Barely A Memory

Chapter 12

Stefan nodded, his teeth digging into his bottom lip. He closed his eyes, his voice trembling. "And, Elena, she..."

Katherine nodded along with him. Slowly, sensually, she ran her slender fingers along his shaking lips. "Elena killed you, Stefan." He opened his eyes at her words, and Katherine tried to contain the way her body seemed to rush with adrenaline. She kind of liked this... she liked the fact that Stefan was running to her and not Elena. She was very good at keeping her grin at bay, though. In fact, she gave him the most empathetic look she'd ever been able to pull off. "Not directly... but Elena broke you. She had you in her palm and she squeezed and squeezed until you were dust. Stefan, you died for her, and she let you do it. She didn't blink."

Now he began to shake his head, his chest wracking with sobs as this sense of confusion flooded through his head. "She wouldn't..."

Katherine kept going, taking advantage of his vulnerability at the moment. "You made her human just to please her. And I don't think she even thanked you once. I doubt she even missed you."

Stefan paused, the entire world beginning to freeze over. Did Katherine mean those words. Did she even understand what she had just said? He blinked a few times over and over, trying to comprehend those words.

You made her human.

Made her human.

Elena. Made human.

Elena had been a vampire.

And then suddenly –he didn't even know why—but it made sense. Elena was the girl on the roof. Elena was the girl on the roof who he loved to the ends of the earth. He died to make her human. It all clicked together: her talks of how love never lasted, the way she said there was no such thing as happy ever after. She didn't love him. Not really. Maybe she never did. Not like he loved her, and he died for her... he'd died for nothing. And here she had been, listening to him trying to find someone who was literally right in front of him. He was suffering, breaking down, and Elena hadn't said a single word. His heart twisted.

Maybe he should have just stayed dead. It sure would have hurt a lot less.

"It hurts, I know." Not even fully comprehending the extent of his current thoughts, Katherine now placed her hand over his heart, feeling it pound. "But you need to know that I would never do that to you. I wouldn't lie to you or betray you."

He tried to contain himself. He was not going to keep crying. Not in front of Katherine, not right now. He wasn't going to let himself cry over Elena. He wasn't going to let himself cry over someone who didn't deserve it. "What's it like to be a vampire, Katherine?"

Taken aback by his question, Katherine eyed him curiously and stepped away, but not before slowly wiping the tears from his cheeks before he could. "You don't have to care if you don't want to. It's like a switch." This caught his attention, and so she kept going. "You don't have to care about anything."

He clenched his jaw, thoughts going right back to Elena. "It's that easy?"

Katherine grinned. "It's that easy." She then strolled back to the vintage drawer, pulling out a tight t-shirt and boyshorts. Without giving any notice, she turned away from Stefan and dropped the towel. He was momentarily distracted by the magnificent curves of her back, but, amazingly enough, forced himself to glance away. How incredible it would be to get lost in Katherine, to forget about Elena, to stop caring... As she dressed herself, Katherine kept speaking, her voice soft and low. When she began, he naturally turned his head. The blood rushed to his face when he met her eyes. "Elena, the way she's betrayed you... It can all go away. I mean, it has to bother you, Stefan." Now fully clothed, Katherine approached him again. "What else is she keeping from you?"