Summary: All Celia Saltzman wanted was her mother back in her life. Moving to Mystic Falls and making new friends had never been part of the plan. Neither was finding new family. After finding out the truth about what happened to her mother, Celia soon discovers that it wasn't the only secret that lies within her family.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize here. TVD belongs to L.J. Smith and the CW.
Setting: TVD AU
Notes:
Five
The curly haired brunette smirked at the lighter haired girl. "So you're the girl who has captured Damon's attention."
Celia gave her a confused look then realization hit her. "Katherine."
Katherine shrugged her shoulders with a smile. "Guilty as charged."
She glanced around as she stood outside her apartment building then looked at her again. "What do you want?"
The dark haired vampire sighed. "I just want to talk. Isobel was right about you."
Her eyes rolled at that. "Why should I listen to anything you say?"
Katherine tilted her head at the girl. "Because we're family."
Celia took a step back away from her. "Excuse me?"
She laughed lightly at that. "You see when a man and woman love each other very much they accidentally have a baby. That baby grows up to have kids and so on."
The younger girl blinked. "You had a baby? It's not..."
Katherine shook her head. "Of course not. I was turned long before I met the Salvatores."
She appeared relieved to hear that. "Why do you look identical to my sister?"
The vampire rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Elena looks identical to me. It's not the other way around."
Celia huffed at her. "That's not an answer."
The curly haired brunette sighed. "Alright fine. I don't know the exact details, but long before I was born, there was an ancestor of ours who looked exactly like me. Her name was Tatia Petrova. A witch killed her in a binding ritual and of course she is needed to undo said ritual so magic made it so that she would be reborn in a way. So every so often one of her descendants would be born and grow up to look identically like her. A doppelganger, if you will."
She processed that information then her eyes widened. "So that's why mom thought Elena was in danger, but why me? I don't look anything like you guys."
Katherine smirked softly at her. "Isobel did say you were smart. Honey, you're part of the Petrova family line. One of your descendants could easily be a doppelganger. I'd say that fact alone makes you a little safer than Elena, at least."
Celia was unsure how to feel about that. "Alright, but who wants to undo the ritual?"
She stiffened a bit showing a glimpse of fear in her brown eyes. "A very dangerous vampire."
The lighter haired brunette frowned. "Vague much?"
Katherine smirked slightly as she turned to walk away. "It was nice meeting you, Celia."
"Are we sure that Caroline was even remembering the accident correctly?" Damon asked later the next day.
Celia nodded as she sat down in the parlor of the boarding house. "Yes we're sure. Matt and Tyler pretty such confirmed it. He can't be a vampire though. I mean, he doesn't wear a ring."
Stefan thought about it for a moment. "Ooh maybe he's a ninja turtle."
"You're so not funny." He squinted at his brother then shook his head.
"Seriously though, what is he then?" Elena wondered.
Bonnie cleared her throat as she walked in then sat down beside Celia. "I may be able to answer that. Grams always said that witches were very intertwined with nature. She said there always had to be a balance. Now I don't know when the first vampires were around, but if there were witches back then, they wouldn't have been happy. Being undead disrupts the natural order of things."
"So what does that have to do with Tyler?" Damon asked.
She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm getting to that. Since vampires still exist, the witches clearly weren't successful getting rid of them, but I fully believe that your weaknesses were the witches ways of keeping vampires from being too unstoppable. Of course that doesn't fix the balance issue though. Every creature has an enemy right?"
"Yeah of course. Most of the lore depicts vampires and werewolves as mortal enemies." Ric pointed out.
The younger Salvatore looked confused. "We knew the Lockwoods back then. None of them seemed like they were vampires. They didn't even try to attack the vampires aside from rounding them up."
Bonnie gestured toward him. "Well there might be a reason for that. According to one of Grams' grimoires, werewolves run in family lines. They get antsy close to the full moon. The thing is that a werewolf won't shift until they kill someone. It like triggers them and they become full werewolf."
"Tyler hasn't killed anyone. So do you really think that is why the device affected him?" Elena pointed out then asked.
The young witch shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe. His car wasn't that far away when the device went on. It could also just be a canine thing. You know how dogs whine or bark when they hear something really high pitched? It could have been sort of the same thing with Tyler."
"Yeah, but it was used back in 1864. As far as we know, it didn't affect the Lockwoods back then." Damon recalled.
Stefan considered that for a moment. "I think I remember hearing that they went to one of the bigger cities for help or something."
"George Lockwood was mayor back then. He was probably well aware of the vampire situation and the plans to use the device. If he really were a werewolf, he probably would have been far enough away that it wouldn't have affected him by the time it was used." Ric explained.
Celia scoffed running her fingers through her hair. "It's still just a theory though. We have no real proof that Tyler is a werewolf other than the fact that he was affected by the device."
"She's right, you know. Bonnie and I have known Tyler all of our lives. Mayor Lockwood could be a bit harsh to him at times, but it wasn't too out of the ordinary." Elena pointed out.
"Actually there was this one moment after we moved to town. Tyler and Jeremy had gotten into a fight. I broke it up then found Mayor Lockwood berating Tyler outside a short while later. I kind of told the Mayor off then I checked on Tyler after his father walked away. He said he didn't mean to fight Jeremy and that sometimes he just can't control his anger. I think it was a full moon that night or close to one anyway." Ric recalled.
Bonnie relaxed beside Celia. "What if it is just his inner wolf reacting to the moon? It wants to come out during the full moon, but it can't so it effects his moods making him angrier than usual."
The younger Salvatore thought about it. "That would make sense, I guess. So what do we do now?"
"We kill him before he hurts anyone." Damon suggested.
Celia smacked his arm then rolled her eyes. "We're not killing him. The poor guy probably doesn't even know he is a werewolf. I mean, that is if he even is a werewolf."
"Wait what if we ask Jenna? I mean, not ask her directly, but she knew his Uncle Mason who just happens to be back in town. They went to high school together." She mentioned tucking her hair behind her ear.
Her sister looked at her surprised. "Jenna went to school with hot Uncle Mason?"
"Excuse me?" Damon and Ric spoke simultaneously.
Celia gave them a sheepish smile. "What? I was talking to Caroline and she called him that. I guess it stuck."
Stefan chuckled softly at that. "Well how about we just keep an eye on the Lockwoods while also looking into their family history?"
"I'd say that sounds like a plan." Elena smiled softly at her boyfriend.
Her sister made a face feeling a bit guilty. "Guys wait, I've got to tell you something. When I got home from visiting Caroline in the hospital, Katherine was in the parking lot."
"She didn't hurt you, did she?" Ric looked over his daughter in concern.
Celia shook her head giving him a reassuring look. "Not at all. I'm fine, Dad. We just talked."
"Well you can't believe anything she says, Cece. She's a liar." Damon rolled his eyes.
She reached out squeezing Damon's hands. "Maybe, but I think she told a bit of the truth this time. She mentioned Mom and I believe they really did talk. Katherine also revealed why she and Elena look practically identical."
"What? Really? What did she say?" Elena sat up a bit straighter staring at her sister.
Celia cleared her throat then took a breath. "She said that you're her doppelganger. Apparently there was this girl a very long time ago who was sacrificed as part of this spell. She's also needed to undo the spell so her doppelgangers have been born among her descendants which would be you and Katherine. So yes that means that we are related to Katherine."
"And she just told you that out of the goodness of her heart? She's got to be up to something." The elder Salvatore shook his head.
She laughed softly at that. "Of course she is up to something. I asked her who would want to undo that spell and you should have seen the fear in her eyes. All she would give me was that it was a very dangerous vampire."
"That would explain why Isobel wanted to keep you two away from vampires, at least." Ric pointed out to them.
"I don't know how to feel about all of that. Right now I just want to go keep our promise to Care and finish setting up the carnival." Elena took a deep breath and stood up.
Bonnie nodded her head getting to her feet as well. "It's definitely a lot to take in. Getting your mind off of it for a bit might be good for you."
She gave them both a hug and smiled softly. "I'll see you guys there. Elena, if you want to talk about any of this, just let me know."
"I will." She returned the hug.
"I should go too. I'm supposed to be supervising the carnival. You're ungrounded. Damon, keep Katherine away from my daughter." Ric stood up glancing over at the vampire.
"Of course." He nodded at him.
Celia bit her lip when it was just the two of them left alone in the room. "So does me being related to Katherine change things?"
"What? No of course not. You're not Katherine." Damon assured her as he stood up stepping toward her.
She nodded her head smiling softly at him. "Okay. I should probably get going to the carnival."
"Go with me?" He asked gazing into her eyes.
Her face lit up a bit. "I would love to."
Stefan took that moment to walk back into the room. "I'm going too. If the Lockwoods show up, someone's got to make sure Damon doesn't do anything stupid."
"Ha ha." Damon rolled his eyes at his brother.
The three of them left the boarding house heading over to Mystic Falls High where the carnival was being held. Celia helped the girls with some last minute setting up then walked around the carnival with Damon. He won her a stuffed animal and she picked the husky because its piercing blue eyes reminded her of Damon. They ran into Stefan again and walked around a bit more only to stop when they saw the Lockwoods at the arm wrestling booth. Tyler was looking on while his Uncle Mason arm wrestled seemingly winning every match.
Celia smiled softly when their eyes met. "Hey Ty. I'm glad you made it."
Tyler gave her a slight smile stepping over to where she stood with the Salvatores. "Thanks. Yeah my uncle thought it might do me some good to get out of the house."
"Your uncle is quite strong huh? Hey my brother Stefan loves arm wrestling. He's got next." Damon remarked with a smirk on his face.
Mason won again and chuckled softly. "You're on. Oh hey, Celia right? You're Tyler's friend."
She nodded her head blushing slightly. "Right. Yeah I am. Nice to see you again, Mr. Lockwood."
He smiled as Stefan took the seat across from him. "You too and hey no need to be so formal. You can call me Mason."
Damon's jaw clenched a bit and they watched the two men arm wrestle each other. Mason just barely ended up beating Stefan. They said their goodbyes and Celia walked away from them with the two vampires. It was awkward for a bit until Damon suddenly pulled her into a kiss. She kissed him back and smiled. Stefan rolled his eyes playfully though he was actually kind of happy for them.
The younger Salvatore brother finally spoke up once the pair stopped kissing. "Anyway I'm telling you something wasn't right. Mason was definitely stronger than you would have expected him to be."
"Well maybe we need something a little more concrete. Hey you! You're going to go shove Tyler Lockwood and keep fighting him. Don't let up." Damon said then compelled a random guy at the carnival.
Celia rolled her eyes as they then followed the guy from a distance. "Was that really necessary? Tyler is still my friend."
"Relax. If all goes to plan, his uncle will make sure he doesn't get hurt." He assured her.
They hid in the shadows watching as the fight occurred in the parking lot. Mason appeared and the way he leaped in the air caught them by surprise. There was no mistaking the golden glint in his eyes though. Unsure of how to process that, Celia shook her head and went back into the carnival. Damon caught up with Celia and led her inside of the school.
Celia gave him a confused look as they stopped in the hallway. "What?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. It is really important that we find out what they are, Cece."
She nodded her head sighing softly. "Yeah I know. Look I'm just going to go to the ladies room. I'll be out in a minute."
"Alright." He watched her walk away down the hall into the bathroom then noticed someone familiar. "Hey Blondie. I didn't know they let you out."
"I remember." Caroline took a step toward him speaking in a cold tone.
"Remember what?" Damon gave her a confused look.
"My memories have been coming back to me in pieces, but I remember how you manipulated me. I remember how you abused me, pushed me around, erased my memories, and fed on me." She continued to walk toward him.
"You're crazy. That's not possible. I mean, unless you're becoming a..." He trailed off as she stopped right in front of him with a smile.
"I have a message from Katherine. She said Game On." Caroline smirked then shoved him sending Damon flying several feet backward down the hall. "You suck."
Caroline was gone when Celia walked out of the bathroom only to find Damon getting to his feet. "Uh, are you okay?"
"Yes. No. I don't know. We need to get Elena and Stefan now." He did his best to compose himself.
She gave him a confused look, but went along with it. "Alright."
"What's going on?" Elena asked a short while later after they brought her and Stefan into a empty classroom.
"Caroline is out of the hospital and she is remembering all of the times I compelled her. Oh also Katherine told her to tell us Game On." Damon admitted to them.
Stefan furrowed his brows at that. "How did this happen?"
"Well I fed her my blood then Katherine obviously killed her. A plus B equals..." He trailed off.
"But why?" Elena asked trying to understand it.
"Because Katherine is a manipulative, nasty little vindictive bitch." Damon sneered.
Celia frowned. "What kind of game is Katherine playing?"
The younger Salvatore brother rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know, but Caroline must be going out of her mind not being able to control herself."
"We've got to find her." She looked concerned.
"We have to kill her."
She rolled her eyes at him. "We're not killing her, Damon."
"Need I remind you of Vicki Donovan? Caroline won't last as a vampire. Her mother is a vampire hunter, after all." Damon pointed out.
Celia narrowed her eyes at him. "Vicki was a drug user with abandonment issues who you only turned because you were having a temper tantrum over Stefan taking your daylight ring and you wanted to stick it to him."
Stefan sighed looking at them. "Alright we need to find her. Let's split up. With Care being a new vampire, I think it is safer for you girls to be with us. So Elena will go with me while Celia goes with Damon."
The two couples split up searching for Caroline. It was Damon and Celia who found the blonde vampire first. She was sitting down covered in blood and sobbing. The lifeless body of the guy Damon had compelled laid before her. It was Damon who comforted her and she surprisingly accepted it. He held her in his arms rubbing her back while speaking soothingly to her. Celia watched in horror as he slowly pulled a wooden stake out.
Her blueish green eyes widened at the sight. "Damon no!"
"But..." Damon trailed off as Stefan shoved him away knocking the stake out of his hand.
"I killed him. I.. I'm a monster." Caroline cried looking at her hands.
"Care, you're not a monster." Elena assured her.
Bonnie approached them with a mix of shock and disgust on her face when she saw Caroline. "Oh my god."
"No!" The blonde shook her head and ran off into a nearby bathroom.
Her green eyes narrowed at Damon as she made a nearby gas can spill its contents on the ground pooling around him. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything." He looked at her in disbelief.
"Bonnie!" Elena cried out as a ring of fire suddenly appeared around Damon.
The young witch glared at him. "You turned her into a monster!"
Celia stepped toward Bonnie. "It's my fault. I'm the one that begged him to give her his blood. How were we to know that Katherine would show up and turn her?"
She faltered at her friend's words. "I.. I don't know."
Her gaze turned toward Damon before she looked at her friend again. "Bonnie please. I know he's hurt her in the past, but he really had good intentions this time when he gave her his blood."
Bonnie's gaze hardened toward Damon as the fire rose for a moment only to vanish a few seconds later. "I still hate you."
As she walked off angrily, Stefan was in the bathroom washing the blood off of Caroline. "It's completely normal, I promise. Your emotions are heightened. It's part of the transformation."
"Why does this keep happening to my face?" Caroline panicked as she glanced in the mirror only to see her face vamped out.
He vamped out letting her see his face. "Look at me, Care. Look at my face. Caroline! You see that? When you feel the blood rushing, you tell yourself that you're going to get through it. That you're strong enough. No matter how good it feels to give yourself over it, you fight it off. Watch me, Watch me. It's the only way you're going to survive this thing. Try."
"Okay." She watched his face go back to normal then took a deep breath.
Stefan watched the veins beneath her eyes vanish. "That's good."
"Why did Katherine do this to me?" Caroline frowned at him.
He sighed then pulled her into an embrace. "I don't know. I wish I knew. Hey, listen to me. I promise I will never let anything happen to you."
"Stefan said that she is doing alright." Elena gave her a reassuring look the next day as they sat on her bed.
Celia sighed in relief. "Well that's good to hear. Damon got rid of the body."
"Have you ever thought about it? Turning?" She asked her sister curiously.
The lighter haired brunette shook her head. "Not really. I'm keeping an open mind toward it, but I have no intention of becoming a vampire any time soon."
"I'm content to be human." Elena confirmed with a nod.
She smiled softly at her. "Well that's good. Look, I know you don't want anything to do with Mom, but I was talking to my dad last night. We're going to go visit her office at Duke to see if anything there could tell us what exactly she is trying to protect us from. You're more than welcome to join us."
"Uh yeah I wouldn't mind that. I mean, if you don't mind. That was all part of your life with her, you know?" The darker haired brunette shrugged her shoulders.
Celia softened a bit toward her sister. "We're sisters, Elena. Of course I don't mind. Like I admit it was hard at first to come to terms with the fact that I wasn't Mom's only child, but I would never hold it against you."
"Thanks. I appreciate that. So aside from all of this, how are you doing?"
Her shoulders shrugged at that. "I'm okay, I think. Ugh I feel so guilty about Caroline though. I don't want her to hate me."
"Hey no, she won't hate you. Celia, you were trying to save her when you asked Damon to give her some of his blood. None of us could have known that Katherine would have shown up and turned her. It's not your fault." Elena assured her sister.
She nodded her head then sighed. "I guess you're right. How's Jer?"
"You mean besides the fact that his new girlfriend got staked and he tried to turn himself? He is doing better thankfully."
Celia frowned at that. "Poor guy. First your parents then Vicki and now Anna."
"Yeah for sure. I'm just glad that he is okay. You guys and Jenna are like the only family I have left. Well besides Uncle John who apparently is actually my biological father." Elena admitted.
She relaxed a bit. "Me too. Oh I know. Wait he finally told you? That's good. I only knew because I put two and two together when I realized he was wearing the same ring that Mom gave to my dad. I wanted to tell you, but I thought that John should be the one to tell you instead."
"That makes sense actually. Hey no I'm not mad at you. I get why you didn't tell me. I'm glad that he was the one who told me. At least I'm still a Gilbert, I guess. I already told Jeremy and he was pretty understanding about it." She recalled.
Celia nodded her head again and smiled softly. "Well that's good at least. Honestly I think you and Jeremy are stronger than I could ever be. I think I'd be a complete wreck if I ever lost my parents. Hell, I did lose Mom for a bit there and I was totally devastated."
"It sucks. It really truly sucks. We've had a good support system though with Aunt Jenna and our friends. I mean, Jeremy did start to spiral, but he found his way again. Can we talk about something a little less morbid?" Elena groaned shaking her head a bit.
She laughed slightly and sat up. "Yeah sure. What would you like to talk about?"
"You and Damon. How the heck did that happen?"
Celia laughed a bit more. "Of course. Um, I honestly don't know. It started after the Miss Mystic Falls pageant when I went over to the boarding house. Stefan was locked in a cell in a basement detoxing from his ripper relapse. Damon was stressing about it and I was annoyed because I thought he had been flirting with you at the pageant behind his brother's back. We got into it to the point that we were in each other's faces and then suddenly he told me to tell him to stop. I was confused, but then he kissed me. I kissed him back and next thing I know we're in his bed."
"Wow. So what Isobel said doesn't bother you?" Elena raised her brows at her.
She gave her sister a look then shook her head. "About Damon being in love with both of us? No. Not really. He and I talked about it. He explained it better than she did. We're just enjoying what we have right now."
"You really do like him." She grinned softly at her sister.
Celia blushed a bit at that. "Is it really that obvious? Dad hates it, but I can't help how I feel, you know?"
"Just a bit. Yeah trust me I know." She smiled thinking of Stefan.