A/N: The previous chapter 3 really didn't fit in the pace I've been going with, so I replaced it with this one. From now on, I won't rush anything like before. Sorry about that mix up. Read and don't forget to review. Enjoy ;-)
Damon watched the goddess before him, lying on the silk sheets.
"I apologize for this cliché," he chuckled lightly, slowly getting in the bed with her. "I don't really remember putting these on my bed. Must be Stefan's bad joke."
Katherine chuckled with him while running her hands up and down his back.
"That certainly wouldn't be the first."
He only shook his head, laughing to himself.
"You can't even begin to imagine how right you are." His laugh quieted down to chuckles and finally died when he noticed Katherine wasn't laughing along. She just gazed at him, openly, studying him, looking for something.
"Yeah, I probably can't," she whispered softly, stroking his chest.
He already forgot what they were talking about. With her looking at him like that, he may have as well forgotten his name.
Tonight was the night of clichés, for sure.
Katherine trailed her hands lower to his abs, and Damon drew in a sharp breath. He was so focused on untying the laces of her night gown he didn't hear her say something.
"What was that?"
"I said," deep brown eyes focused on his blue ones, serious and so full of emotions, "say that you love me."
Damon slowly pulled a gown down her shoulders, leaning in to leave a little kiss on her collar bone, making Katherine moan softly. He kissed her earlobe and whispered the words.
"Look at me when you do," Kath pleaded with him. He frowned a little. There was so much desperation in her voice, when there shouldn't be any. Damon pulled back, looking her dead in the eyes.
"I love you." He whispered again, stroking her cheek with all the tenderness he could master.
Katherine smiled at that, a bit hesitating. "Yeah?"
"Yes."
"I love you, too," she whispered against his lips before catching them in a soft kiss.
Damon woke up, and if he could, he would be covered in a cold sweat. That bitch. She must have broken through his barriers and managed to manipulate his dream. Now he was really going to kill her.
He rushed to the furthest door at a vampire speed. Not bothering with knocking, he simply threw the door open and barged in, insults ready at the tip of his tongue.
However, any word he was going to say was stuck in his throat as he was picked up and thrown at the wall. Immediately, he was straddled by a fully vamped out Katherine Pierce in flesh. And nothing else. Damon's eyes went impossibly wide as he realized that.
That little fact almost cost him his life, because Katherine may have been naked, but not defenseless. A sharp point of a stake was right at his chest, and the female vampire was ready to plunge it deep in his chest.
"Kath, it's me!"
She stopped all the movement whatsoever, looking at him with suspicion. For that, he was really grateful.
"Damon?" She tilted her head a little, confused. Confusion was quickly replaced by anger.
"Just what the fuck were you thinking?" Katherine hissed at him, moving away the stake. "I could've killed you right here!"
"Yeah, I noticed. I thought you could tell it was me," Damon mumbled.
"Damon, there's a battle coming! I didn't have time between you barging in and me waking up to stand here and try to recognize who's the psycho that disturbed me!" She yelled out before huffing with annoyance. "And 'btw'," she mocked him from the previous day, "What are you doing here?"
"Um," he shifted a little, but Katherine didn't budge. "Look, you know it's me, now get off."
"Oh believe me, I am," she purred at him, smirking. He just rolled his eyes. "Fine, fun pooper."
As soon as she stood up, he had her in a dead grip against the wall.
"You know, if you wanted a little dominance, all you had to do was ask," Katherine sneered at him.
"Don't play dumb, bitch," he spat at her. "How did you get into my head? Is it a spell?"
"What? Damon, you finally snapped. I knew the day would come." She twisted out of his grip like it was nothing. "I can't get into your head; you're too strong for me. Stefan, on the other hand…" Katherine trailed off with a wicked gleam in her eyes.
He didn't react to the mention of Stefan as she had probably hoped. It still hurt. But he wasn't about to show his weak side.
"Do whatever you want with Steffi, just leave me out of it. And put something on. This slut look is getting old." He said in a disinterested voice. That left Katherine wondering. She was pretty sure it was an act, but it looked real. And the pain was real, too. It strangely hurt when there was no spark of jealousy in these ice blue eyes and boredom in his voice. She was at the receiving end this time, and she didn't like it, not one bit.
Katherine decided to stick to her plan. If it was Elena and not her, she would put something on like a good little girl she was. Katherine mentally scoffed and did just that.
"Happy now?" She twisted around, looking at him with an annoyed face.
"Well, pants woulda gone nice with my shirt, but that's at least something." He deadpanned.
Damon was looking for his favorite shirt all over the place. Katherine's room was the only place he didn't go to in his search, and turned out that was the place where he should've started.
She only shrugged in response. Being all Elena-like was good, but that was to be kept to a minimum. She wanted Damon to believe she has changed, not to become his own Elena clone. And she succeeded a little. His eyes showed he was pleasantly surprised when she did put clothes on without much debate. Score one for Miss Pierce.
"So what was that about a dream again?" She asked him as she went to get some scotch. Taking out two glasses, she looked over her shoulder with a silent question. Damon nodded after some hesitation, and she grinned to herself as she poured them a drink.
"I'm still pretty convinced it was you," he informed her after sipping his scotch.
"Well, what was there? Blood, guts, war, dead Elena?" She was rather intrigued by what he saw. It must have been pretty serious if he went to her room to demand answers.
Damon hesitated with the answer. But what the hell, she did it, so she knew what was in the dream. She was just playing him, seeing if he would go further. He absolutely would. Two can play a game.
"No Elena. Only you, me and silk sheets."
"God," Katherine grimaced slightly, "silk sheets, really?"
Damon chuckled in spite of himself.
"My thoughts exactly. You could have been more creative than that."
"Still wasn't me."
"Still don't believe you."
'Really don't care' was right at the tip of her tongue, but she held back. Damon was like a little puppy: he liked it when someone playfully shoved him, but being really put in his place made him tuck his tail between his legs and curl up. That was not what she had in store for him.
Instead, she asked another really interesting question.
"So you had a wet dream with me starring here. What's the big deal?"
She noticed how he briefly looked away for a second, looking almost guilty. And also wistful. That was getting more interesting by a second.
"Look, I participated in Damon Salvatore's dream, I think I deserve to at least know what I did in there."
She sounded sincerely curious, and that was what stopped Damon from saying anything. It really wasn't her. It was all his fucked up doing.
"We fucked and then you fucked Stefan right before my eyes and stabbed him in the end," he lied calmly.
"Hm," she mused, "no, that's not really my style. If I really wanted to mess with your head, it would have been something about your abandonment issues. Starring me, Elena, Stefan and your father. That would be messing you up." Step two: a bite after a lick. Damon likes it rough.
"Thanks for pointing it out now," sarcasm dripped from every word. "You made my night an awful lot better."
"I aim to please," she mockingly saluted with her glass. It was empty by now. Katherine sighed as she put it on the table before turning to face Damon. "Well, since you ruined my sleep, the least you could do is entertain me."
Damon looked at her with a bit of disbelief. Did Katherine manage to say a suggestive sentence without really 'suggesting' or heaving it up with an innuendo? He listened hard for a moment. Her heartbeat is not human. Nope, that's still Katherine.
She only smiled to herself as she watched him thinking something over. Yep. It's definitely working.
"Well town is off limits since you're Elena's doppelganger…"
"I believe it's the other way around," she butted in coldly.
"…so, all you can get is TV, Internet and Emily's diaries." Damon finished as if he wasn't interrupted.
"Diaries… I like that word." Katherine bit her lower lip and looked at him with laughing eyes. "How about Stefan's diaries and popcorn with TV on background?"
And in that exact moment, Damon realized that some part of him still loved Katherine and always would. She looked so… She looked her age – not actual one, but the age of her appearance, a good-naturedly mischievous and carefree eighteen-year-old girl, with that twinkle in her eyes and a smile. He had never seen that smile before, and he decided that he loved it.
"Deal," he smiled back at her.
When he turned away, Katherine lost that smile, but not to the wicked smirk as she planned. She wore a confused frown instead. Because not only she looked giddy, carefree and close to happy, but she felt like that, too. And that was kind of unsettling. But at the same time, it actually felt nice.
"Are you coming or what?" Damon harshly whispered as he was making his impersonation of a ninja, moving against a wall to the Stefan's room. He really wouldn't stand a chance in a Chinese castle with those skills. He looked inside and motioned for her to come closer.
She smiled again to herself as they went into the room to get those diaries.