Chapter 3

Commander Slattery and Captain Chandler watched as the six candidates entered the plastic encased area in which Rachel was holding the trials. Master Chief took the bed at the end followed by Miller, Kara, Tex, Katherine, and Garnett. They each had a small case of things to occupy their time, while in incubation—well everyone except Katherine, who was already bored.

While, Rachel and Quincy began to administer the virus—as they had already given them the prototype vaccine—Katherine looked over at Tex with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry for that. It was just bad timing on your part. And if you ask Rachel, she knows I always need to make an entrance."

Tex looked at Katherine with one eyebrow raised. She couldn't tell if he really meant the small thank you he uttered, but she knew she was going to be annoyed by him when he said a few moments later, "You know you're actually really hot. Almost as hot as Dr. Scott."

Rachel rolled her eyes. Katherine smiled slyly and crawled onto Tex's bed saying, "You know we'll be in here for a while. We'll need to do something to pass the time."

Before Tex could answer, Rachel grabbed Katherine's arm and roughly injected her with the virus asking, "Can you control yourself for five minutes?" Causing Tex and Katherine to smirk at the sight of her jealousy.

Katherine went back to her own bed and said, "Fine. Besides, I have my own boy toy."

Knowing she would regret asking, Rachel asked, "Which one of the Salvatore brothers is it this time?"

Katherine titled her head with a small, thoughtful smile saying, "The same one it has been since I met him in 1864: Stefan Salvatore."

Miller spoke to Katherine for the first time saying, "I know it's rude to ask a woman her age, but exactly how old are you?"

The room was silent and all eyes turned to Katherine, including Bertrise and the two commanding officers watching outside, as Katherine spoke, "Well since I was born in 1473, I would say I'm 541." As the number sunk in, the air suddenly became thicker and sensing it immediately, Katherine tried to make things light saying, "Well I spent over 500 of those running away from an immortal hybrid so I guess you could say I have only really lived a little."

"How were you turned?" asked Master Chief, now intrigued.

Katherine sighed, "It's a very long story—"

"We don't mind listening. I mean it isn't like we are doing anything," said Kara speaking up.

Katherine crossed her legs and sat leaning against the plastic behind her bed. All eyes were on her as she began, "It all started when I was banished from Bulgaria," seeing Miller's mouth open to ask why, she said blatantly, "I had a baby out of wed lock. Shame. Anyways I never even got to hold my daughter, so it's not like I missed anything."

"Still," said Garnett, "You were her mother." Katherine looked at the picture of Garnett's daughter, Lily that she posted by her bed. "Thank you," said Katherine genuinely.

Then all sincerity disappeared as she said, "I went to England, where I met a nobleman named Elijah. Little did I know he was one of the Originals (first generation of vampires), but I was taken to him and his brother, Niklaus at first. That is, until I found out what he was, and what he wanted from me. And then I ran like hell."

"What did they want?" asked Slattery engrossed in the girl's story.

"They wanted to break the curse placed on Klaus by his mother. You see their mother, Esther, was a very powerful witch, but she was also a bit of a slut. Klaus was not her husband's baby, but a son of a werewolf," at the mention of the terms "witch" and "werewolf" everyone seemed to tense up, but Katherine continued, "So she placed a curse on him keeping his werewolf side dormant, after turning her family into vampires so they would be all-powerful blah blah blah. Anyways, they needed three individuals to be sacrificed in order to break this curse: a vampire, a werewolf, and a doppelgänger. (A shadow person who's appearance is replicated throughout history. Apparently I am the clone, at least on the outside, of the girl Klaus and Elijah fancied and often fought over, Tatia. Luckily, one of Elijah's men, Trevor fancied me and helped me get away and after forcing Rose to feed me her blood, I hung myself in the cottage, where she was staying, thus turning myself into a vampire and rendering blood useless to Klaus."

Captain Chandler's eyes grew big, "You killed yourself?"

"Living out of a suitcase is better than dying so my blood can be spilled over a silly little moonstone," said Katherine indignantly.

"And how did you meet this Stefan?" asked Kara. Katherine looked over at the girl. She was sweating purfusely. Actually everyone was, except for her.

Katherine then realized, looking around, that Rachel's vaccine wasn't working. "Rachel, is everyone supposed to be sweating like this?"

Rachel nodded. "A fever is normal and the progression of the symptoms seems to be running on schedule. We should know soon if the vaccine kicks in. Katherine nodded. She glanced back at Kara and realized the girl had a blank stare. "Rachel. Get over here. It's Kara."

All at once everything seemed to happen, as if everyone could move with vampire speed. Kara began seizing. Quincy and Rachel got her on her side and were administering something. Captain Chandler and XO Slattery had gotten up and were yelling for Kara to stay with them. Master Chief, was clinging to his Bible suddenly let go and fell to the floor. Garnett began throwing up, and Tex yelled that he couldn't feel his left arm, while Katherine and Miller were the only two still intact. Miller looked to Katherine. The look on his face was one she had seen before. Anna, Pearl's daughter had the same look of fear when they took her mother away. Katherine quickly pushed the thought out of her mind. This was going to be a long day.

When everything was back under control, Rachel and Quincy left arguing with Captain Chandler about why the vaccine wasn't working. Katherine looked over at everyone: Tex was laying on his side, so she couldn't see his face. Kara was now unconscious and on oxygen. Master Chief kept twitching in his sleep. Garnett was singing to Kara, thinking she was her daughter. Miller lay still, his eyes a bright red, breathing slowly. Katherine shook her head. She felt none of these symptoms. It wasn't fair. She had been a survivor. She ran from Klaus for over five-hundred years, she had killed hundreds to stay alive, she survived childbirth and now she was going to die from a genetically mutated virus created by the humans. Vampire prey. Katherine leaned back and let herself drift off to sleep.