Previously on Taste: '…There was a delicate line here. A line which must not be crossed.'

December 4, 2010

Katherine plunged her hand into the chest of the last member of the LaHaye coven before yanking it back out, a self-satisfied smirk appearing on her face at the squelch his heart made when it came with her. She nonchalantly dropped the organ on top of the fallen body, pulling the silk scarf off from around her neck with her clean hand. The lady wiped herself free of the residual blood before discarding the scarf on top of the heart, the fluttering piece of material a crowning glory to the massacre that had gone on in her cellar that night, just across the room from her precious wine collection. Elijah was at the backdoor, ordering his entourage of workers in body disposal, for they could not very well burn the bodies in her basement, now could they? It may draw unnecessary attention.

"Well, your annoyances have been taken care of." Katherine sauntered over to the door where Elijah was standing. She snapped her fingers at the nearest minion of his, causing the young man to step back, intimidated. "You, run upstairs to my closet and fetch me my black Manolo boots. The short ones, not the tall pair. And hurry!"

Elijah chuckled. "So you have taken to ordering my assistants around, I see?"

"I have blood on my shoes, and I will not be ruining my floors upstairs to go fetch a new pair." That's what minions were for, after all: body disposal and shoe retrieval. When the young vampire had made his way back—surprisingly carrying the correct pair of shoes—Katherine took them from him, and smirked. "On all fours." She demanded. When he complied, she placed her heel upon his back, using him as a footstool while she changed her shoes. It would not do to lean down, after all, and the few sparse chairs left in the cellar had all been stained with one type of unsavory matter or another.

The entire time, Elijah just stood there, looking on amusedly. When she was done he waved the boy off, not even commenting on what had transpired. "Be ready tomorrow morning at eight. We're going to the horse races." He gave Katerina a look. One of his family's horses was racing tomorrow, and an occasion such as the evenings did require a celebration. There were no more blasted LaHayes' to take a favorite city of his anymore, after all, and anyone who wished to do the same had been sufficiently warned by their example. Yes, tomorrow was going to be a good day.

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November 6, 1489

"They wish to marry me off!" Katerina burst into her friend's bedroom after being shown in by one of Evangeliya's sisters'. "I am but six and ten, and they wish to marry me off!"

"Katerina, what on earth?" Darling Evangeliya with her blonde hair and green eyes stood from the chair by the window, where she had been mending a shawl.

"Father wants to marry me to Dragomir Georgiev. It sounds as if it is nearly settled!" Katerina threw herself on her friend's bed dramatically. "He is nearly thrice my age! And ugly! Plus, everyone knows how he carries on with the village whores." The brunette complained petulantly.

"He is very well-off, Katerina. He is the richest man in the area. You would be taken care of." Evangeliya cautioned. Her optimism was maddening at times, even if she provided good counsel. However, at the moment, Katerina was not inclined to hear it.

"He is older than my father, and he only likes me for my face. He may have money, but from what I know he has come about it in less than honorable ways at times, and I refuse to marry a dishonorable man. Character does count for something."

"Surely your father would not make you marry him if you do not wish." Evangeliya sighed, acknowledging her friend's point in the matter. Marrying a dishonorable man was about as good as marrying a weak one. And, it was not as if she was wishing to be married to the man either. "Everyone knows you are his favorite child. Your opinion must account for something."

"We thought the same about Darina, and look what happened to her." Katerina gave her friend a look. The other childhood friend of their group, Darina, had been married off to a horrid brute of a man a fortnight after she turned five and ten, and not much had been heard of her since. "My father sounded quite settled on the matter. And my mother was overjoyed, of course. She kept going on about how it is 'time for her to be settled' and 'how wild' I am."

"Well… What are you going to do?" Evangeliya looked at her friend worriedly. Katerina was known for doing impulsive things, and this was feeling like another situation which would get her in severe trouble.

"I do not know, Evangeliya. I do not know." Katerina's brow furrowed and she set her jaw. "But I will not marry that man."

Sometime later, Katerina left her friend's home and rode off to clear her head some more. By now her absence would have been noted at home, and she needed to create a cover for why she left without revealing the fact that she was eavesdropping on her parent's conversation. Then she had to figure out how to tell her parents that she did not wish to marry Dragomir Georgiev when they brought up the topic; most likely tonight, if she knew her parents.

She managed to sneak in the house unnoticed, and crept to the bedroom she shared with her sister Anka, who was five years her junior. Planning to feign a headache so as to get out of the evening meal, Katerina sat by the window attempting to figure out a plan. She could not run away, for she had no money. Of course, she could always become a servant, but that was a ridiculous idea; besides, she was the daughter of a wealthy merchant who had no training in that sort of thing. No sensible person would hire her. She had been groomed for marriage her entire life—and yet, she had not been. Her father had educated her as he had his sons. She was more than capable of taking over his entire enterprise with only a few years or so more of training, and everyone in the house was aware of that. So what could she do to ensure she could spend the rest of her days at home…

A clamor from the yard roused Katerina out of her thoughts: Viktor, one of her good friends, as well a friend of her brothers', was here. However, when she saw him, an idea formed in her mind. Everyone knew Viktor was infatuated with her, and there were many people in the village who suspected an attachment between them. This… This was risky, and ridiculously impulsive, but if she went through with this crazy idea… It may actually work. Of course, her reputation would be completely and utterly ruined in the process, but she could easily convince her father to send her away to a school or keep her at home; even a convent would be preferable to marrying that vile old man. However, if she did…seduce Viktor, and ended up with child, he would surely come forward and insist on marrying her. No, no, she had to take this the furthest she could. She could flirt with other men in front of him, making him think it was not just him she would…give herself…to. He would take that as a deep betrayal, and any seeds of doubt would be whisked from his mind. It would keep him from marrying her, and with her father unable to have someone to marry her to, she could stay at home happily and perfectly!

Yes, this was the best possible plan. It would cause everyone a great amount of trouble, but it was what was needed so that she would not have to marry that vile old man.

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December 27, 2010

"You do realize I dislike being dragged off to the middle of God-knows-where Scotland with no warning whatsoever, right?" Katherine grumbled, motioning towards her room to their porter, who placed her small collection of bags in her part of the two-bedroom suite. Elijah had called her four hours previous to tell her to get packed for a trip, and to say that she was not very happy was an understatement.

"Why Katerina, I assumed you would have learned spontaneity over the past five centuries."

"Spontaneity is one thing. Jetting me off to the middle of nowhere with only thirty minute's notice is another. Not to mention I was asleep at the time." She grumbled. "When are we to meet your werewolf allies?"

"Their settlement is a fair distance from here. They have arranged for a lunch meeting, so I believe we need to be leaving here in roughly two hours." Elijah said.

"Perfect." She shoved her travel mug and purse in his hands. "I'm going to go nap. I'll be up in an hour!" Katherine laughed at his expression as she slammed her bedroom door closed behind her.

Roughly two hours later the pair was speeding through the woods, looking stylish as ever as they attempted to avoid trees. Up ahead of her, Elijah stopped, and Katherine slowed herself down until she was beside him. "We're here." He said.

"If this is it, then I am seeing a distinct lack of werewolves." She looked around at the trees. "Did you get us lost?"

He fixed her with a look. "I do not get lost, Katerina." Elijah led her through another patch of trees and into a hidden clearing, where an obvious village had been established. "As you can clearly see." She simply made an unimpressed expression in response, before slipping on what he recognized to be her 'there are people to charm' face. They were approached by a pair of younger werewolves, and he quickly explained their motives for being there, and asked to be taken to their leader. Katerina had let out a nearly inaudible laugh at that, muttering something about aliens.

They were quickly taken to meet the Head of the Clan, Alistair Sinclair. "Elijah Mikaelson." The elderly werewolf had smiled warmly, grasping his hand in a firm handshake. "I have not seen you since I was a boy."

"It has been many years, Alistair." Elijah smiled. "May I introduce Katerina Petrova."

"Lovely to meet you." They shook hands, before all moved to take seats. "Miss Petrova, I assume you are the one investigating this warlock, Silas?"

Katerina nodded, going ahead with their agreed-upon cover story. It would not do for the world to be aware of this cure. "Yes, that would be me. I am indebted to a coven who believe they have a text of his, and I am investigating whether or not it is authentic. Elijah mentioned your clan may have some information."

"I do not know how much help we can actually be, but one of my daughters keeps our histories. She may know where to begin." Alistair said.

"That would be agreeable." Elijah nodded, rising.

That evening, the vampire pair were back at their hotel. They had met with Alistair's daughter, Elizabeth, but all she did was redirect them to her brother Lachlan—as well as his two very young children, whom had taken a liking to Katherine, surprisingly—whose wife had been a witch during her short lifetime; he apparently still had a few of her grimoires. Unfortunately, after a good three hours perusing through her grimoires, nothing other than the name of a warlock had come up, sending them on yet another trail.

"Yes, I did say Jean-Pierre Lamar. Yes, you bloody imbecile, I would like to know his location! Find it for me before I find you and rip your heart out of your worthless chest!" Katherine exploded into her cell phone. She gratefully accepted the tumbler of scotch Elijah held out to her, before downing half of it in one gulp. Her minions were idiots.

Elijah, on the other hand, was waiting on an email from one of the witches he was still on good terms with, hoping she might be able to hunt down this warlock. Lamar supposedly had done research on Silas, so if they could find him, they could possibly find the cure first. When his phone pinged and he read the content of the email, he nodded to Katerina, and she hung up without even giving an explanation.

"I assume your witch found him?" She finished the rest of the whiskey. "Thank god. My people could barely find their way out of a paper bag." Setting her glass on the bar, she crossed her arms and turned to her partner in crime. "So, where does this Jean-Pierre Lamar live? I do hope it is somewhere civilized."

"I hope you haven't unpacked, Katerina, for it seems that other than a taste for research, Lamar enjoyed a life of hedonism." Elijah smirked at seeing the location. "We're heading to Las Vegas."

AN: So, I realize this chapter is mainly filler, but I'm a huge fan of the next, as I've teased on tumblr. How did you all like this one?

For you ATCL and VoTF fans, I'm sure you remember the Sinclairs? I'm actually working on two more oneshots for that universe, one of which goes with a future chapter for this story.

Anyways, I'm a super big fan of the flashback for this chapter, as it sort of is the turning point in Katerina's life. It's the first time that she really risks it all to save herself, and as we know, things do not turn out as she imagined. She's only sixteen here, so she's still free and imaginative; very much a girl who feels like marrying an old man is the end of the world, and still wishes to dance among fields of flowers. Oh, and spoiler... You'll get to see Elijah's 'defining moment' as well. Though most of the flashbacks will be Kalijah-centered, they are still individual people, and these moments got them to where they are in the present storyline. Just... I love flashbacks, okay? It sends my inner history nerd squealing.

Get ready for next chapter people, because it's a marvelous one! And thank you all for reading and reviewing!

-Abi