A/n: I forgot that Vampire Diaries - Avengers crossovers has a very niche audience. Ah, well. I am still going to post it up anyway since the story is just sitting in my laptop. Thanks though to those who have this story on your alerts or favourites. I hope it'll draw you in enough to leave a review soon.

Chapter 1

Present, New York.

Stepping out of the cab, she breathed in deep, allowing the crisp cool air of the city to fill her lungs before exhaling in a sigh. The sights and sounds of the greatest city on earth had never ceased to amaze her and that says a lot for one who has seen plenty.

The last time she was here had been decades ago, 70 years to be precise and anyone in the old era were to see her now, they would say one thing.

She hasn't aged a day.

Katherine still had the appearance of a youthful young woman in her 20s and along with time, she had adapted once more to blend into society's status quo. Gone were her tight curls and ruby red lips that were the beauty trend for the ladies of the 40s. Her hair was now long and in loose curls that framed her oval features. She had traded in her dress for a purple top, a jacket and a pair of jeans that hugged every curve of her slender body. A pair of high-heeled ankle boots completed the modern day look. The only thing that remained unchanged was the blue necklace that hung around her neck.

Watching as the cab pulled away from the curb and drove off, she then made her way into the front lobby of the Plaza Hotel. She noticed that the side of the building was still smashed in as though something decided to take a swipe at it for kicks.

She knew what had happened here only a few months ago. The whole world did.

After all, every high tech satellite in the world had broadcasted the massive battle that nearly tore Manhattan apart. Many theories had come about on what had occurred that day when a white blue light that opened up the sky. Some people claimed it was a terrorist attack although no known group has stepped forward to claim responsibility. Others cited an alien invasion due to the inhuman features of the invaders.

However the group that had defended the city and warded off the attack captured even more speculation from the media. All anyone knew was that they called themselves the Avengers and that they vanished as suddenly as they had appeared. Rumour has it that one of them was a war hero, a man from World War II. She also heard tales of a big green lumbering beast and a tall man in a red cap that could summon lightning with his hammer. And of course to round up the team was New York's own Iron Man.

Perhaps it was that mystery that drew her back to New York.

The hotel staffs were quick to check her into the presidential suite at her request although there was a minor argument that a certain Tony Stark had pre-booked the room in advance. A few quiet words on her part quickly settled the matter and she soon found herself alone in the most expensive and biggest suites in the city.

Katherine quickly found the complementary liquor and pouring herself a drink, she strolled through the massive space, thankfully and miraculously undestroyed by the battle and stared out of the wall window at the Manhattan skyline.

Ahead, she could see a building with a very big 'A' on it and recalled vaguely that it belonged to aforementioned Stark. Why he required a room at the Plaza escaped her but it didn't surprise her. The rich people always were more eccentric. Why else would a billionaire been flying around in an iron suit battling aliens?

Now that was a statement she never thought would cross her mind. Never in her hundreds of years travelling. That only showed how much the world has changed since World War II.

Someone knocked on her door then. "Miss Thorne, room service."

Remembering she had requested food to be sent personally to the suite earlier, Katherine opened the door and allowed the waiter to enter with a trolley filled with food. The young man seemed taken back that the only occupant in the room was a beautiful young woman who smiled sweetly at him in thanks.

"Just put it over there." she said, shutting and locking the door behind her.

He did as told and removed the food covers to reveal an array of dishes. "You must be starving, miss." he exclaimed, unaware that she drew closer behind him.

She smiled as she felt her incisors lengthening. "Famished."

He turned and his scream never left his mouth as she clamped a surprisingly strong hand over it, forced his head back and sank her fangs into his throat. His body jerked and twitched as his blood and life were rapidly drained from him until his eyes glazed over and his heartbeat slowed and eventually stopped.

Careful to not spill a drop on the fine Persian carpeting, Katherine pulled back from the ravaged throat, licking her lips daintily and released the body, allowing it to slump to the ground like a broken marionette. She sighed in contentment as the warm blood filled and heated her. A stray drop escaped her lips and trailed down her chin. Carefully she lifted it and licked it off her finger as she turned back to the window.

Yes, this time, she could definitely see herself staying a while in the city.

~.~

In the state the city was in, in the midst of rebuilding and recovering from their battle months ago, it almost felt…painfully familiar. It felt like the aftermath of a warzone, once the fighting had passed and it was the recovery period before the next attack. Not that he wished war on these people. He hoped they would never have to experience the pain of losing their loved ones and watching their country ravaged by the flames of war as he had.

Those caught in the middle of the fight between Loki and the Avengers would remember the terror and fear of being helpless though. And those who had lost their lives…

"But New York will prevail." Director Fury had said. "Its people will always prevail. As long as they have heroes to look up to,"

Heroes.

Tony Stark had basked at the term. Steve Rogers had scoffed. They called him a war hero, a living legend but all he knew was that he was just a soldier out of his time, shoved into a world, an era he knew little of. Director Fury had promised him to help get back into society but he doubt it would be anytime soon.

The world was filled with gadgets and something called the Internet. It seemed to link everyone together regardless of location, space and time. Tony seemed to rely heavily on it like a child to candy. But he failed to see the appeal.

Or maybe it was because he could not see it at all. Bruce Banner had tried to explain that it was all around them in the fibre optic wires that ran through the city, connected by the unseen signals transmitted through space satellites. Steve was lost at the words 'fibre optic.'

70 years have passed since he went down with the aircraft and so much has changed in the world. But it was the thought that everyone he knew, his friends and family…Peggy were either dead or on their way there that hit him the hardest. They would have lived out the life he missed out on, experienced the changes in the world as they came. Peggy would have married, have children and grandchildren. They would have adapted with time.

While he remained a 1940s man thrust into the future. An old soul in the new world. Alone.

To put it in Tony's words, it sucked.

"More coffee?"

A woman's voice ajared him from his thoughts and he looked up at the blond haired waitress who held a pot over his cup. He felt as though he had seen her somewhere before.

"Um, no. Thank you." he mumbled, feeling for his wallet. "How much do I owe you?"

She gave him a nervous but kind smile. "It's on the house." she said. "After all, you did save my life, Captain."

He stared at her and finally remembered her face vaguely from the bank that was under attack during the Chitauri invasion. She had been there and had seen his face when his mask was yanked off.

"Consider this my way of saying thanks." she continued shyly. "Maybe next time, breakfast on me perhaps?"

He stood and smiled in return. "Maybe. Thank you, ma'am."

She bobbed her head in delight and excused herself as another customer called her over. An elderly man in the neighbouring table at the face glanced at Steve with a look of annoyance.

"Ask for her number, genius. She's into you." he said gruffly.

Steve felt his cheeks grow warm and he quickly left the café, making his way towards Stark Towers. He could almost hear Peggy's voice in his head.

You still don't know a single thing about women.

And it seemed that wasn't going to change anytime soon. In the 1940s, he was only beginning to grasp the concept of women being interested in him after becoming Captain America although then he had no intention of knowing any other female other than Peggy.

Then in a blink of an eye, 70 years had disappeared and he had to start all over again. And women in this modern age were much harder to read. Sometimes he wasn't even sure if some were even women to begin with. It was so hard and he was just too mentally exhausted to think about.

Besides, the only women he currently knew now were Natasha Romanoff and Maria Hill. Both very intimidating and strong-willed by their own rights. There was also Tony's girlfriend, Pepper Potts whom he only met a few times but found her quite pleasant. It also amused him to no end that she was the only one who could control the eccentric billionaire to some degree.

"Good evening, Mister Rogers. How may I be of assistance to you today?"

The artificial computer voice with a British accent startled him from his thoughts and he realised he had arrived at Stark Towers while lost in thought. No matter how many times he came to Tony's 'humble' abode as he called it, he doubted he would get used to a speaking building. Much less one that was capable to independent thought and processing.

"Is Tony in?" he asked.

"Mister Stark is out on a business meeting in Malibu, sir. But you're most welcome to join Miss Potts in their apartment." JARVIS replied. "Docter Banner is with her."

"Thank you, JARVIS."

The elevator was quick and smooth and the doors opened up to the massive penthouse apartment that had, a few months ago, been the centre stage of their battle. Tony's renovations had erased all evidence of the Hulk smashing the demi-god into the floor and had re-established the place once more as the home of the richest man in the world.

In short, he spared no expanses to the repairs and had in fact increased the capacity to suit the constant comings and goings of the Avengers team.

"Steve, how nice to see you!" the strawberry blonde haired woman greeted from the table counter. "Would you like a drink?"

"No but thank you." he said politely, strolling into the living room where Bruce was seated on the couch, his attention on the screens that appeared at will in front of him. His hands moved rapidly, tapping here and there as his brilliant mind worked.

"Docter Banner." Steve greeted.

"Hey, Cap." the scientist replied without looking up.

Steve looked around, noticing that only half the team was here. Pepper must have read his thoughts as she beckoned for him to join her at the table.

"Tony was summoned by Fury for some consultation issue." she said.

A frown appeared on his face. "But JARVIS said -,"

"Tony told him to lie to you." she said. "He didn't want you to worry and there really is nothing to worry about. It's just some minor issues with Tony's clean energy concept. Something about harnessing solar power at a larger scale."

Still, he didn't like that Tony always seemed to keep him out of the loop or felt the need to lie to him. He wasn't a child who needed to be protected from a world he didn't understand. Steve was at least grateful he could rely on Tony's better half to be otherwise.

"It's just us here. So make yourself at home." Pepper went on.

Overall, it seemed that it was going to be a quiet and fairly relaxing day.

~.~

"This mission is classified as highly dangerous. The target is female, appears to be in her mid-twenties and has suspected of being involved in over a hundred murders in the past twenty years. Yes, Tony?" Fury's one single eye glared at Tony as he raised his hand in the mock imitation of a rebellious school boy.

"Question. Actually two questions." Tony quipped, well aware of the annoyed glares Natasha and Clint were giving him for interrupting their briefing session. "Don't you mean past ten years, not twenty since the target is, well, in her mid-twenties. And secondly, why I am here if this is an assassination mission?"

Fury looked as though he wanted to massage his temples but refused to give in to the other man. "If you would just shut up, I'll tell you."

"Okay, okay." Tony held up his hands in mock surrender. "The floor is yours, Cyclops."

Clint bit back a snicker while Natasha rolled her eyes, praying fervently Tony wasn't actively involved in the mission.

"Now, as I was saying before I was interrupted. The target is a woman in her mid-twenties. That is not a mistake, Mister Stark. Last I check, she goes by name of Katherine Pierce and has several aliases. She is incredibly dangerous." To emphasize his point, a video appeared on the screen behind Fury. The time stamp in the corner of the video indicated it was taken three years ago in Russia.

A young woman sat in the middle of an empty room, her posture relaxed and calm as a Russian guard circled her, questioning her. The camera zoomed in closer on the woman's face and Natasha stiffened. Her eyes widening, she leaned in as two more men filled the screen, surrounding the woman. One of them held a gun to her head but she barely reacted, her lips moving as they curled into a sneer.

A shot was fired but the target wasn't no longer there. The woman had moved impossibly fast, dropping to her knees and kicking the metal chair into the knees of the gunman. He went down fast, screaming as his kneecaps broke from the impact. His comrades moved simultaneously but they were too slow before the woman was on them, snapping their necks with ease. Barely glancing at their dead bodies, she calmly removed their guns and with one shot, placed the third man out of his misery.

"Whoa." Tony muttered clearly impressed. "Is she on some drug or something? Because that was….wow."

Fury was looking at the female assassin, watching her expression. "Agent Romanoff, is there something you would like to share with us?"

"It's not possible." Natasha whispered before looking at the director. "I know her, back when I was…bad. It was ten years ago. I was on a mission in Bora Bora and she was there. We fought and…"

She stopped as though the next words were difficult to say.

"Natasha?" Clint asked, reaching out to her in support. He shared at lot with his fellow agent but never did she mention Bora Bora. "What happened?"

"She was almost killed." Fury finished, having seen the mission files. "The mission was declared a success with the intended target eliminated but it took an entire team of highly trained CIA agents to subdue this woman. She was thought to be gunned down but her body was nowhere to be found after that."

"Whoa…" Tony said again. "Can someone say, cree-py?"

"She's not a ghost if that's where you're getting at." Fury said, aware of where Tony's mind could be headed. "She's quite the opposite in fact. SHIELD has been tracking her whereabouts for years now. The only breadcrumbs we have of her movements are the bodies she leaves behind. We have never been able to visually identify her. Until now."

"You found her?" Natasha asked.

"Getting off a plane from Japan right here in New York. She just checked into the presidential suite of the Plaza Hotel under the alias of Kathryn Thorne." A press of a button showed the woman entering the hotel with only a shoulder bag. Further enhancement of her picture had Tony and Clint cursing under the breaths.

"Holy crap, she hasn't changed a bit!" Tony remarked. Then it sunk in. "Wait, what? The presidential suite of the Plaza? I thought I told the manager I called eternal dibs on that place!"

They ignored him as the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. Clint voiced out their speculations. "So she doesn't grow old, can't die. Moves faster than the Cap himself and can quite possibly be as strong as him. That doesn't exactly tell us much about what she could be. A demi-god like Thor, another super-soldier?"

"A zombie?" Tony offered helpfully.

Fury paused, his hand on the remote button. These men and woman were remarkable people who have seen and done things that weren't exactly normal but he felt now would be the right time to throw them into the deep end of the pool and into another world that has existed alongside theirs for thousands of years. "One thing I have yet to show you is the state of the bodies in which they were found."

Click.

Natasha cursed in Russian.

The montages of bodies were many and they all held one thing in common. Two twin marks that punctured either their throats or wrists. Tony even looked a bit queasy from the sight of mangled throats and bodies drained of blood.

"Oh, boy."

"Boys and girls." Fury said dramatically and for some reason Tony felt that the director was actually enjoying this moment. Bastard. "There is a very high possibility that your next target is a vampire."

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