A/N: Sorry ! Being in my 20s was hard enough before the pandemic hit. Fear not, I still plan to finish this story even if it takes me years as I have the whole thing outlined. I truly appreciate your kind reviews and messages about this story, and thanks again to KimmyWSmith for proofreading. Now let's all hope I get enough creative energy to crank out another chapter before another three months goes by! Love y'all, xo Eden.
Song: Amen Omen
Artist: Ben Harper
What started as a whisper,
Slowly turned in to a scream.
Searching for an answer
Where the question is unseen.
I don't know where you came from
And I don't know where you've gone.
Old friends become old strangers
Between darkness and the dawn
Carol Lockwood must love to watch other people suffer; there's no other reason to host a party on a Sunday night. The warm memory of waking up intertwined with Damon quickly dissipated when I arrived at school to find the student body not only in a fret because Aimee was missing, but also mourning Sarah, another girl from my class. My stomach twisted into a state of painful nausea.
"Did he just think I wouldn't find out?" I asked, storming up to Stefan.
"Hm?" Stefan closed his locker.
"About Sarah," I gestured towards the growing pile of photos and flowers that students were assembling in Sarah's memory. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. What's it matter to him if Katherine killed one or twenty people, just as long as she's gone, right?"
"Katherine didn't kill Sarah," Stefan said.
"What? She didn't?"
Stefan shook his head. "I don't know what happened to Sarah."
This information did nothing to quell the unpleasant feeling in my stomach. Before I could ask any more questions, Jeremy walked up to us.
"Hey, Jeremy," Stefan greeted him.
"Look, Elena's got to let me know if I'm supposed to cover for her," Jeremy's eyes kept shifting off to the side as he spoke to Stefan. "Jenna's cool with the two of you but you guys are pushing it."
"What are you talking about?" Stefan replied.
"You and Elena," Jeremy said, "Look, I'm glad you guys are back together but if she's gonna sleep over-"
"Wait, hold on a minute," Stefan cut Jeremy off. "We're not back together."
"She didn't stay at your place last night?" Jeremy asked. Stefan shook his head. "Lucy? Was she at your house?"
"No, I was at their place," I nodded towards Stefan.
"Her bed hadn't been slept in and Mrs. Lockwood said that her car was still in the driveway," Jeremy said. "Where is she then?"
I had already pulled out my phone and dialed Elena's number. Stefan's brow furrowed as Elena's voicemail message played.
"Elena? Where are you? Jeremy said you didn't come home last night. Call me. Or any of us. Please." I hung up, my eyes darting around. There were many somber faces in the hallway, but none of them were Elena's..
"She must have gone to Caroline's, then," Jeremy suggested.
"I don't think so," I said. Come to think of it, I hadn't heard from Caroline lately either.
Stefan shook his head. "I don't like this. I'm calling Damon. Jeremy, hang out here by her locker, will you? Just in case she shows up."
Minutes later, Damon was pulling into the school parking lot and Stefan had excused us from classes for the day. Moving to Mystic Falls was proving to be quite detrimental to my GPA.
"Alright, what's going on?'" Damon asked, coming up behind and wrapping his arms around me. Even the comfort of his embrace couldn't quite qualm the panic that was rising within me.
"Elena's missing," said Stefan. "She didn't come home last night, she wasn't at our place, and she's not answering her phone. This has Katherine written all over it."
"Katherine's in the tomb." Damon said. "Trust me, I'm the one who shut her in."
"Did you?" Stefan asked.
"Did I what, Stefan?" He replied.
"Well, I know the hold that Katherine has on you," Stefan replied.
"That's not fair, Stefan," I said. Damon squeezed me.
The angry crease between Stefan's eyebrows softened a bit. "I'm sorry. I'm just worried about Elena."
"We all are," I said, "You're right though; Katherine has to be behind this. She was trying to say something about Elena before she passed out, remember?"
"God damnit," Damon let go of me, and when I turned to look at him he was rubbing his forehead. "Katherine woke up after I put her in the tomb. She kept screaming 'where is she?' I thought she was just delusional, but what if-"
"-she was talking about Elena," I said, "That doesn't make sense though. Why would she care where Elena is?"
"Who the hell else would she be talking about?" Damon asked.
"We have to go talk to Katherine," said Stefan.
"No, no," Damon said, "This is exactly what she wants. She probably has someone holding Elena hostage right now to use her to negotiate her release, and then the moment she gets out of the tomb, she's going to kill us."
"You outsmarted her once," I said, omitting the fact that in the end it was really Lucy that brought Katherine down. "You can do it again."
"It's Elena," Stefan said.
"Tell me, how well do you think things could possibly go if we're relying on Katherine for help?" Damon asked. "No, it's not happening. We need a plan b."
"What if we don't have time for a plan b!" I shouted. "Damon, we have to try. Please."
Damon let out a long exhale. "Fine. Okay. We'll talk to Katherine. But I guarantee you that she's not going to say a word to any of us until she's out of that tomb. Got any ideas to get around that one?"
Stefan and I looked at each other. "Bonnie."
"Let's hope our resident witch isn't tired of doing favors for us yet," Damon said.
"Okay, why don't I go find Bonnie, and you two go talk to Alaric, hm?" Stefan suggested. "Something tells me we're not going to want to go up against whoever's behind this empty handed."
At least Alaric didn't have a class right now, so no one else's education would be disturbed.
"Hey buddy!" Damon called out after bursting through the door to Alaric's classroom. I trailed in more tentatively behind him.
"Oh no," Alaric said, "What's going on?"
"Elena's missing," I said. Alaric stared back at me blankly.
Damon cleared his throat. "Let me clarify, Elena's missing and based off of last night's events, we're guessing that some very unalive people might be responsible. So we wanted to see if you had any more of those super fun weapons that you made to kill people who are already dead. You know, vervain grenades, stake guns, th-"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Ric said, "Look, I have some stuff in my car, I can go get it, but that's as much as I can help you. I have class here next period" -he looked pointedly at me- "you know, that thing you used to go to."
I rolled my eyes, but muttered a thanks to him as he walked out of the classroom. With a sigh, I leaned against the wall and started running my fingers along the grooves under the chalkboard, coating them in chalkdust.
"How're you holding up?" Damon asked.
"Fine."
"Really?" He stood in front of me and closed his hand over mine, halting my fidgeting.
"Yes, really."
"I know you're worried," he said.
"Obviously I'm worried," I replied, "But Elena will be okay. She has to be."
Damon just pulled me close to his chest, giving my forehead a kiss and running his hands along my back. I wished more than anything in the world that I could communicate with Elena telepathically, but I couldn't, so I leaned into Damon, closed my eyes, and stayed there until Bonnie and Jeremy came into the classroom.
"Where's Stefan?" Damon asked.
"Ran into Alaric in the hallway and went with him so he didn't have to drag a bag full of weapons through the school," Jeremy explained.
"Mm," Damon nodded at Bonnie. "Witchy."
"Damon," Bonnie replied.
"We should go," I said, "The sooner we talk to Katherine, the sooner we find Elena."
"We're not going to talk to Katherine," Bonnie said.
"Bu-"
"We're not going to talk to Katherine because we don't need to," she said, "I'm going to do a tracking spell, I just need a little bit of your blood."
"My blood?"
Bonnie nodded. "I can use Jeremy's if you're not comfortable, but you have a stronger blood relation to Elena so it will make the spell stronger."
"You can use mine." I held out my arm.
"Not yet. Give me a moment to get set up. Jeremy?" Bonnie called over to Jeremy, who was looking through Alaric's bookshelves.
"Map of America. Found it." Jeremy stood up, holding a piece of paper.
Jeremy unfolded the map onto Alaric's desk, and Bonnie pulled a few candles out of her backpack and lit them. Surreptitiously she placed a knife on the table, and I mentally prepared myself to have my arm cut when Stefan came into the room.
"Alright, Alaric said we've got to clear out of here within ten minutes," Stefan said, "I've got weapons, he stocked me up."
Stefan nodded to Damon, and we all looked to Bonnie, who then picked up the knife and looked back at me.
"Are you ready?" She asked.
I held out my hand to her and she slowly dragged the blade along my palm, apologizing when I winced. At the first sight of blood, Stefan rushed over to open a window, and Damon turned away from me. A few drops fell onto the map, and Bonnie closed her eyes and began to chant an incantation under her breath.
Stefan walked back over to us, still maintaining a bit of distance from me, and we all watched as the crimson droplets converged and slowly moved across the map, stopping just past the North Carolina border.
"There." Bonnie opened her eyes. "She's there."
"That's 300 miles away," Jeremy said.
"No, Bonnie." Stefan shook his head. "We need a more exact location than that."
"That's as close as I can get," Bonnie said.
"We can map it," Jeremy said, "Aerial view will show us what's around there, help us narrow down the area."
"Great, let's go," I said.
"Nope," Damon snapped and pointed at the desks. "Sit down. Both of you."
"We're coming with you," Jeremy protested.
"No Jeremy, you're not," Stefan said.
"Best to keep the human to vampire ratio low on this expedition," Damon said, already walking towards the door. "Less people to protect. Don't worry; I drive fast. We'll be back before you even notice we're gone."
The faintest tremors were already forming in my hands, so I clenched both of them into fists despite the searing sensation from the fresh cut on my palm, and stormed up to him.
"I'm coming with you," I said.
"Lucy," I jerked away when Damon touched my shoulder. "We have no idea what we're up against and I can't be worried about your safety and Elena's safety at the same time."
"Exactly!" I shouted. "You have no idea what you're up against. What if you need another person?"
"Damon's right," said Jeremy, "We're more use to them here than we are with them."
"What, you just expect us to sit back and do nothing?" I asked.
"Yes, that's exactly what I expect you to do because that's exactly what I need you to do, Lucy!" Damon said.
"Damon!" I yelled, grabbing his arm as he turned away from me. Damon's gaze trailed downwards to the small smear of red my grasp left on his skin. When he looked back up at me, his eyes were filled with the familiar signs of bloodlust.
"Damon," I repeated. "I'm coming. I . . . she's . . ." I couldn't finish my sentence. There wasn't enough air in my lungs, and no matter how much I tried I couldn't inhale enough to continue speaking. My vision was going fuzzy at the edges, and I barely registered the sound of Damon calling my name. Everything was blurry. Blurry, and then black.
I still hear you saying
"All of life is chance,
And is sweetest, is sweetest when at a glance"
But I live,
I live a hundred lifetimes in a day.
But I die a little
In every breath I take
When I first woke up, I thought the whole day had just been a nightmare. Then I sat up and realized that I was on Elena's couch, and that Bonnie and Jeremy were sitting across from me. The same uneasy tension that had plagued my morning still lingered in the room, only now it was accompanied by a slight headache.
"What happened?" I rubbed my eyes with my now bandaged hand. "Where's Elena?"
"I found an old house around where Bonnie's spell pointed to, so hopefully she's there," said Jeremy.
"How are you feeling?" Bonnie asked before I could process what he said. "How's your hand?"
"Fine, little headachey," I replied. "Why'd I pass out? I didn't lose that much blood."
Jeremy deferred to Bonnie, and she sighed. "I did a spell. It was just meant to calm you down for a little bit; I didn't realize it was going to be so powerful. You might be feeling the effects for a little bit."
"How long have I been out?" I asked.
"A few hours, give or take," Jeremy said.
"A few hours?" I reached for my phone, which confirmed the time.
"I'm sorry, Lucy," Bonnie said, "Damon was right, it wasn't safe for you to go with them, and you were wasting too much time arguing with him."
"You didn't have to go straight for mystical rendering me unconscious," I muttered, rubbing my forehead.
"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, you weren't passed out alone. Bonnie only woke up about half an hour," Jeremy said. Bonnie glared at him.
"What? Are you okay?" I asked Bonnie.
"I'm fine," Bonnie said, still gritting her teeth at Jeremy. "Just exhausted my magic for a moment."
"From knocking me out?"
"No, from something else. We sent her a message. Or I hope we did. I won't know if it actually got to her until . . . well . . ."
"Until Stefan and Damon get to her," I filled in. She nodded. "Have you heard from them?"
"Not since they passed through Danville, their cell phone signal was getting spotty," Jeremy said.
Every time I tried to picture the situation Elena was in, my brain just wouldn't complete the thought. I pulled my knees up, curling myself into a ball and pressing my face into my hands.
"She'll be okay," Bonnie said.
"God, I hope so."
"Look, I hate this as much as you do, trust me," Jeremy said, "But there's not much more we can do right now. Why don't we watch a movie or something, get our minds off things, and we'll be hearing from them before you know it."
"Good idea," Bonnie stood up. "I'll go make us some tea. And popcorn."
Knowing that it would be fruitless to try to fight off the effects of Bonnie's spell, I let myself sink into its tranquility. The warm tea that Bonnie made drowned out any lingering worry that was resurfacing in my stomach, and the next thing I knew Jeremy was shaking me awake to tell me that Elena was almost home.
"What?" I sat up. It was dark outside. "You talked to her? She's okay? What happened?"
"She's dying from starvation and asked me to order pizza, but other than that she's fine," Jeremy said. "She said they'll be back in twenty minutes."
"Mm- what'd you tell Jenna?" I asked through a yawn.
"Alaric took her out, Stefan's idea," Jeremy said.
Good old Stefan, always the one who can think straight during a crisis. I checked my phone again; it would still be a couple of hours before my parents' flight would get in from New York.
"Make sure you order a cheese pizza," I said with a smile. "I'm staying for dinner."
When the doorbell finally rang, Jeremy jumped over the sofa to answer it, with Bonnie and I trailing only marginally less energetically behind him.
"Oh," Jeremy feigned disappointment when he opened the door to Elena. "I thought you were the pizza. Who rings the doorbell to their own house?"
I threw my arms around Elena before she could even fully step inside.
"I dropped my keys while I was getting kidnapped, Jeremy," Elena said over my shoulder. "It's good to see you too."
"You know I'm just kidding, come here," Jeremy said, pushing me aside to hug Elena.
"Kidnapped?" I stared at the back of Elena's head.
"Long story. I'll explain everything once I have pizza in my stomach. Bonnie!" Elena stretched her arms out towards Bonnie. "I got your message."
"You did?"
Elena nodded. She looked awful; the braid that Bonnie had put into her hair last night was coming undone, framing her face with frizzy tufts of hair. She was still wearing the same blood stained dress, only now it was mostly covered by the navy jacket that Stefan had been wearing this morning.
"Is Stefan coming inside?" I asked. Maybe the whole rescue mission had made her reconsider not getting back together with Stefan. She shook her head.
"He and Damon went home. But Stefan said he would come back later," She added, with a slight smile. There was hope for them yet.
I felt a lot less hopeful an hour later, after we had eaten pizza and Elena started to tell us about her kidnappers. Apparently Katherine wasn't lying when she said that the sun and the moon curse was real. Two vampires had taken Elena in an attempt to bring her to a third, much older (and now dead) vampire who planned to use her blood to break the curse.
"What I don't understand is why this guy was dumb enough to help Katherine in the first place," Jeremy asked, after Elena told us that Elijah, the oldest vampire, had killed one of her captors. Elijah wanted to use Katherine's blood five hundred years ago, and Trevor had helped her escape, which turned out to be a transgression worthy of death.
"I know three guys who were once so smitten by Katherine that it clouded their judgement, too," I said.
"At least now we know why you look like Katherine?" Bonnie said.
"Yeah, I'm the doppelgänger," Elena said. "Whatever the hell that means."
"It means that your blood is required to break the curse that almost every supernatural being on Earth must want to break," I said.
"It's not as bad as it sounds," Elena replied. "As far as we know, no one else even knows that I'm needed to break the curse, let alone knows where to find me."
"The one that got away knows," Jeremy said.
"Rose wanted to stop living life on the run from Elijah. Elijah's dead, so she has no need for me anymore," Elena said.
"Yeah, I'm sure that she has no interest whatsoever in breaking a curse that would allow her to walk in the sun," I rolled my eyes.
"Whatever happens, we'll face it," Bonnie quickly added. "Just like we faced Katherine, and just like we faced today. No one's getting near Elena."
Maybe Bonnie's spell on me was just fading more, allowing the residual anxious gnawing from this morning to return to my stomach, but I still felt that doom was lurking on the horizon. But for now, Elena was home, and that brought me some semblance of peace.
"I need to go home," I said, "My parents' flight will be landing any minute, and I should be there when they get back."
"Of course, go," Elena reached over to give me a hug. "Thank you for being here."
"I can give you a ride back to school so you can get your car," Bonnie offered.
When my parents got home, I felt like I had entered another dimension; everything about them was so normal. I looked through all the photos my mom had taken before feigning exhaustion, and retreating to my room.
The sight of Damon sitting at the foot of my bed doesn't quite startle me like it used to, but I still wasn't expecting to see him there right after I finished brushing my teeth. I sighed.
"I know," I said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have fought y-"
"Stop," Damon stood up. "I'm not mad at you."
"You're not?"
"Not at all. I just realized earlier. . . I never said it back."
"Said what?"
"I love you."
"Oh."
"I do," He said, "Love you, you know."
"I know," I replied, closing the gap between us so I could slide my arms around him.
I did know. He said it every time he fought to keep anything that could even be a potential threat away from me, he said it today; going to rescue Elena despite having no clue what he was going up against, and he was saying it now, pulling me back onto the bed and bringing his lips to plant soft kisses along my forehead.
"You saw Elena?" He asked.
I nodded. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"Rescuing her. I don't know what I'd do without her. Or what I'll do if . . ."
"So she told you?" Damon asked.
"She told me," I said.
He squeezed me. "You know that Stefan and I will do everything in our power to protect her, right?"
"I know," I nuzzled further into him. "Did you at least tell Mason that Katherine wasn't lying about the sun and the moon curse being real? She just left out the part about Elena needing to die to break it."
"Mason's a little out of commission at the moment."
"What? What happened?" I sat up to look at him. He didn't answer me. "Damon. What happened?"
Damon sighed. "Tyler activated the werewolf curse. Last night. Mason's . . . helping him cope."
"Oh no. Oh my god, Tyler. How did he . . ." I remembered how the curse was activated. "Sarah. Tyler killed Sarah?"
Damon nodded. "We don't know what happened. It sounded like it was just some kids and a little too much alcohol messing around."
"Tyler's a werewolf," I leaned back into Damon.
One werewolf in Mystic Falls was bad enough. There was always the chance that something could go wrong and Mason ends up biting Damon or Stefan. Tyler's personality was infinitely less subdued than Mason's, and the thought of that personality paired with venom that could kill a vampire . . .
"It's going to be okay," Damon murmured into my ear. "He has Mason. No stray dogs are wandering around Mystic Falls."
I couldn't help but smile that he couldn't help but make a joke. It was almost enough to make me believe that everything would be okay. Almost. But I knew that even Damon, even with his age and his wisdom, couldn't see the future. So while I loved him for always trying to assure me that everything would be fine, I knew there was a very strong chance it wouldn't be. There was just too much that could go wrong.
I listen to a whisper,
Slowly drift away.
Silence is the loudest,
Parting word you never say.
I put I put your world
Into my veins
Now a voiceless sympathy
Is all that remains
I woke up in an empty bed to the sound of my phone ringing. Even after blinking a few times I still had to squint to see past the blur of sleep in my eyes. Elena was calling me.
"Finally, I called you six times," She said when I picked up, "Were you in a coma?"
"It's not even 7:30 yet," I grumbled.
"Get up. I'm picking you up in fifteen minutes."
"For school?"
"I'll explain everything in the car. Just get up," She hung up the phone.
"Damon?" I called out. There was no answer. Either one of my parents came into my room while I was sleeping and scared him off, or he just needed a moment of solitude after telling me he loved me. It was probably the latter.
Twelve minutes later, I was haphazardly dressed, coffee in hand, and getting into Elena's car. She looked like a woman on a mission.
"So are you going to tell me what's going on or am I just supposed to accept life in the dark?" I asked.
Elena rolled her eyes. "Do you remember Rose? The vampire I told you about, the one who got away yesterday?" I nodded. Not like I could forget. "Well she showed up at the Salvatore's."
"She what?"
"No it's fine. Well it's not fine, but it's good that she showed up. Elijah killed her best friend of five hundred years; she's not on his side anymore."
"She's not on his side anymore because he's dead," I muttered.
"He's dead; the man he was working for isn't," Elena sighed. "Rose told us about him, Klaus. Apparently he's the oldest vampire in existence. He's the one who wants to break the curse."
"I'm sorry, why are we listening to the vampire who kidnapped you?"
"Lucy!" Elena snapped. "Focus. Right now she's the only source of information we have. Which brings us here."
"Here being your car?"
"Call Caroline and ask her to meet us at the tomb," Elena instructed.
"Uh, why?"
"We need a vampire to open the door," she said.
"And again, why?"
"We-" Elena mustered her most angelic grin "-are going to talk to Katherine. If anyone knows the truth about this Klaus guy, it'll be her."
"We locked her in a tomb, why the hell would she tell us anything?"
Elena reached into her purse, causing the car to swerve just a bit, and held up a water bottle full of a very dark red liquid that definitely wasn't cranberry juice. "She's desiccating. My guess is she'd do just about anything for a drink right now."
"Do I even want to know where you got that?"
"From Damon's stash." The bottle made a sloshing noise as she shoved it back into her bag.
I crinkled my nose. "That's disgusting."
"He's your boyfriend," Elena said.
I grumbled, but called Caroline, who took surprisingly little convincing to agree to meet us. She put up a bit more of a fight when Elena requested that she try to keep Stefan occupied. Not that I blamed her; it had been less than twenty four hours since Elena's safe return.
"Katherine?" Elena called out once Caroline had moved the rock blocking the entrance to the tomb. I couldn't see far, but based off of the way Elena's voice echoed the cavern had to be deep.
There was a shuffling sound when Katherine emerged, shuffling along the ground. She looked horrible. There was no rosy color to her cheeks or lips, and she looked thin, like her skin was stretched tightly over her body. Elena nodded to Caroline, who hesitated for a moment but then left us.
"You." Katherine said when she noticed me standing next to Elena. "How is this possible? I thought you were dead."
"Why would I be-"
"After all this time . . . when you were gone I thought he had taken you. I never even thought that you could be a - a vampire."
"I'm not a vampire?" I exchanged glances with Elena; the desiccation was hitting Katherine hard.
"Oh," Katherine nodded, leaning against the stone wall of the tomb. "Right. Of course. I thought you were someone else."
"Who did you think I was?" I asked.
Without saying a word, Katherine sunk further into the wall.
"Katherine," I motioned for Elena to hand me the bottle of blood. "Who did you think I was?"
Elena got out the bottle and poured a little bit into a cup. Katherine's eyes flashed with darkness at the sight of the blood. She eyed it for a moment, before nodding at me, sitting down on the dirt floor. Elena set the cup down and pushed it towards Katherine with a stick.
Katherine drank quickly, some of the color already returning to her face just from the miniscule amount of blood. Her gaze returned to the mostly full bottle.
"Listen, Katherine. We need answers. If you want more," Elena sat down and tapped the lid of the bottle, "Talk."
Katherine nodded, watching me as I joined Elena on the ground. "I thought you were Nikolina."
"Who is Nikolina?" Elena asked.
Katherine didn't answer her.
"Fine, don't tell us. That's not why we came here anyways. We need to know about Klaus. About the sacrifice," Elena said.
"Look who's been doing their research," Katherine replied with a droll voice.
"Not that it's done me much good," Elena reached into her bag and pulled out the book Damon had taken from Isobel's office. "But yes, I have. From what I've been able to translate online, it says your family's bloodline ended with you. Obviously that's not true, otherwise we wouldn't be here."
"Where did you get that?" Katherine eyed the book hungrily. "Hand it over. That belongs to my family."
"Our family," Elena corrected her, but slid the book across the invisible barrier of the tomb.
If it weren't for the different outfits, it would look like Elena was sitting in front of a mirror talking to her own reflection. A mirror that I didn't show up in.
"She was your sister," I blurted out as the realization hit me.
"What?" Elena asked.
"Nikolina," I said. "She was Katherine's sister. She saw me and thought I was her."
"Very good," Katherine replied. Though her tone was condescending, her eyes betrayed her unbothered facade.
It made sense. Having a twin sister was just another bullet point on the long list of glaring similarities between Katherine and Elena. Only Katherine's sister was dead, and when she saw me she thought for the slightest moment that her sister was alive.
For the first time in my life, I actually felt bad for Katherine. There she was, with her waxy pallor and her empty eyes, and I just felt bad for her. I knew her pain.
"What happened to her?" I asked.
Katherine ignored the question and pushed her cup back towards Elena. "You wanted to know about the sacrifice?"
Elena obliged, pouring more blood for Katherine, which she drained before speaking again.
"There's a lot that this book won't tell you," Katherine began to flip through the yellowed pages, "Obviously my baby isn't in it; I'm surprised you even found anything about me in here. I would've thought that they would have torn my name out the moment they threw me out of Bulgaria."
"Threw you out?" Elena asked.
"Thrown out, banished, whatever you want to call it. I was disowned. Having a baby out of wedlock would have brought the highest shame upon my family, had anyone found out."
"But no one did?" I asked.
"Mhmm," Katherine nodded, "They made sure of that. My baby was given away, and I was banished to England. I had to learn to adjust. So I quickly became English. It was there that I caught the eye of a nobleman named Klaus. I was taken with him at first, til I found out what he was and what he wanted from me. And then I ran like hell."
"What he wanted?" Elena asked.
"He wanted to break the curse. The same thing he'll want from you."
"By sacrificing the Petrova doppelgänger."
Katherine nodded, "He wanted to drain every single drop of blood from my body."
"Why?" I asked. "Why Elena? Why you? I mean, what do you have to do with the curse?"
"Witches," Katherine picked up a stone from the rubble lining the tomb and tossed it up before catching it. "They're crafty. The curse was bound by the sacrifice of Petrova blood. The doppelgänger was created as a way to be able to undo the spell. Once the doppelgänger reappears, the curse can be broken."
"I thought the curse was bound by the moonstone," I said.
"It's sealed with the moonstone. It's a complicated spell, lots of components. If it was easy to break" -Katherine threw the stone at the wall- "Klaus would have done it by now."
"So you ran before he killed you?" Elena asked.
"Something like that," Katherine shrugged, "Hm, all this talking has me absolutely parched."
With a huff of annoyance, Elena motioned for Katherine to push the cup back towards her.
"You know, you could just give me the bottle," Katherine said. "I'm not going to run off into the depths of the tomb. It's so boring in there I'd rather talk to the knock off version of me than go back to solitude."
Elena's eyes narrowed, "I don't know Katherine, it sounds like running is what you're good at."
"I've gotten better over the years," Katherine replied. "But turning myself into a vampire certainly helped."
"Turning yourself?" I asked. "You mean you . . ."
"It was going to happen one way or another. I'd rather die by my own hands than be killed by Klaus. At least this way,"-Katherine flashed a wicked smile-"I got to come back."
"How did you- I mean, whose blood did yo-"
"Whose blood did I use?" Katherine flicked another rock towards the wall opposite her. "A charming vampire named Rose was nice enough to heal me after I stabbed myself in the leg. She thought that was my attempt to avoid facing Klaus."
"Rose and Trevor spent the last five hundred years running because you used them," Elena said. "Trevor just got killed."
"Am I supposed to feel bad?" Katherine asked. "Trevor said that Rose would help me; instead she was going to bring me to Klaus. The way I see it, they owed me one."
"You don't even care that you ruined their lives," said Elena.
Katherine avoided Elena's scrutinizing stare and began to trace circles in the dirt floor with her finger. "So what if they had to run? I did too, remember?"
"And you've been running ever since," I said.
"I underestimated Klaus's penchant for revenge. But I have a feeling he may be in more of a forgiving mood once he learns that there's a human doppelganger in Mystic Falls, ready to be-"
"No," I cut her off. "No he won't, because he's not going to get to Elena. We won't let him."
"I'd like to see you try and stop him," Katherine replied.
"That's been your plan this whole time? This is why you came back to Mystic Falls? To hand Elena over to the same fate that you were so desperate to avoid that you killed yourself? What is wrong with you?"
"Well, you're a feisty little one," Katherine said. "Where have they been hiding you all this time?"
"What, did you think we were just going to le-"
"Hey," Elena put an arm out to stop me from going across the tomb entrance, "She's in there. Even if a word that she said is true, she can't hand me over to anyone."
Katherine rolled her eyes. "I have no reason to lie, Elena. I have no reason to do anything but sit here and read and rot."
"But you thought you had the stone, up until Mason realized who you really are," I said. "And you've known where Elena is this whole time. So why isn't Klaus already here?"
"Witches and their spells, so many ingredients, so many people to sacrifice," Katherine hummed. "Let's put it this way: I wouldn't have been completely useless to Klaus after turning into a vampire, he just still needed the doppelgänger as well."
"You need a vampire," Elena said, and Katherine nodded. "That's why you turned Caroline."
"Well I wasn't going to volunteer myself for the job," Katherine replied, "And believe it or not, I'd rather not see Stefan or Damon die, though from the looks of it, they might get themselves killed trying to protect you anyways."
"Great," Elena crossed her arms. "Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?"
"Well you need a witch to break the spell, if that wasn't obvious," Katherine said, "Mine bailed, but I suppose Bonnie will suffice."
"All the more incentive for her to literally never lift the spell that keeps you trapped in here," I muttered.
"Oh, we'll see about that," said Katherine, "Now, we have a doppelgänger, a vampire, a witch . . . what's missing?"
Based off of Katherine's sinister grin, the last component of the spell must be as horrible as the other three. The last piece needed to break the curse of the sun and the moon . . .
"A werewolf?" I guessed.
"Poor Mrs. Lockwood," Katherine's smile grew. "Losing her husband and her son in the same year won't be easy."
"Oh my god," Elena said, "Tyler triggering the curse wasn't an accident at all. It was you."
"But why? Why not use Mason?" I asked, "Don't expect us to believe you actually care about him, too."
"We have company."
Before I could even process Katherine's announcement I felt Elena's nails digging into my arm. There were footsteps coming down the steps, and they didn't sound like Caroline's.
When Stefan appeared, I felt a momentary relief that quickly dissipated when I realized that Caroline's distraction attempts had failed.
"Stefan," Elena stood up. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question," Stefan replied.
"Caroline told you, didn't she?" Elena asked.
Katherine scoffed. "You were relying on Caroline, what did you expect?"
"I don't know, she did a pretty good job fooling you the other night, didn't she?" Stefan shot back. "No, she kept your secret but-"
"So you were just paying me a visit," Katherine smiled sweetly. "I knew you'd come around."
Elena said something under her breath that made Katherine's smile disappear and made Stefan stifle a laugh.
"No, Katherine. We're not doing this today," Stefan said, "Come on, Elena, Lucy, we're leaving."
"Oh, but you haven't even heard the best part of the story," Katherine pouted.
"Listen to me," said Stefan, "Whatever she told you, whatever story she conjured up, it's a lie. All of it. Now let's go."
Elena immediately grabbed her bag, while I remained seated adjacent to Katherine. Stefan grabbed my arm, pulling me off of the ground and guiding me and Elena towards the steps.
"You wanted to know what happened to Nikolina?" Katherine called out.
"Stefan, stop," I demanded, planting my feet into the ground. "I want to hear this."
"You've heard enough," Stefan said.
Elena stopped walking. "You didn't even hear what she said."
"I've known her longer than you," Stefan still wouldn't let go of either of us. "I know who she is, and I know that she is telling you lies."
"Maybe you should let us listen and decide that," I said.
Stefan pressed his lips together, and I found myself holding my breath until he nodded. While Elena and I slowly approached the tomb entrance again, Stefan stayed by the steps, still within earshot.
Elena crouched down in front of Katherine. "Tell us."
"After I turned, I went back to Bulgaria. Only my family wasn't there anymore. Not alive, anyways," Katherine said. "Klaus was kind enough to leave most of the bodies behind, that way those that weren't too maimed could have a proper burial."
"Most of?" I asked.
Katherine nodded. "I never saw Nikolina again. Living or dead."
While the shadowy fragments of sadness that flickered across her face could have been forced, her mostly blank expression could also very easily be a facade. I believed her. Or I wanted to, at least.
"He killed them, my entire family, just to get back at me for running. Whatever you do to escape Klaus, he will get his vengeance on your friends, your family-"
"Okay that's enough, Katherine," Stefan walked over to us and reached for Elena's hand. "It's time to go."
This time Elena allowed Stefan to escort her towards the exit with little hesitation.
"It's the truth, Stefan!" Katherine called after him. "Her fate remains the same whether you accept it or not. She's doomed."
In her haste, Elena had forgotten the now half empty bottle of blood. After a quick glance at her and Stefan to make sure they weren't looking back at me, I kicked the bottle towards Katherine and then followed them out of the tomb.
The moment we got outside, Stefan took Elena's face into his hands. "Don't listen to her, okay?"
"Stefan, you didn't hear her. I believe her I-"
Stefan silenced Elena with a kiss. "Let's talk about this at home. With Damon, okay?"
He nicked Elena's car keys from her bag and insisted on driving. We found Damon drinking in the library, accompanied by a woman with warm brown hair.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"This is Rose," Elena said, "The vampire who-"
"Kidnapped you?"
"-told us about Klaus," Elena finished.
When Elena was telling me about Rose, the five hundred year old vampire, I definitely was not picturing the pretty and a little bit intimidating girl sitting across from Damon.
"And you must be the girl that this one" -Rose pointed to Damon- "Won't shut up about."
"I'd better be," I managed to muster a glare towards him for all of two seconds before he winked at me and broke my concentration.
"Rose could you give us a minute?" Stefan asked. "We have a lot to talk about."
"It's nightfall, you'd have a lot harder time keeping me in the house," Rose replied before speeding out of the room.
I plopped onto the sofa next to Damon, and Stefan and Elena took Rose's place across from us.
"Alright Captain Stef, what do we have to talk about?" Damon asked.
Stefan cleared his throat. "These two uh, went to talk to Katherine today."
"Really? You can't even keep an eye on them at school?"
"And where were you all day Damon?" Stefan asked. "Didn't see you keeping an eye on anyone."
"I was out trying to get some more information on this Klaus guy," Damon replied.
"Great, that's exactly what Elena and I were doing," I said, "I'm glad we're all on the same page."
"Awesome," Damon rolled his eyes, "So what did the wonder twins find out?"
When I looked over to Elena she shook her head, so I began to repeat Katherine's story. Although everything she told us lined up with the information Rose had given them, Damon and Stefan remained skeptical that anything Katherine said was true.
"Uh-uh, no way does she have a dead twin sister that looks exactly like you," Damon cut me off as I was explaining that Klaus killed Katherine's family, including Nikolina. "She's been here for weeks, do you really expect me to believe that the first time she ever saw you was two nights ago?"
"Yes Damon, that's exactly what I expect you to believe because that's exactly what you and Stefan were hell bent on making sure happened!"
"We were hell bent on making sure she didn't know that you're connected to Elena or either of us, that doesn't mean she never saw your face in town or anywhere else," said Damon.
"Think about it! Elena's the doppelgänger, she was literally made by magic. If I'm her twin, what does that make me?" I asked.
"Along for the ride?" Damon offered.
"It makes sense," I huffed. "Katherine literally said her name before she passed out. Nikolina. We thought she was saying something about Elena, but no. She thought I was her sister."
"I don't know, it all seems a little convenient to me," Damon muttered.
"Convenient how?"
"Look at you! Katherine makes up some sob story about a sister and suddenly you're on her side."
"I'm not on her side. You think I want to believe her? Damon, if Katherine is telling the truth, there's a ruthless vampire out there who's determined to sacrifice Elena and kill anyone that gets in his way. I don't want that. But if I deny it, that doesn't do anything to help Elena."
"Okay this"-Stefan motioned between Damon and I- "Isn't helping anything either."
"He's right," Elena left Stefan's side to sit next to me. "Look, Lucy, I know you're just trying to protect me, and I love you for that, I really do. But even if Katherine's telling the truth, she's locked away, Elijah is dead, and we have no idea if Klaus even knows I exist or not."
"Elijah was dead and Katherine was locked away this morning. If that mattered, why did you want to talk to Katherine?"
"I just wanted to know more. Now I do, and I'm not going to spend the rest of my life sitting around waiting for some nightmare that may never come."
"So you're just going to sit here and do nothing?" I asked. "Stefan?"
"If this is what Elena wants, then I respect it," Stefan said, "And if it turns out that Klaus does know about Elena, Damon and I will take care of it."
Damon nodded. "What he said."
"Great, so we're just going to be sitting ducks until Klaus shows up on your doorstep?" I asked.
"Yes, that's exactly what we're going to do," said Elena.
"Fantastic." I replied.
So I leaned back against the sofa, let Damon put his arm around me, and didn't say another word about Klaus, Katherine, or the sacrifice. They gave me no choice; I had to be okay with their plan to have no plan.
At least that's what I'd let them think.
Amen omen, will I see your face again?
Amen omen, can I find the place within
To live my life without you?