Playing With Matches

Waking in the home of Damon Salvatore was strange, especially when it took Astra a minute upon waking to realize that something was wrong and finally put her finger on what that thing was; her lack of memory and the strangeness of everything around her. She groaned nearly inaudibly and buried herself deeper into the blankets, wishing that they could cocoon her and protect her from whatever was happening. She could hear movement in the house, several different bodies walking around and doing regular morning activities.

Suddenly feeling far more awake, Astra decided that it was high time for her to learn more about the time she was in and the people she was with. Smirking to herself, she slipped from under the covers and dashed to the door, faster then she had intended and had to stop short before she ended up slamming into the wood. One of the many downsides of having lost hundreds of years from her memory was that she was still trying to gauge the strength she had gained in that time.

Opening the door, she headed toward where the voices were coming from, keeping her steps completely silent as her bare feet caressed along the hardwood floors and carpeting. Listening carefully, she was able to hear something that she didn't hear the night before, while Damon was with her. The voice of the woman who had been walking around.

Katarina.

The only problem was that there were two women in the room that held Katarina's voice, two smells that were nearly identical but held distinct difference. The doppelgänger had been found, and she was still a young human girl. Astra wanted both to flee and to laugh in bitterness. Of course the place she awoke in, without decades of her memories, was in the same home as one Katarina Petrova with the next doppelgänger along with her.

Things were beginning to get very interesting.

Leaning casually against the wall, she decided it would be best to collect what information she could before showing herself to the vampires and human in the room. She was able to pick up that the human doppelgänger's name was Elena, they were striving to find a way to kill Klaus to keep the mortal woman safe and Katarina was hated by everyone in the room. Astra found herself thinking, as she listened in, that she greatly preferred the most resent of the doppelgängers over Katarina.

"Do you know where Klaus is? When he's coming? What he looks like?" Astra shook her head in amusement, unbelieving that this woman was the same person that had accidentally turned herself into a vampire when she was trying to end her life in desperation.

"If you know something, say it. Or get out," Damon said, malice nearly dripping from his words. Astra decided that they weren't going to be speaking much more and began to make her way down the hallway to the room that they were standing in, continuing to listen carefully as she crept along, undetected.

"Fine, then maybe I'll just go to the Grill, have some lunch. Maybe Aunt Jenna's free for a bite," Katarina said, the threat clear in her tone. Astra didn't know who this Jenna woman was, but the aunt before it gave the hint that she was related to Elena. Stepping into the doorway, it was easy to tell which of the two identical women was Katarina, the arrogant way she stood and the snarky look on her face as she stared down her descendant was enough to easily pinpoint the irritating woman Astra had met hundreds of years before—even though it only felt years past since then.

"If you would truly enjoy company, I am free for a bite," Astra said from the doorway, leaning leisurely against the doorframe. All four turned toward her, the two doppelgängers both looking on in fear while the two men looked a mixture of concern and hesitation with a hint of unease in their eyes.

"Astraea," the other vampire hissed, glaring as she moved to step back and away. The Roman took pleasure in watching her pupils dilate because of her fear, nearly turning her iris black. Astra moved before any of them could register the change, standing behind Katarina before the brunette could take one more step back toward the windows of the bedroom.

"Katarina," Astra drawled with her Latin accent rolling the word on her tongue. "I find it interesting that you would dare to say you would go against Klaus." The brunette spun around, trying to push Astra away but the other vampire grasped her arm and lifted, nearly taking Katarina off her feet by using the one arm and drawing a gasp of pain as reward.

"Don't kill her, we might still need her," Damon requested blandly, moving to sit on a leather chair as he watched the show before him.

"Damn," Astra cussed plainly, holding the stare of the struggling woman. "Whatever is the matter now, Katarina? You were all spite and threats before. What happened to that woman, the one that replaced the snivelling, crying doppelgänger that I tracked down all those years ago?"

"Astra," Stefan interrupted, clearly not caring about the threat on Katarina's life as he looked only at the Roman, gaining her attention completely. He was simply questioning her, not trying to warn her of anything. Amethyst eyes landed on him, her hand never relaxing on Katarina's arm—actually, it appeared that she lifted the woman even higher and drew another pained groan from her. She tried to claw at Astra's hand, but she was much stronger than her.

"Yes?"

Stefan hesitated, looking between the two women before his eyes met with Elena's, who stood frozen on the other side of the scene that was taking place in the center of the room, not daring to move for fear of turning Astra on her instead. "Astra…how old are you?" She seemed taken aback by the suddenness of the question; of all the things that Stefan could have asked her, she had not been expecting it to be on her age. Many vampires already knew who she was, always travelling with the brothers of the Original Family, but that was centuries in the past so it made sense that he wouldn't know.

She still needed to try and get used to things, though.

"If what Damon told me of the year is true, then I am one thousand, nine hundred and forty three years of age, give or take a few months."

The crystal glass that had been in Damon's hand slipped from between his fingers at the number, falling to the floor. Astra was surprised that it didn't shatter, but the liquid that had remained inside splattered on the floor and Damon's black shoes. Air rushed from Stefan's lungs as Elena fell into the seat nearest to her, placing a shaking hand over her mouth.

Aside from Elijah, Rose and been the oldest vampire she knew of, and she had been on their side. For Astra, nearly two thousand, to be against them…

"Go ahead, tell them the rest," Katarina growled out, clawing at the wrist of the hand that held her arm at a distorted and high angle. "Tell them of your turning."

"My turning," Astra started, directing her gaze down to where Katarina's nails were biting into the thin skin of her wrist. "Was painful," she finished, finally choosing to release the other woman and let her fall to the floor with a much undignified groan of pain. "I was the first," she continued after a moment, looking over to Damon first. "When I died, I had Elijah's blood in my system. The Original Family was still quite…new to their lives and did not yet know the full extent of what their blood could do. Imagine his surprise when I came back to life." Looking down at Katarina, she smirked. "Just about as surprised as you were, I suppose."

"What the hell is going on?" Elena finally asked, sitting with her hands together before her lips as though she was whispering a prayer. "Why is Astra here? She could-"

Damon fluently interrupted her, "She doesn't remember anything; at least not after the point in time when she left Elijah." Astra looked over and met his shocking blue eyes, not understanding the emotions that were in them. Her attention snapped down to where Katarina was pulling herself up from the floor, laughing nearly hysterically.

"That's just perfect! What are you going to do now, Damon, train her to be the perfect stepford-wife?"

Stefan had turned to face his brother with the new information that had been revealed, having not been told anything about Astra's condition aside from that she had temporarily died when Elijah was first stabbed. Damon avoided the look of accusation that was being directed at him and instead watched as Astra glowered down at Katherine, her posture and facial expressing telling him that she wanted to harm her again.

"Oh, that's right—you wouldn't know what that was, huh?" Katarina asked as she finally got to her feet, rolling her stiff shoulder as she smirked insanely at Astra, the other woman appearing mostly calm on the outside; it was her eyes that gave her away. They always had in the past, both Damon and Stefan knew that she couldn't keep the truth from her eyes.

"No, I do know the term whore, however-"

Stefan and Damon moved to block Katherine as she screamed in outrage, diving for the other woman. Astra simply held out her hand and let Katherine run into her, easily closing her fingers around her throat and keeping her arms-length away. Astra had longer limbs then Katherine did, so she was perfectly safe aside from getting some scratches on her arms and kicks to her legs. Katherine actually looked quite tiny in comparison to Astra's imposing figure, tall and lean from the life she had led as a human.

"You bitch," Katarina growled. Astra sneered, getting a sick sort of satisfaction at having riled up the woman without even stating a direct accusation.

"I'm not the one that got pregnant out of wedlock."

"No, you snuck around with a vampire and got yourself killed."

"The customs of ancient Rome were different than in Bulgaria, and I died of natural causes. I also believe that I was chosen over you, was I not?"

Stefan and Damon took Katherine from Astra's grip when she continued to try and kick at the older vampire, leaving Astra with a schooled face but eyes that showed her satisfaction of what had happened. Elena looked between the two women, realising in that moment that Astra had been holding back on every encounter she had seen her in. She was the first vampire to have ever been created by the Originals, the oldest vampire outside of the Original Family, and she had only ever killed when it was the wolves that stood in her way. She was kind, even, toward others. Such as Luka; the boy acted as though Astra was a family member, a sister or cousin perhaps.

Elena remembered when Stefan had told her of the attack of the werewolves, when they had gone to save Caroline and Astra had saved his life. He refused to get graphic for the sake of Elena's mental state, but she did know that, with a bullet against her heart, she was able to save his life and rip off the head of a fully grown man. Watching her hold back Katherine with a single hand like a parent stopping a temperamental child was amazing and disturbing.

She could understand why Damon had chosen not to tell her everything. If she knew that they weren't on the same side and she had stabbed Elijah through the heart, she doubted that Astra would still be so calm and compliant around them.

"Elena," Stefan said carefully as he stepped over, once Katherine had been forced from the room and Damon was speaking with Astra softly. "Maybe you could bring some clothes over for Astra to borrow, so she's not going around in Damon's?" Elena gave him a look that had nothing but exasperation in it, because she knew that the second Astra could leave and stepped into the town and found out about "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" they were all done for. Stefan just shook his head in assurance, watching as Elena relaxed in the chair once more.

"Alright, I'll stop at my house on the way home before bringing some things over," she answered, getting to her feet. "Now, we've got to go to school, before another vampire pops up as a surprise. Maybe we'll see Isabel next," she jested, her humour dark and dry. Stefan gave her a sympathetic look and followed her as she exited the room, throwing a look of his shoulder quickly and watching as Damon's eyes darted to his over Astra's shoulder, serious.

She needed to be kept inside that house.

"You met Katherine when she was going to be sacrificed, huh?" Damon asked, leaning against Stefan's desk as she looked over to Astra. She was looked away from him, out the window that overlooked the yard and into the forest. She seemed distant, but still nodded her head to his question. "Where are you from?" he asked curiously, unable to help himself.

"Originally, I was born in the small town outside of a Roman city called Pompeii. My father was a very smart man and it brought great fortune to my family, which was when he moved us to Pompeii, to live amongst the nobles. I have…had lived there from the age of two until the day that I died, and the day that Pompeii fell," she explained, her eyes going glassy as she thought back to her human life. It was a look that almost mirrored the one Damon remembered from when he asked her about her family when he was human. Now he understood why it had been such a terrible topic for her.

"It was when the Volcano erupted?" he asked carefully, watching her face for any sign that he needed to stop. Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked over to him, baffled.

"You know of it?"

"It's known as the 'City Frozen in Time' now. People were able to locate it and dig most of it up from the ashes of the volcano. With the technology of today, they were able to see what many people were doing when they died. Holding their children, curled up in their homes; people are fascinated by its history."

"They were real people!" Astra yelled suddenly, making Damon draw backward at the unexpected outburst. "They are not things to be studied! They were mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, lovers and friends—my friends! My family! They should have been left where they were, fated to remain in the ruins of a volcano!" she nearly screamed. "I lost my loved ones to that damned eruption, they deserve to rest, not have their death bed disturbed by people because they are curious!"

"Astra," Damon interjected softly, reaching forward and laying a gentle hand on her side. "I wish I could say everything's alright, but I can't. But I'm sorry that your family was disturbed." Her breath shuddered as she inhaled before looking away from Damon and returning her eyes to look out the window. "Do you want some blood?" he asked a moment later, hating the silence that swelled between them.

"No, thank you," she answered after a brief pause, her voice still stiff with withheld emotion.

"Well, come on, I'll at least show you the rest of the house," he said, using his hand on her side to steer her around and face the doorway. He was relieved that she was even letting him touch her, although he knew that the moment she became uncomfortable or questionable of his actions his hand would be removed from her person immediately, forcibly or otherwise. He would admit that the contact was something that he had missed greatly over the years.

"Where are we, anyway?" Astra asked as they made their way down the stairs, Astra walking slowly so that she could take in everything that was around her. Damon knew that she had a strong sense of smell and he had made sure to remove any trace that Elijah had been there, especially things with his blood. That meant getting rid of the chair that he had been stabbed in whilst sitting, because even he could smell the lingering blood on it. And trust Astra to find that once tiny drop.

"Mystic Falls, Virginia," he answered. Astra stopped so sharply that Damon flinched and turned, expecting her to have tripped or something. Instead, she was staring straight ahead. Damon actually turned to look at what may have caught her attention, but there was nothing on the wall before them that could be even remotely interesting. "Astra?"

"Why am I here?" she asked faintly. "Why Elijah's home?"

"This was his home?" he asked in shock and appal. He was living in town of the Original Vampires? How long had the damn place been settled? It was in that moment that he remember how Jenna had brought up about his family not being a founder, Elijah knowing so much on the history that it put him to shame—and he lived there as well.

"He and his siblings were born here, he told me of it many times. It was very different back then and he often told me of it, wanting to bring me here someday to see."

She continued walking first, a physical way of saying 'this conversation is over'. Damon followed as obediently as a puppy, watching her carefully as she ran her hands along shelves, desks and furniture. He was disturbed at how very 'Elijah' the action was. He had done the same thing when he came to the house, and when he was in Elena's bedroom. The man had the need to touch everything and Damon found himself wondering if he had acquired it from Astra or she had mirrored the Original.

"Your home is beautiful," she commented after a pregnant silence. "I assume you are away from the village?"

"Town," Damon correctly lightly, smirking at her out of date wording. "Just say town, and yes; best for vampires not to live close. There are vampire hunters in the town, but we're safe. For now, at least."

New Episode! New Chapter!

I decided that this was the perfect time to update! Sorry that Astra didn't regain her memories in this chapter, but it's coming—not the next one, that's a past chapter.

I'm glad to hear that so many people are enjoying this story, and I would like to extend a tremendous THANK YOU to all that have favourited, followed and reviewed this story—as well as favouriting and following me, it's great to know that my writing it appreciated. You're amazing and I truly love the support and feedback. I remember when I first began I had been worried that no one would want to read this story, but I am very relieved I was proved wrong!

I am also on a website called Wattpad, where people can post stories—whether they're fanfiction or original stories. I go by the username RhythmxOfxHeart so if you want to look me up, I've got a couple of stories posted there as well. Not many, because I'm kind of addicted to my fanfictions, but they're coming along slowly and they're not fanfictions.