Chapter 5

Katherine followed Damon inside the Salvatore Boarding House, trying not to remember what had happened there the night before. She needed to be clear-headed and focused if she wanted to relate everything to Damon, Elena and Stefan before the night was through. There was so much to tell them.

She heard Stefan warning Elena not to trust Katherine's words, no matter how convincing she was, because all she did was lie. It seemed Stefan was only humoring her for now. Well, he was going to eat his words sooner or later. Stefan didn't need to believe her but she needed Damon and Elena to. Especially Elena at the moment. Her life depended on it.

"Thank you for the glowing recommendation Stefan but I trust Elena to be able to think for herself." Katherine said, entering the Boarding House parlor and making Elena jump in surprise. Stefan glared at her but she ignored him. "Especially because, what I'm about to recount concerns her most of all."

"Does it have something to do with the reason why we look identical?" Elena asked immediately. She looked curious, but also frightened.

Katherine grinned. "It has everything to do with it. But let's sit down first. Damon, can you pour me a drink?" Katherine batted her eyelashes at him and Damon rolled his eyes in sarcasm. "Right away, Miss Katherine." He replied with mock solicitude.

Katherine grinned. How she had missed him. But better not get distracted. Damon passed her a glass of bourbon before drinking the one he had poured for himself. Katherine did the same and soon they were all sitting in front of the fire. Stefan and Elena on a sofa and she and Damon on two armchairs.

"Let's see, where to start…" Katherine thought aloud.

"Why don't you tell us why you faked your death in 1864?" Stefan asked her immediately.

"Oh, I will. But that's not the place to start. Huh, I guess I'll start with my own story. It's as good a place as any. But, before I begin, I beg you not to interrupt me because this is going to be very long and very hard for me to rehash."

Elena nodded immediately, her brown eyes shining with kindness. Damon nodded as well, looking uncharacteristically serious. Stefan was the last one to nod, and very reluctantly as well.

She took a deep breath, both to have enough time to organize her thoughts but also to calm her anxiety. She was nervous but Katherine Pierce did not get nervous so…

"I was born Katerina Petrova in Bulgaria, in 1475. My mother was sweet and kind and loving and just…good. My father, on the other hand, was not. He was harsh and brutal and all he cared about was his own reputation, his family name. The Petrova name was very important in Bulgaria at the time. Almost like aristocracy. But my father was more than that…he was also a Traveler. And before you ask, Travelers, though they would never refer to themselves as such, they're like a…subcultures of witches. They were cursed by witches some two thousand years ago, so that they couldn't perform traditional magic nor could they gather or settle as a tribe. But they invented their own form of magic and for two thousand years, they passed down the spells to their family members. Except for my father, who never bothered to teach me. I was a girl, so no worth his time."

"Why is this important again?" Stefan asked her sullenly.

"It's not. Or rather, it's not right now. But it will be. Just let me talk, Stefan, and then everything will be clear." At Stefan's nod, she continued. "At fifteen, I had a baby out of wedlock, the shame. After that, my father didn't know what to do with me anymore. I wasn't respectable anymore, I was spoilt, tainted. He couldn't marry me off and people were already talking so I had the baby – a little girl who I never even got to hold in my arms once before she was given away – and then I was banished to England, to some relatives, and I had to learn to adjust, so I quickly became English. I thought I could start over there. But I was wrong.

I had arrived only from a few months. It was the night of a gathering and I heard there were some newcomers in town so I begged my uncle and aunt to let me go. I was curious and bored and sad. I thought it would be a pleasant distraction. And that's where I met them. Elijah and Niklaus Mikaelson. They were both so handsome and charming, with impeccable manners and intelligent conversation. I was immediately enraptured, especially with Elijah. There was something so…gentlemanly about him. The way he carried himself perhaps. While Klaus was…wilder than his brother, dangerous and unpredictable. It was scary but also, exciting. And I was so flattered by the fact that the both of them seemed to have eyes only for me.

So, I started to spend more and more time with them. Especially with Elijah and soon, I was falling in love with him. Of course, I had no idea what they were at the time. I only knew about vampires through legends, I had no idea they were real.

I loved Elijah with all the passion and naiveite that only a seventeen-year-old who barely knows love can. I even stupidly thought that we were going to marry."

"Didn't you love the father of your child?" Elena asked, a look of compassion on her face. Katherine smiled at her.

"I did. But I wasn't in love with him. My relationship with him was born more from a desire to escape, to rebel against the restrictive life I was trapped in. My father was already talking about marriage, you know? He wanted to sell me to the highest bidder, without caring about my wishes at all. And it's not like I had many options to escape that fate, at the time. So, I decided that, at least, who I was going to lose my maidenhood with was going to be my decision. But I fell pregnant and I certainly couldn't marry the father. He was a stable boy. Completely unsuitable. My parents would have never allowed it even if I wished to and I didn't. The point of my relationship with him was freedom, you know? Marrying him meant giving up my freedom. In a way, being banished to England, it felt…liberating. Sure, I missed my mother but being away from my father was a blessing. And, like I said, meeting Elijah seemed like the most wonderful thing in the world. Until I found out what he and his brother were and what they really wanted from me. And then I ran like hell."

"So, these are the Originals you were talking about?" Damon asked and Katherine nodded.

"Originals?" Elena asked, confused.

"Original vampires." Stefan explained. "But they're just a legend."

"They're not a legend. They're real."

"How do we know what you're saying is true?"

Katherine ignored him, and turned towards Elena, irritated that Stefan was doubting her story after all that she revealed.

"So, what they did want from you?" Elena asked.

"The same thing they would want from you. Breaking the curse. By sacrificing the Petrova Doppelgänger. That is you."

There was an expected uproar at that point. Katherine waited for the three of them to calm down. "Can I please continue my story?"

"What curse are we talking about here?" Damon asked her. He seemed the calmest of the three.

"It's called the Sun and the Moon Curse. But it's all bullshit. Elijah and Klaus created this fake scroll that described what would happen if this supposed curse was broken. Vampires would not be harmed by the sun anymore, and werewolves would not be forced to turn every full moon. This way vampires and werewolves all over the world would try to bring the doppelgänger directly to them."

"Wait, back up just a second? Werewolves, really?" Damon asked skeptically.

"Yes, werewolves are real. In fact, you both met one. Remember George Lockwood?"

"George Lockwood was a werewolf? That does make a certain amount of sense." Damon exclaimed. "And I presume that Mason Lockwood is also one."

"That he is. In fact, I was there when he first turned. The werewolf gene runs in the Lockwood family."

"You know Mason Lockwood?" Damon didn't look pleased.

"Yes, he's a…friend of mine. And when I say friend, I mean…friend."

Damon looked both hurt and disgusted. Katherine felt bad for it but probably not as bad as she should. She was feeling a little vindictive after Damon had kissed her thinking she was Elena and then doing what he did just last night. And she didn't want to imagine every woman he slept with for the last 150 years. What right did he have to judge her? The only reason she felt bad was because of Mason, because she had been using him for the start. But Damon, for once, had nothing to do with it.

"You and Mason Lockwood? He's so not your type." Damon finally said, trying to appear nonchalant.

"No, he's not. But he's hot and he's been a pleasant distraction. But most of all, he will be very useful for me…well, us, I suppose, in the long run. You'll see…"

"Yet another man you made fall in love with you just so you could use him. Why am I not surprised?"

"I never used you, Stefan. Nor I used Damon. I loved both of you. But I guess it doesn't matter how many times do I tell you this, right? Neither of you is going to believe me. It's okay. I get it. I have a lot to make up for. But that doesn't matter right now. I got off-course. Where was I?"

"You were talking about the curse. It's not a curse to allow vampires to walk in the sun or werewolves to not be forced to change during the full moon. Then what is it?" Elena asked her. "And why to break it, you need my blood, or yours?"

"Your blood. Mine is useless to Klaus, because I'm a vampire. But you're human. By drinking your blood, Klaus would break the curse. The curse his own mother put on him, to repress his werewolf side. You see, about a thousand years ago, there was a family of eight. The mother, Esther, which was a powerful witch, the father, Mikael, and the children: Elijah, Finn, Klaus, Rebekah, Kol and Henrik. They were Vikings and they had just moved from Britain to a settlement in the New World which is now Mystic Falls after the death of their firstborn, Freya. Near their village, there was another settlement, a pack of werewolves. And for a while, they lived in harmony, close to each other but each minding their own business. Until Henrik, the youngest of the Mikaelsons and who was still a child, went with Klaus to see the werewolves transform. But they got too close and Henrik was brutally killed, torn apart probably, maybe eaten. Gruesome death in any case.

"In retaliation, Mikael forced Esther to use black magic in order to make him and his children stronger than even the werewolves when transformed. The spell Esther used was a variant of the spell of Immortality that had been used only once before – but that's a story for another time. Esther called upon the sun for life, and the ancient white oak tree, one of nature's eternal objects, for immortality. That night, Mikael offered them wine laced with blood – blood belonging to Tatia, a girl who lived in the same village as them and that, surprise, surprise, was a doppelgänger. You see, doppelgänger blood has powerful supernatural properties. After they drunk the spiked wine, Mikael drove a sword through their chests. They died and came back as the first vampires.

"But immortality always has consequences. So, nature turned on them. They were supernaturally strong and fast, with heightened senses. But for every strength there was also a weakness. The sun became their enemy, burning their skin, and though Esther found a solution for that, creating the first daylight amulets, there were other problems. Neighbors who had opened their homes for them now could keep them out. Flowers at the base of the white oak tree burned them and prevented compulsion. And the spell decreed that the tree that gave them life could also take it away…so, of course they burned it to the ground.

"But the worst thing, the darkest consequence was the hunger. Blood had made them reborn and therefore, it was blood they craved above all else. When Klaus killed the first time, his werewolf side manifested. You see, Esther had been unfaithful to her husband. She had an affair with a werewolf, and Klaus was the result of that. And since the werewolf side manifests itself only if you take a life, Klaus became the first Hybrid in history, both a vampire and a werewolf.

"But Esther couldn't allow that. It was bad enough, doing what she did, turning her children and her husband into vampires, but allowing her son to be a hybrid, that was just too much against nature, and a witch is, above all, a servant of nature. So she did the only thing she could, she cursed him so that his werewolf side would be repressed. And to do that, she bound the curse with a moonstone and used, once again, Tatia's blood, doppelgänger blood to create it. That's why doppelgänger blood is also the only way to undo the curse."

"How do you know all this?" Elena asked, fascinated.

"There are tunnels, underneath Mystic Falls. There are various accesses to it and one is through the Lockwood cellar – which was used by the Lockwoods who had triggered their werewolf side to hide during the full moons and which was built in the woods, underneath the old Lockwood property. Whenever there was a full moon, the Mikaelsons would hide underground, inside a cave, so that they would be protected from the werewolves, until Henrik and Klaus didn't that one time and what happened, happened. George Lockwood, who had found the cave by exploring the tunnels after a full moon, showed it to me. Well, technically he wanted to show it to me but there's a spell so that vampires can enter. So, Emily entered in my place and told me what there was on the wall. It depicted the whole story. I will show it to you if you want."

Both Salvatore brothers and Elena looked dazed. Katherine couldn't exactly blame them, it was a lot to take in.

"So, let me get this straight. You found out that Klaus wanted to use you as a sacrifice to break the curse and you just…ran?" Damon asked, seemingly like he knew where Katherine was going with this.

"Well, I ran after turning myself into a vampire. You see, I escaped from Elijah, who wanted to deliver me to Klaus – I can't really express how betrayed I felt when I found out the man I loved wanted to sacrifice me just so his brother could return to be a hybrid again so I won't – but the point is, I asked Trevor for help to escape.

"Trevor was one of the vampires who served the Mikaelsons. And he was…taken with me. So, he agreed to help me but…well, it didn't work out. Rose, Trevor's friend, went back on Trevor's promise and she would have brought me back to Klaus just so she could save herself from the Mikaelsons' wrath but I didn't let her. I hurt myself – pretending I was trying to kill myself. Rose gave me her blood to cure me – they needed me in peak condition for the sacrifice – and, as soon as her back was turned, I hanged myself. As a vampire I had no more use for Klaus because he needed a human doppelgänger. But I had underestimated his thirst for vengeance. When I returned to Bulgaria, I found my entire family slaughtered. He killed them all, just to get back at me for running.

"After that, I just kept running, never staying in one place for too long. For 500 years. And so did Rose and Trevor. Elijah and Klaus figured out their role in my escape and so they were forced to run as well. I feel sorry for Trevor but not for Rose. She would have delivered me to Klaus just to save her own skin. So, I repaid her back in kind. But Trevor…he wanted to help me. But after what Elijah did to me. I couldn't trust him with my safety. So, I did what I kept on doing this last 500 years, only trust myself and always look out for myself. Until 1864, when I met the two of you." Katherine said, looking first at Stefan and then at Damon.

"You know, it's because of you, Stefan, that I decided to stay at your father's house instead of the Lockwood mansion. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was sitting in a carriage with Emily. We were riding through the woods, not far from the Lockwood mansion in fact, when I saw you. You were having trouble with your carriage. Our carriage had to stop because yours was blocking the road and the coachman got down to help you. I could look at you unobserved then. I was fascinated, though I couldn't exactly tell why. There was something about you. I think you reminded me a little of Elijah, though nothing in your looks, more like your manners. I don't know. But there was such innocence in you, nothing like Elijah. I wanted to know more about you. And so, I made up the story of the poor orphan whose parents had died in a fire.

"Finding out that you had a very handsome, older brother made things even more interesting for me. I have to admit, my real interest lied in Stefan at first, Damon was never supposed to be more than a…blood-donor. The sex was just a bonus. And please, refrain from looking at me with judgement in your eyes because that's just what vampires do. Didn't you do the same thing to Caroline, Damon?

"Yes, it was very selfish of me, I know that. But, at the time, I didn't care. I didn't want to care. I never meant to care. But I ended up doing it anyway. Humanity is a vampire's greatest weakness. No matter how easy it is to turn it off, it keeps trying to fight its way back in. Sometimes I let it. But with Damon, it wasn't even a choice. I was in love with him before I even realized I started caring for him.

"You may not believe me but I loved you both. In different ways and for different reasons, but I did. And I didn't want to choose, because by choosing one, I would have lost the other. And I had so few people I cared about that I didn't want to lose more. Stefan reminded me of the girl I used to be. The naïve, foolishly romantic human girl who was also innocent and sweet. Stefan saw me as an 'angel', something pure and good. And it felt nice, pretending that I was that girl again. But it was all a fantasy.

"Do you remember that night, Damon? I'm sure you do. The night of the Founders' ball. I sent you away because I didn't want to face the fact that I wasn't that girl anymore, that I would never be that girl again. While I spent time with Stefan, I could go back in time in a way. Pretend that I never met Klaus and Elijah, never had to turn myself into a vampire just to survive. With Stefan I was just a girl being courted by a handsome boy, nothing more. And in a way, I resented you Damon, because you would break that fantasy. With you I was back to be a vampire, a monster. And I didn't want to be. But with you, I couldn't be anything less than myself.

"When I told Stefan what I really was, he freaked out. I was the monster again. And he couldn't love me for what I really was. But you…Damon…you accepted me from the first. Even that night, after you kept insisting on me turning you, I brought you hunting with me to scare you off. I thought that maybe, if I showed you the worst parts of being a vampire, you would have changed your mind. I was sort of hoping for it, in fact. I thought you could only see the perks of being a vampire, the immortality, the speed, the strength. I thought you were blind to the truth so I brought you with me when I fed and I purposefully killed those men. I thought you would turn away in fright and disgust but you didn't. No matter what I did, you never turned away. You saw me for what I was and you still stayed. You accepted me. How could I not fall in love with you after that?"

Katherine's focus was all on Damon now, unable to see anyone else in the room but him. Damon's stare was just as intense, looking at her like he was seeing her for the first time. It was Stefan that broke the moment.

"If you were so in love with Damon, why you kept being with me?" Stefan asked, sounding more than a little miffed.

Katherine shrugged. "Didn't I already explain that? Because I was selfish. Because I wanted you both. I've never denied that. I did care for you, Stefan. And I didn't want to lose you. And by compelling you, I could keep the fantasy alive. I know, it's horrible. I can't justify my actions except to say that I was so used to just take what I wanted, to use people without caring about the consequences. Vampirism only heightens traits that are already there. And I was a very selfish human. Spoiled. Used to get what I wanted. But I'm learning. It took me a while but I'm trying to think more about others. That's why I'm here, telling you all this. I could have kidnap Elena and hand-delivered her to Klaus. I could have bought my freedom with that. But I didn't. Because I don't want Elena to end up like me. Or worst. And I don't want you two to suffer the consequences of Klaus' wrath."

"Then why did you give me and Stefan your blood?" Damon asked. "If you never meant to stay, why turn us? Why did you give us your blood in the first place?"

"It's not what you think, Damon. I didn't give you and Stefan my blood because I wanted to turn you. I never meant for you to be vampires. Don't get me wrong, the idea of spending an eternity with you was very appealing. But I didn't want that for you, either of you.

"And yet, I knew about the Council. That they had found out about the vampires and that they were plotting something against us, thanks to Pearl. I gave you my blood as an insurance policy. I knew that, because of me, you were in danger. If something had ever happened to you, with my blood in your system, you would have come back. That's why I had Emily create the rings for you.

"And I'm sorry that I wasn't there, with you, when you most needed me. But I needed for everyone to believe that I was dead. As long as Klaus thought I was dead, you two were safe. But if he had found out that I was alive, he would have come after the people I loved most, like he had done in the past. And that was the two of you."

"That seems very romantic, but about your friends, what about Pearl? Why didn't you try to help them? You sold your friends out so that you could be free."

Katherine shook her head. "I did nothing of the sort. When I found out what the Council had planned, I tried to find a way to save them, by blackmailing George Lockwood. But he would only help me, in exchange for my silence about what he really was. You know, technically I didn't even need George Lockwood's help. I could have just left town since nobody really suspected me of being a vampire. The deal with George was just a backup plan in case things went bad. Everything would have worked out fine if only you hadn't told your father, Stefan. And if only I didn't go to your room that night."

"Are you blaming me now?"

"No. I'm just saying what happened. You told your father. Your father made you drink vervain without you knowing. I bit you. The vervain kicked in. Your father captured me. You and Damon tried to rescue me. You and Damon were shot."

"Damon and I died for nothing. You were never in any danger at all."

"No, Stefan. You and Damon died for love. I never thought your father would have killed you though. I never liked him."

"Why were you with Stefan that night, the night you were captured? You keep saying you love me but you chose Stefan that night, why?"

"I was saying good bye. Because I knew I would have never seen Stefan again after that night."

"You would have never seen Stefan again? What about Damon?" Elena asked, catching on to her meaning.

"I had planned on asking Damon to come with me." Katherine replied, before looking directly at Damon. "I chose you that night. It was crazy and selfish and very stupid but I couldn't leave you. I didn't want to leave you. I wanted to tell you the whole truth and I wanted to ask you to run with me, as a vampire. To spend an eternity together, even if it meant spending an eternity running. But then I was captured and you were killed and I realized you were safer without me.

"That's why I never contacted you, never came looking for you. Not until I found out you were in Mystic Falls to open the tomb I was supposed to be in. And I found out about Elena's existence. And it felt like fate. I could finally come out in the open. Because I knew Klaus would come looking for her sooner or later, and, at that point, it didn't matter if Klaus knew or not that I was still alive. And you and Stefan, being close to Elena, are in danger anyway. I would have preferred for you to be as far from Klaus as possible but beggars can't be choosers and all that. And I know that you would never leave if you know Elena's in danger, right?"

"From your smug expression it seems like you have a plan to kill Klaus then? Because for someone who has been running from this guy for 500 years, you don't seem very scared now."

"Yes, Damon. I have a plan. Well, I have more than one plan. But there's one plan I particularly like. It's just that requires some…ingredients which might difficult to retrieve. But if we can pull it off, I'm telling you…it's a stroke of genius."

"Someone's modest." Damon replied with a smirk.

"No, I'm serious. And I'm sure you'll agree with me once you hear what I have in mind."