldn't bring herself to do. So she ran away. And not only did she run away, but she made the Salvatore brothers think that she committed suicide in hopes that their grief would bring them together. Little did she know that her plan would seriously backfire.

Instead of the brothers uniting, they drew their swords and fought to the death – each blaming the other for what they thought was Katherine's demise. But what Damon and Stefan failed to remember was that they still had Katherine's blood running through their veins. So when they died, it was only for them to wake up in a tomb as creatures of the night.

Now, only thirty or so years later, Damon still resembled the same young man that he was when he "died". But he was very much different. Here, he stood in a crowd watching Giordano Bruno being burned at stake. It was a pitiful sight, he had to admit. And the humans seemed so riled up. And for what? It was pointless to him, really.

All thoughts were erased from his mind when he felt a familiar dryness in his veins.

Lunch, he thought to himself as he eyed a young maiden standing across the square.

The fun is finally starting. The next chapter will be much longer to make up for this one, I assure you.

I have a few tricks up my sleeve for the updates to come, so I don't think you'll be disappointed (I hope not).

Please review, and don't hesitate to check out my other stories if you wish. :)

Updates for those are on the way, as well.

Fact: Giordano Bruno was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer. He was burned at stake in 1600 for heresy.

This tidbit was brought to you by Wikipedia (because we all know that, before I wrote this chapter, the only "Bruno" that I'd ever heard of was Bruno Mars!)