A Million Reasons [ S. SALVATORE ]

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

When the light fades from the sky, Katherine knows that it's all ending soon. In preparation, she dons her best dress of crimson red, and piles her hair high off of her neck. She's looking her best for a day she hasn't exactly looked forward to. While it always feels nice seeing her plans come to fruition, she knows it won't be easy to leave Stefan.

          Stefan's whose lips are as soft as cushions against her own. They trail down the side of her face and press against the crook of her neck. It pulls a sigh from her as her head tilts back. He doesn't let her fall, he never does. He holds her upright in his bed, close to his chest, close to his heart. But then she feels his movements grow slow, before he stops completely. She feels him, once again, fighting with his feelings, with the pull that draws him to her.

          But she refuses to give up so easily and her lips greedily seek his once more. But his hands, his wonderful hands, gently push her back.

"Stop," he says softly, head hanging low. "Katherine, stop." Doing as he asks, she leans back to better look at him, brow furrowing in frustration.

"What's bothering you?" she asks, pushing his hair back from his face. She pouts, hoping to lighten the mood with her old promise. "Are you still upset about our little spat? I told you I'd turn you when the time was right." It usually draws him back in but he still refuses to look at her, and she has the sense that something is incredibly wrong. "Stefan," she tries again and finally he looks up.

          His eyes look different, the pupils not quite right, not how they should appear after a gentle night of persuasion. She can't smell it on him but she knows. He's been ingesting vervain. The predator in her rears it head, threatens break lose, to defend herself but she pushes it back down.

"I've been thinking," he starts slowly and she scoffs.

"Wonderful," she says with a roll of her eyes. Small hands pressing against his naked chest, she pushes him away and moves to stand up from his lap. Stefan doesn't reach for her as her feet hit the hardwood floor. Reaching for her tossed shawl, she drapes it around her shoulder, looks at herself in the mirror as she twirls the end of it in one hand.

"My brother is in love with you." He's not sure why he says it. Perhaps it's comforting to know that she still has someone so completely devoted to her. Katherine Pierce will never be alone, and she'll have the love of the greatest man he's ever known. And his brother may finally find peace, happiness. They can be happy together.

Katherine grows still before turning to face him, shawl slipping from her exposed shoulders.

"So, this is about Damon," she deadpans, brow cocked, looking so unamused. It was an expression he had grown familiar with; it used to charm him.

"It's about the three of us," he admits, not shirking away from her daring stare. "This little world you've created where you can have everything you want. I think it's time we move on from it, Katherine." Silence stretches between them, the only sound in the room his steady breathing. And then he finds the courage to say, "I'm done, Katherine."

"You're done," she repeats. Slowly, with measured steps, she begins to walk around the bed, passing one bedpost and then another, before she's stands to his left. "This isn't about Damon," she says, thinking aloud. And he sees the moment it clicks in her mind, when she looks at him and her eyes narrow. "It's about her. You would throw away everything I've offered you for her?

"Perhaps you don't know me as well as you think you do."

At his words, fury flashes in her eyes and she moves faster than his eyes can follow. In less than a second, she's moved to press him down onto the bed, hand gripping where his neck meets his shoulder.