"Stop here," Stefan said, as Dean drove through a much older part of Mystic Falls. The Winchester obeyed and parked the Impala in front of what looked like an old plantation. Then he and the others got out of the car and followed Stefan, as he walked through the crumbled remains of the estate.
"What are we doing here?" Elena asked. Stefan turned to look back at his friends. "I wanted to show you all something," he answered. "In the middle of nowhere?" Elena questioned nervously.
"Don't worry, Lena, if he wanted to kill you, he would have done it by now," Dean snorted. "Besides, you got me and Sammy here to protect you, remember?" Elena clenched her jaw at Dean's remark and huffed irritably while Sam pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.
"This place didn't use to be nowhere," Stefan cut in, bringing their attention back to the main point of their journey. "It used to be my home."
Dean, Sam, and Elena looked around in astonishment as they stood beside Stefan in the ruins of his old home. "Wait, you lived here?" Sam gaped. "Back when it was still a mansion, yeah," Stefan responded. "But how? I mean, it looks so..." Elena trailed off. "Old?" Stefan finished. "That's because it is."
The girl's eyes widened, as the realization hit her. "Wait. How long have you..." Sam and Dean let out a collective breath as Stefan said, "I've been 17 years old since 1864." "Oh, my God," Elena gasped. Then, she whipped her head in the direction of Sam and Dean quizzically. "Did you guys know about this?" she inquired. Dean gave her a knowing look. "Of course, you did," Elena sighed. "Hey, you said you wanted to know everything, Lena," Dean replied. "So, we're not gonna hold back. You already know how Sam and I got roped into this supernatural crap, now you need to know how Stefan got dragged in."
Dean turned to Stefan and nodded for him to proceed, and the vampire returned the gesture and began his tale. "Half a century before the boarding house was even built, this was my family's home," he started, as he trekked through the ruins. "Damon and I... we were both born here, but we weren't alone either. There was another whom we were close to, despite him being a son of a different founding member. It was always the three of us: the Salvatore brothers and Matthew Dean Campbell, the best of friends, and the Terrific or Terrible, depending on the day, Trio of Mystic Falls."
MYSTIC FALLS, ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIVE YEARS AGO...
It was a bright sunny morning out on the Salvatore plantation and Damon and Stefan were chasing their childhood friend Matthew out of the house, while the third young man ran with a pigskin ball tucked under his arm. He dashed down the front steps with Damon hot on his heels. And just as he made it down the last step, Damon tackled his friend to the ground, knocking the wind out of Matthew.
Stefan laughed at their expense while Damon snatched the ball away from Matthew and got up and ran. Matthew let out a crude swear, as he scrambled to his feet and brushed himself off. "That was not fair, Damon," Matthew griped with no real anger behind his words. "All's fair in love and war, my friend. Or, in this case, football and war," Damon japed.
"Where did you two say you learned this game?" Stefan chimed in.
"At a camp outside of Atlanta. One of the officers picked it up at Harvard," Damon explained briefly. "Now, catch!" Then he threw the football in the air towards his brother, but it was quickly intercepted by Matthew. Stefan lunged at his friend who had stolen the ball from him while saying, "Wait a minute. What are the rules?"
"Who needs rules?" chimed the melodic voice of Katherine Pierce as she stepped outside to watch the boys play their game. The three young men looked up at the woman, and the Salvatores brothers all but swooned at her feet. Meanwhile, their friend Matthew was not so easily swayed. He let his brilliant green eyes study her in reserved subtlety, however, she caught his gaze and flashed him a playful smirk. Matthew promptly averted his gaze, knowing full well that he had been caught and instead opted to toss the ball over to Stefan who still seemed to be swept up in Katherine's splendor.
"Mind if I join you?" Katherine inquired as she walked down the steps to meet them, her eyes still trained on the Campbell nobleman.
"Well, that depends," Damon intervened. For the first time since she walked outside, she zeroed in on the other two men. "Depends on what?" she asked.
"Uh, well, you could, uh- you could get hurt," Stefan replied. "Damon likes to play pretty rough." Katherine tilted her head. "Really? Somehow, I think you play rougher," she smirked, before snatching the ball out of the youngest Salvatore's hand.
"Not as rough as me," Matthew huffed.
The young girl's eyes twinkled with mischief at the other man's response. "Well, then why don't you prove it?" she giggled. Without another word, she took off in the opposite direction leaving all three boys standing in amusement.
"Why are you two just standing there?" Damon questioned. "That is a girl who clearly wants to be chased." "That's the thing, Damon," Matthew snorted. "Most of the highborn women I've met seem appalled by men chasing women. They believe it is barbaric and unbecoming of a gentleman of high society." Damon gave his friend a peculiar look, before saying, "If you guys won't do it, I will." Then he bolted off in the direction that Katherine had fled, eliciting an identical peculiar look from Matthew.
"Come on, we better make sure Damon doesn't make a fool of himself," Stefan grinned as he chased after his brother.
"I'll be right there," Matthew replied.
But even after they were gone, the heir to the Campbell household furrowed his brow as he let his mind drift towards Katherine. She knew what he was, just as he knew what she was. So why then did she feel bold enough to test him? Why would she dare show her face again after what happened last night?
A sharp pain shot through his arm, making him wince, and Matthew rolled up the sleeve of his shirt and gazed at the half-finished mark on his wrist in apprehension.
She did this to him. She attacked him last night knowing that it would activate his curse.
The question is... why?
PRESENT-DAY
As the group of teenagers stared at the remains of Stefan's old home, Elena let out a gasp while Sam stood there in disbelief. "You knew Katherine back in 1864?" Elena asked in amazement. "Damon made it seem like-"
"Damon was manipulating you, Lena," Dean cut in. "He was trying to make it seem like Stefan was this jealous, heartbroken asshat who would do anything to get the girl, even if it meant playing dirty." "Dean's right. He wanted to get in the way of me being friends with you, the same way he tried to get in the way of Dean being in a relationship with you," Stefan agreed. "He saw that Dean and I were finally moving on from the past and he wanted to ruin it."
"All because you loved the same woman 145 years ago, and because Dean realized that he didn't need to put up with his bullshit?" Elena breathed.
"Pretty much, yeah," Dean nodded.
"But you didn't love the same woman, did you?" Sam intervened. "In fact, from the sound of it, it seemed like Katherine had more of an interest in our ancestor than she did either of you." "You would be correct, Sam. Katherine initially had her sights set on Matthew, but eventually, she... broadened her interests, shall we say?" Stefan elaborated. "Seriously?" Dean balked. Stefan merely nodded in affirmation. "Jesus, Stefan, why didn't you tell me all of this when you first told me the story?" Dean responded irritably. "And for that matter why didn't you say anything about my ancestors or the fact that Damon wasn't just in love with Katherine?" "I didn't want you to react the way you're reacting now," Stefan countered.
"By lying to me?"
"Wait, you know about Stefan's history?" Elena queried, cutting off Dean's impending wrath.
"What did you mean by most of the story?" Sam questioned.
Dean sagged his shoulders and exhaled tiredly. "Well, I know most of the important parts. I didn't know about our family's involvement in this until recently- thanks a lot, Stefan- but I still know enough to know how it ends and I'm sure Stef will fill in the parts including our family, and Damon's apparent fake love for Katherine," he explained. "And as far as she goes, she wasn't just any woman. But I'm sure Stefan could explain that better than I could."
MYSTIC FALLS, ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIVE YEARS AGO...
Many months had gone by since Katherine had first arrived at the Salvatore Estate. A few weeks ago, Matthew and Damon had been shipped off on another assignment, leaving Stefan to entertain the young woman alone. During those weeks, Stefan had gotten to know her better and found himself becoming attached to her and her. However, there was something amiss. It seemed like something was lacking in her smile these days. Stefan figured it was because she was homesick, as he recently discovered that Katherine was an orphan. But in truth, it was because she missed the other two boys.
Stefan kept her company sure, and while he was good for giving her the romantic attention she desired, it wasn't enough. Stefan was falling for her, that much was clear. With a little seduction and a thin layer of compulsion, it would be all too easy to make Stefan hers. Damon was a little more difficult as he seemed to be more infatuated with Matthew than her, despite having a visible attraction to her. However, she supposed it wouldn't require too much to get to him either if she was willing to put some effort into it.
And then there was him. Matthew Dean Campbell. The first person she had bled dry the moment she set foot in this town. She had almost believed him to be another vampire when he turned up the next morning looking as spry and joyful as ever without so much as a bite mark on his neck. Of course, she was later informed by her handmaiden Emily that he was, in fact, an Immortal Hunter created specifically to kill vampires and with nearly all of the same abilities as vampires themselves.
This new information set her on edge, but it also, much to her surprise, ignited something within her. A hunger she had never known until she laid eyes on the green-eyed man.
He was the real prize!
And how could he not be?
After learning who he was, she had tried to compel him to forget everything and found she could not. That alone should have warned her off. Hell, it should have been enough to run her out of town. Everything in her was screaming at her to finish him off, to kill him for good before he gets the chance to kill her. But instead, all that did was make her desire him more. It made her yearn to know him, to challenge him.
And even more dangerous still, it made her want to know what it would be like to be with someone who she couldn't compel, who wasn't easily manipulated or controlled. Someone who was just as stubborn as she was and who would not allow her to have her way simply because she wanted it. She wanted a challenge, and a Hunter like Matthew was perhaps the most difficult of all.
For so many centuries, she has been chased by the noblemen of this world, and after a while, it gets to be repetitive and boring. But now for the first time, she was the one who had to chase the object of her desire. And she could barely contain herself from her excitement, as she counted the days until Damon and Matthew returned from the Confederate army.
Then the real fun could begin.
* * *
Stefan was chasing Katherine through the gardens one afternoon, and she let out a triumphant laugh, as she hid behind a statue that they had established as a safe zone before they had begun their game. "I win!" she beamed boastfully. "What's my prize?"
"What would you like it to be?" came a familiar voice.
The two teenagers whirled around and saw Damon in his uniform leaning casually against a pillar. Stefan's eyes lit up gleefully. "They extended your leave?" he asked his brother. Damon quirked his lips. "I was simply having too much fun to return to battle," he remarked. "Your commitment to the Confederacy is inspiring?" The two brothers approached each other and came together in a tight embrace.
"What about Matthew?" Katherine voiced curiously. "Is he returning from battle as well?" Damon paused for a moment separating from his brother to stare at the vampiric woman. "He said he had some things to take care of at his family estate first, but once he's finished his business there he would be on his way," Damon answered coolly. "Well, this works out perfectly for me," Katherine quipped.
"And why is that, Miss Katherine?"
"Now I'll have all three of you here to keep me entertained," she smiled coyly. "First and foremost, I'll need someone to escort me to the Founder's Ball."
All at once, the Salvatore brothers expressed their desire to take her to the ball causing all of them to pause and look at each other. "The smart and kind Salvatore brothers both coming to my rescue," she mused, as she started walking away. "How will I ever choose?"
PRESENT-DAY
"She chose me, surprisingly," Stefan declared. "I escorted her to the Ball at the original Lockwood mansion." Elena's eyes lit up in realization. "The first Founder's party," she acknowledged. "Where you signed the registry."
Stefan sighed, "Yeah. I didn't care that I had gotten something that my brother seemingly wanted. I didn't even care if it hurt him; I only knew that I wanted her."
"And was he?" Sam asked. "Was Damon hurt?"
Stefan slowly shook his head. "No. Not after he found out what Katherine had done to Matthew," he admitted. "Once he discovered her deception, any positive feelings he had for her were destroyed." "What does that mean? Are you saying she did something to make Damon upset?" Elena questioned.
"That's the thing about Damon," Dean started. "He doesn't get mad. He just gets even. And from the sound of it, he was planning on getting even with Katherine."
"What Damon wants, Damon usually gets. That's his whole thing. It's one of the main reasons why he's been tormenting us lately," Stefan stated. "I didn't know it at the time, but... turns out that night... Katherine was with him, too."
"What?" Dean said.
"I thought you said Damon was mad at her because of something she did to Matthew," Sam frowned.
"He was," Stefan affirmed.
"Then why was he with her?" Elena inquired.
"To keep up the act," Stefan explained. "Apparently, during their time away in the army after she had first arrived to come and live with us, Matthew let Damon in on a secret that he'd been keeping."
That's when the pieces began to click together in Dean's mind. "Matthew told Damon that he was a Hunter," then he hesitated and pondered that thought a little more. "But he was way past the age of 16, which is the normal age of a Campbell Hunter who activates their Curse, and had been completely normal all the way into his twenties. So, the only reason I could think of for him to say anything was if... Katherine!"
"What about Katherine?" Elena puzzled.
"That bitch activated his Curse," Dean fumed.
"That's not possible," Sam rebuffed. "The only way for her to have triggered the Curse was if she was a... oh, my God."
Then Sam snapped his head to look at Stefan in shock. "Stefan, when you say Damon was trying to keep up an act, is it because...?"
"As it would turn out, she wasn't mine or Damon's to steal," Stefan concluded. "And neither one of us were her true prize."
MYSTIC FALLS, ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIVE YEARS AGO...
It was late in the evening a few days before the Founder's Ball, and Matthew was out in the large torchlit backyard of his family home practicing his archery skills. He had just hit his twentieth bullseye of the night when he heard someone slowly applauding behind him. His nose crinkled at the smell of jasmine perfume mixed with the slight scent of blood in the wind. Without hesitating, he notched another arrow, whirled around, and fired directly at the person behind him who was none other than Katherine herself.
The vampire was so stunned that she had no time to react, and so the unblunted projectile lodged itself into the center of her chest, forcing a painful gasp from her throat. In a blur of motion, Matthew was on her, slamming her against a pillar and pushing the arrow further into her chest, covering her mouth with his other hand so she didn't scream.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you where you stand, blood-whore?" he growled. Then he forcefully wrenched the arrow out of her exposed chest, triggering a sharp yelp to escape her lips, and removed his hand from over her mouth. Her chest heaved intensely, as she let out short breaths while exposing her neck, making her breasts seem fuller and more prominent and putting her cleavage on display.
"If you were going to kill me, you would have done so by now," she moaned. "You also would have told your family about me the second you got home after I first attacked you, but you didn't. Otherwise, I would be dead by now."
Matthew harrumphed and backed away from her, still keeping his guard up as he clenched the bloody arrow tightly. "For all you know, I'm simply waiting for the right opportunity to kill you," he argued. Katherine chuckled mischievously, as she stalked towards him predatorily. "Well, what are you waiting for?" she purred seductively, closing in on him. "I promise, you'll never have a better opportunity than right now. Come on, Matthew, take your best shot."
Matthew's entire body clenched up as Katherine snaked one of her arms around his neck while the other trailed down his bicep until it reached the arrow gripped tightly in his fist. "Do it, Matthew," she whispered sultrily. "I'm completely at your mercy." She pulled him closer and went in for a kiss, but he pushed her away. "Well, I'm not, demon!" Matthew hissed, turning to walk away from her. "And I cannot be manipulated by your trickery. And when I decide to kill you, it will be on my terms. So whatever you have planned for me, end it. Because no matter what you do, I will never give in to your abominable mind games."
Katherine narrowed her eyes. "You insult me by calling me abominable, and yet you're the one sneaking around engaging in... questionable acts with Damon Salvatore," she snapped. Matthew stopped mid-step. "Oh, darling, you didn't think it could remain a secret forever, did you?" she scoffed smugly. "Truthfully, I think it's rather adorable."
"What do you want?" Matthew sneered, as he turned to face her again.
"Darling, you have no idea of the future I have planned for us- you, me, and the Salvatores," Katherine smiled, avoiding the question.
"What. Do. You. Want?!" Matthew raised his voice. Katherine cupped his cheek in what was supposed to be a gesture of endearment. "That is for me to know, and you to dot, dot, dot," she gleamed. "But don't worry. Between now and then, we're going to have all kinds of fun. And remember, no rules." And with that, she let him go and disappeared into the night.