Dear Katherine Pierce || Damon Salvatore

III. Dear Katherine Pierce, maybe not everything can be changed.

Author's Note

Let me know if it's too long. I will partition the next ones more! Enjoy your reading, and see you at the end! Comments and let me know your opinions and if there's anything you don't like! There are some important notes at the end, so please read them! Okay, I'll get out of your hair - or your screens, actually-! Once more, you have a good reading!

Disclaimer. Everything you recognize does not belong to me. I only own Lana Lewis and her version of Katherine Pierce. I get nothing from publication, and all the rights go to the show's producers. My ideas, however, belong to me, and I have full rights to them.

Summary. Lana Lewis died believing that this would end all her suffering. However, she didn't expect to reopen her eyes and be into the body and memories of Katherine Pierce. Taking up the challenge and immersing herself in the second chance she has been offered, she becomes Kate Pierce, uniting the two people she feels herself to be. The words of Lana's murderer are still clear and present in her mind. «Every action has consequences.» And she is ready to face them, starting by admitting her feelings for Damon, making Elena aware of Klaus, and putting in motion her plan to prevent the death of the people she learned to love by watching the tv show.

Mystic Falls, 2010, February 26

Episode 1, Season 2

(Part 2 of 2)

"Dear Katherine Pierce,

It's time to untie the web of your secrets or, at least, to give some away.

What is the point of keeping everything hidden if, while gaining protection, you lose everything else?

You have never allowed anyone to know and see you completely in your five centuries on earth.

The world knows the ruthless and selfish Katherine Pierce or the sneaky and deceitful Katerina Petrova, but no one has ever really or completely known you.

There is another Katherine besides that. There is a Katherine who cares and would give up a limb if it meant saving the people she cares about. There is a Katherine who would come face to face in front of her worst enemy if that guaranteed a chance for salvation for the man she loves. There is a Katherine who would put her life at risk to protect the woman of the man she loves, even if she is the one you most despise, even if she is the one everyone always seems to want to compare you to, being disappointed.

And I know, if you were able to speak —and, in reality, to a small extent, you are: there is a voice in me, the only result of your memories, which pushes you to protest — you would disagree with my analysis. In none of those situations would there be any imminent danger to your person, but to be the queen of the selfish, you are willing to move within a minimal range of safeguards.

And now I ask you, and I ask myself: is it worth it? Is it worth anyone knowing your true worth?

How different would your life have been if you had let someone know your deepest secrets and been there to support you through the worst of times?

What if Stefan knew about your daughter? Can you imagine what would have happened? Because I do, and I saw it this morning.

He would have been closer to you than anyone else. He would have offered you his shoulder, chest, and entire body to make you feel better.

And Damon would be there to let you out, pushing you to the edge and drowning you in pain until you saw hope ignite in you again or found something that distracted you enough.

And they would have been there for you with Klaus too. Maybe not Stefan, perhaps not in the way you wanted him to be, but Damon would have been there, running and hiding with you or shielding you with his own body to protect you.

And don't tell me I'm wrong. I know, and you know that it is the truth.

But fear is our biggest enemy. Uncertainty blocks us, doubts cloud us, and hopes collapse like a house of cards in a stormy wind.

I don't know what will happen from now on. I don't know if this will be enough to change anything.

I told them everything –or at least everything I could say to them without exposing myself–.

And now the ball is in their court. There is nothing else I can do to convince them of my words. I have to stand still and wait.

They will meet Mason tonight.

I asked Elena to delay her arrival at the mayor's commemoration by an hour so that I could pretend to be her and talk to him alone.

It will be a difficult conversation.

Not for you; you are the best at breaking up a relationship. But Lana has always been a stammering and giggling landslide in those situations.

And although I am reassured that you are with me, I know it will be a problem with Lana because, I don't know for what reason, she tends to always come out at inopportune moments. I'm sure that if I don't start holding her back, people will begin to consider me crazier than I am not already.

Seriously, it is disheartening. What good is it to be a blend of you two if I can never use the advantages that your presence gives me? Oh, I almost wish I was just one of the two.

I think you and I would have gotten along. Well, it would be a little weird if it weren't.

What I meant was that I'm sure you and Lana would get along well.

Lana had the ability to settle in everywhere without getting discouraged or hiding in a corner. She was calm and quite lonely - a bit of a sulky: she and Stefan would have loved each other - but she would always be there for the people she cared about, and you would be one of them, I'm sure.

And maybe it's the part of me that's just Lana that pushes me to honesty. She, like you, knows what it's like to keep everything inside and not lean on others. Unlike you, though, that has not made her stronger but destroyed her, and when she realized her mistakes, she was too late.

But you still have time, you can change your destiny, and I will make sure, not only because now yours is mine, but because you deserve it.

Therefore, from now on, the secrets hidden in your mind may be less, but perhaps, for the first time, you may not be alone anymore, and, believe me, it will be worth it."

(Excerpt from Kate Pierce's diary, 2010)

_________

(Author Note: I loved the Rose/Damon swap too much not to include it here!)

Kate bit her lip, observing the more than amazed and incredulous expressions of the three in front of her.

"How can that be?" Elena stammered with her heart racing, some from panic and some from terror.

Damon grinned. "That cannot. Assuming also that werewolves exist-"

"Which it is," Kate corrected, and the other vampire rolled his blue eyes.

"Well, he can't be both. We would have known about it. Somebody would have talked about it," Damon concluded.

Kate put on a thoughtful expression. "You're not all wrong. There are currently no such hybrids. Klaus is the only way to create more, but as I said, he's only a vampire now, as his wolf side is kept dormant. "

"And how would that save Elena's life?" Stefan asked, trying to follow his line.

Kate bit her lip. "I have learned of some particular consequences of the curse. First, I want to warn you that deleting it is impossible. Klaus is an original vampire. And maybe it means nothing to you, but this implies that he cannot be killed, except with a specific type of wood and that, even if we come into possession of it, it will not be an option for us unless please put an end to his entire bloodline which, to be clear, also includes the three of us."

Damon frowned. "Bloodlines?" He asked.

Kate nodded. "Each vampire comes from the original five lines, formed, in fact, from the original five vampires, including Klaus. Rose was transformed by Bloody Mary, who, in turn, was a vampire turned by Klaus. I don't know why. I haven't looked into it and have never been very interested in research on blood or immortality rituals – things vampirism comes from, so to speak– but I know it's real. The witches told me, and, believe me, they wouldn't have lied. Not when they are the first to want the end of our species. "

"So if we don't have to kill Klaus, how do we keep Elena from dying?" Asked the girl above's boyfriend.

At that point, Kate shifted slightly on the sofa. That was the hard part.

"We don't," Elena said, realizing. "Right?" She continued, staring into her eyes in the mirror.

"No, the ritual will take place."

"Are you kidding?" Stefan snapped, and both girls jumped at the tone.

Identical expressions appeared on their faces, and Damon forgot for a moment that they were different people, no matter how similar they looked. Shaking his head, he smiled faintly, sure that this was where he would discover everything from Kate's mouth was a lie.

Kate shook her head. "There is no other way. The ritual must take place. But that doesn't mean Elena has to die, quite the opposite. As I said, when Klaus learns of what I have discovered, he will be the first to make sure you stay alive, and there will be no consequences for any of you," she said, before shaking her head and minimizing with one hand, a gesture she had taken from Lana. "Except for some annual donations."

Elena's brow frowned. "Donations?" She asked, confused.

Kate snorted in an almost adolescent way. "Now I understand the dilution of information. It's terribly frustrating to explain everything at once," she muttered thoughtfully, almost as if she just wanted to think so and

the three gave a small, amused smile at how the secular vampire behaved.

Meanwhile, Kate shrugged and thought about how to say everything quickly and painlessly —and possibly clearly; she wanted to avoid endless questions.

"Okay, quick, no-questions-asked summary until I finished, please," she clarified, glancing at Damon. "The curse was placed on Klaus by her mother, the Original Witch, after she had turned her children into vampires, creating what a kind of abomination to witches was. Lycanthropy was also an unnatural curse for witches, so you understand that Klaus was considered a squared abomination. She sealed the curse through the blood of a doppelganger, a key element for many of them. To remove the curse, Klaus needs the same blood which sealed it and, accordingly, to kill one of our types. But the witch, who, deep down, hated her son, couldn't allow Klaus to create others like him, so she made a ruse and ensured that the blood doppelganger who had to die to allow Klaus to free his other half was the same blood necessary to create others hybrids. Therefore, if Elena dies, Klaus will not be able to generate others like him, and it is not an option for him and the world, I assure you. "

"So Elena will have to die, and then what, come back to life?" Stefan asked, still skeptical but believing it couldn't be a complete lie - it was too tricky.

Kate smiled and nodded. "Exactly. Well, actually, we could probably skip the whole death part. When Klaus arrives, we can consult his witches; maybe just a little blood will be enough. Or if death will be necessary, if you don't want to pass this pain on to Elena, I or someone you three trust could get hold of her - an old trick of which Klaus knows the spell–. I heard Klaus won't be here for a couple of months; he's busy elsewhere. We can get organized. "

"You must have thought about it a lot," Damon said. "It seems you have an answer for everything."

Kate shrugged. "I had a lot of free time," true, Lana had a lot, and she'd seen the show MANY times. "And I never do anything in half," true too, Katherine was a perfect planner and schemer. "But I'm ninety-five percent sure that what I have planned is the best thing to do to avoid unpleasant consequences or a repeat of 1492," false. She was one hundred percent certain of what she had planned. But salvation for all? She couldn't be sure that Klaus would set her free after she had eluded her for more than five centuries.

"How do we believe you?" Stefan asked.

Kate sighed, even though she was expecting it. "I don't know. I guess you'll have to take a vote of confidence and cross your fingers that it's the right choice. There is nothing I can do to convince you that it is the truth other than tell you it is. I don't have a good track record, and if I were you, I would be hesitant, but don't make a decision until you've got it right. There is much more than you think is at stake: the fate of the supernatural depends on it in more ways than one."

They were silent for a few seconds until the youngest of the Petrova line spoke. "You said we might see a werewolf."

Kate focused her attention on her. "Yes, it's right."

Elena wet her lips and nodded. "Well, let's do it."

"What?" Damon asked. "Are you kidding, I hope? I'm not an expert, but if we're going to voice legends, it's best to keep vampires and werewolves separate."

Kate smiled. "Believe me, what you will meet is more than friendly. Of course, I would avoid insulting him: werewolves are very proud and tend to have a bad temper. But as long as that is far from the full moon, there will be no problems. And he trusts me. If I tell him you are friends, I assure you he will not give you any problems. "

Damon looked at her curiously. "And how would you have tamed him?" He asked, and Kate had the urge to jump to Mason's defense, but she held back, just rolling her eyes and puzzling for a moment for a version that didn't make her seem too selfish but that it was true.

"You two will remember massacres in the months leading up to the vampire imprisonment. Well, it wasn't vampire attacks, but werewolves. As you know, the Lockwoods led the council against vampires and were the most ferocious. It turns out that it was to keep the trail away from them. They are carriers of the curse. I knew it and used it to strike a deal to save myself when and if the time came.

But for that, I had to leave something that belonged to me in the Lockwoods' custody that I knew I would need before the sacrifice. It's one of the main reasons I have never wholly abandoned Mystic Falls and have always had ears and eyes here.

When I heard about Elena, I knew I had to get him back, so I inquired and found out that the mayor's younger brother was in Florida. He still hadn't unlocked the curse when I met him, but I stayed with him, and we got closer. Later, we revealed to each other, we can say. Anyway, I am helping him to get rid of the curse, and we are cooperating now. Not in the way he imagines. He doesn't know all the pieces that are needed, and he doesn't know that the only way to haven't to transform every full moon is to become a hybrid. I wanted to wait until I was here to explain it. And I would like you not to reveal it to him before I have had the opportunity. I care about him and don't want to lose him just for personal revenge, "she concluded, and her eyes found Damon again.

She wasn't lying. She really cared about Mason. Maybe, not to the extent that he cared about her. She wasn't in love with him, not even remotely, but while she relived all the memories about Mason, she grew fond of him. She knew that she might be breaking his heart that night. But Mason was a good person, and she was sure he would understand. The question of becoming a hybrid was what actually worried her.

However, Damon must have caught something in Kate's expression or words because immediately, a cold gaze took hold of her face before being concealed by something that must have resembled carelessness. Kate instantly noticed and hoped that he didn't take it too badly.

In fact, It didn't take long to get things together for the handsome vampire. As was evident from their first meeting this century, Kate's eyes were incapable of concealing her emotions. And while she talked about the werewolf, he had seen in them a similar tenderness to that which she had previously appeared as she spoke about the stable boy.

"A werewolf walks into a vampire's bed. Well, this is new to me," Damon teased. "Although, being you the vampire, that was to be expected."

Kate got nervous, and it didn't matter that she loved him: sometimes Damon was too prickly. "I don't think I owe you any explanations. I may be five hundred years old, but I believe your list of achievements is much longer than mine, even counting only the last fifty years... or less."

If there was one thing that Katherine and Lana had in common, it was, after all, their long tongue, and Kate hadn't let that trait go wrong, oh, no!

But Damon was certainly no exception.

"You know how it is; you must keep busy while you wait for a stupid comet to pass by to bring your girlfriend out of a crypt, who, by the way, had never even been there."

A flash of guilt flashed in the girl's dark eyes before she looked down.

"I think I deserve it," she reiterated.

She then turned her attention to Elena. "Mason will obviously be at the commemoration. I assume you are planning on going too. Can you give me an hour to talk to him and prepare him for the meeting? After all, it's not a legend that werewolves and vampires hate each other – we owe this to the Originals, too– and I would like to avoid pulling out a useless feud, considering that Mason has a pack that is very loyal to him and that, just to be clear, werewolf bites are deadly to vampires and at the moment there is no cure. "

"Wait, what? And you frequent him!" Damon snapped.

Kate snorted. "He's a normal person excluded one night a month. I think if anyone were a bad company, it would be a vampire, and I think his little furry problem is easily negligible as long as he's chained and I'm miles away," she said before frowning. "I can't believe I mentioned Harry Potter – and the Marauders, even!" She muttered thoughtfully, while Stefan had to hold back a laugh.

Not for the first time, she reminded them of Caroline or any teenager.

"Well, if it's only once a month. Half the population is five days," Damon said, and Elena and Kate's grim looks didn't go unnoticed. "Okay, bad joke. I apologize. I'm going to blame that new TV series... what was it called? There was a redhead."

"I think it's Teen Wolf," muttered Kate, who hadn't realized that series existed in this world. Not that she had time to check.

Elena sighed. "Okay. You'll have an hour or more. I'll text you when I get there."

Kate nodded. "I'll straighten my hair, hoping it will cooperate. And since I'm farsighted and hoped it would go this way, I have a second pair of clothes I will wear in my car. I'm confident that I was pretty good with the style. It's just a pair of jeans with a dark blue turtleneck. "

"Always prepared," Damon said, and Kate winked at him.

"I'm famous for being. Depending on how it goes, we could introduce you there or postpone it until tonight here."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Elena said before her phone rang, and she moved to retrieve it from her purse. "It's Bonnie. She wants to know if I want to go to Caroline's with her and Matt."

Kate smiled. "I think that's a wonderful idea. Caroline needs her close friends right now," she said, and perhaps she was speaking from experience.

"Do you want me to accompany you?" Stefan asked her, but Elena shook her head as she typed her answer to Stefan.

"No, don't worry. Bonnie will pick me up," she said, retrieving her bag and getting up.

"Oh, before I forget and to avoid future misunderstandings: I need to see John. He and I have an unfinished business, and I prefer to let off steam right away rather than hoard: never let vampires mull over. Stefan knows it from experience", he said with extreme sarcasm.

Elena bit her lip. "Won't you hurt him?"

Kate waved a hand as if to dismiss the idea itself. "Don't worry, I'll stay away from the knives, and when I do, he'll still have all my fingers," she said, almost laughing at the inside joke that only she could know.

Though hesitant, Elena nodded. "Uhm, I think he's been through worse," she mumbled and was surprised by her thought, but there had been too many revelations, and her uncle-slash-father was the least of her troubles - she was selfish, but it was the truth–.

"Perfect, and I hope Damon has already brought it back, but if he hasn't, I'll try not to be invited in. We all need a safe place, and, so to speak, that's not it. So, if you don't find him, he will probably be in the back garden. I will avoid using the ring, but that's another story, and we have had too many revelations for today. So, I guess we better catch up here after the ceremony for all further explanations. And, Elena, I suggest you always have the compass to locate the vampires of your family with you, at least until this whole thing is over. You should be safe for now, but you know: better safe than sorry."

"That's a good idea, I will," Elena answered, and then she laughed wearily. "You know what, I think you're right: It will be better to update us later. For now, it was nice meeting you, Kath-Kate. And thanks for the warning. We won't take it lightly."

The vampire girl nodded. "Thanks to you."

__________

After a last goodbye and a message from Bonnie, Elena left the house. She retrieved the clothes from Kate's car and was surprised at how they really were her style.

The doppelganger appreciated their workmanship very much and took note of asking Kate in which store she had bought them so that she could go for a walk. Elena shook her head; the only thought of speaking amicably with Katherine, whom she had only come to know as a manipulative bitch, was quite disconcerting and surprising. Yet she had seen none of this in Kate. If the girl had a different face, Elena would even have difficulty believing that Kate could be the same vampire in the Damon and Stefan stories. And if her return wasn't a problem, all the information she'd provided certainly was. Elena shivered at the thought of Klaus. Unlike Stefan and Damon, she had believed her. It was too well articulated, too heartfelt not to be true. She had seen the panic, the pain, and the betrayal in those eyes that were identical but at the same time so different from hers, and she knew that it was the truth, insane as it was.

When she saw Bonnie's car, she breathed a sigh of relief. God, she definitely needed to see her best friend and update her. In just a few hours, too much information had been revealed. And it had only led to as many questions, even though Kate had been all too helpful.

She probably should have dwelled on this a little more, but Elena had always considered herself a good judge of character. As she had heard from Stefan and Damon, the vampire girl's eyes were a mirror of her soul, and from what she had seen, Elena had no reason not to trust her.

She also had a lot to think about regarding the words about the abandonment of Kate's daughter, and the clear comparison with Isobel had not escaped her.

Elena wondered if perhaps she had judged her birth mother too quickly. They hadn't talked about it, but she was starting to think that the killing of the vampires from the tomb might have more than something to do with herself. After all, John and Isobel had shown up after they left the crypt, and in all that time, the only goal her biological parents had worked on was to kill them. Now she knew Isobel was working with Kate for her safety, and maybe it was all connected. Perhaps their murder had been necessary to prevent the rumors about the doppelganger from spreading and reaching Klaus.

When she got into Bonnie's car, Elena couldn't help but burst out, "You have no idea what happened!"

Needless to say, Bonnie was very curious, and her jaw hit the ground when they got to the hospital.

__________

Meanwhile, Stefan had offered Kate a glass of Bourbon while only the three vampires remained in the boardinghouse.

There was tension in the room. The information revealed was many, unexpected and heavy. The two brothers had a lot to process, and the vampire girl knew that the conversation just ended would not be the last, but only the first of many, and many if they wanted to make peace with the past and create a new, more sincere and honest bond, and for everything that this city had to deal with, Kate would have to make sure.

The girl stared at Stefan and Damon and didn't miss the numerous glances the two brothers exchanged. She had to smile: those two could say what they wanted, but they cared deeply for each other and would put aside any quarrel for the safety of the other.

"So...all three of us back to Mystic Falls. I'm having some deja-vu," Kate murmured.

"Yeah, I see the theatrics," Damon exclaimed in a bored tone, but the beautiful vampire could hear the note of anger in the background.

"I always had a flair for the theatrics, but you should know, and this is not a problem for you before. You love the theatricality, like me," Katherine replied. "So, say what you mean, Damon. I can see your thoughts running," she sighed.

It was better to get everything out now that there was no trouble in sight than during the chaos.

"Oh, you have no idea how much I have to say," he repeated before darting around the room and reappearing inches from Kate's face, a wooden stake in hand, perched against her chest.

Stefan jumped up in concern. "Damon, stop," he said, but neither Kate nor his brother seemed to hear him.

The two were, in fact, staring at each other with an intensity that made you shiver. Fury seemed to have never been more present in Damon's eyes, and Kate's expressed a coldness and seriousness unrivaled.

They stayed that way for what seemed like forever.

Blue and brown eyes entwined in a contest with no winners or losers but so majestic that it seemed it didn't matter.

"I should kill you," Damon cut the silence, lightly driving the stake against the ex-girlfriend's heart, and everyone in the room could smell the trickle of blood that sprang from the pressure against his skin. For how you broke my heart was the underwritten and unsaid sentence, which Kate caught anyway.

"I deserve it, I know," Kate said. "I wouldn't mind if I did. Sure, I could argue that you need me, that I can make all this trouble you still don't want to believe much easier. I could also argue that, if we're being honest, who gave both of us hell and who played with you wasn't quite me, and we all three know how the absence of emotion can change a person, a vampire," she spoke, before taking a breath and switching her gaze between the two brothers. "But I wouldn't resent either of you if you killed me, nor would I curse you from the other side. My actions have had very unpleasant consequences for both of us, and I take full responsibility for them."

Damon's expression grew even more exasperated at those words. "See: this is the problem! You speak, and I believe you. There is no trace of a lie in those mischievous and transparent eyes that you find yourself. But you're not this. You never were! You don't play well: no rules, do you remember? Lies, subterfuges, that's your nature."

Kate got angry and pointed her finger at his chest. "Maybe not anymore. Maybe I'm not that person anymore; have you thought about it? Maybe one day, I woke up, and I thought about everything, and maybe I realized where that path would take me. And perhaps I decided that I didn't like it, that my choices had allowed me to survive but not to live! Maybe I realized that there wasn't much difference between living and dying if every time I allowed myself to feel something, there was only pain, guilt, and loneliness and that if I died, there would be tears, yes, but happiness. And we both know how much it sucks to be alone, Damon," Kate retorted without even thinking about it, and the blue-eyed vampire was taken aback.

At that point, Stefan decided to step in and take advantage of his brother's bewilderment to restore some calm.

"Damon is just saying that we are hugely surprised, and he's right: you look like another person and the same at the same time. You can't expect to be welcomed back with open arms; we have a past too big to put everything aside and move on," he said.

Damon snorted, walking away from the woman and placing the stake on the coffee table. "What my brother is too kind to say is that we don't trust you at all, we don't want you here, and you would be doing us all a favor if you were to lose yourself for the next hundred and forty-five years, seeking redemption with some of your other victims," he exclaimed approaching his brother. "Then, if all three of us are still alive and well, you can go back to begging for forgiveness again, and we can send you away again," he finished with a bitter smile.

Kate sighed wearily. She didn't want to yell out all those words, but her nerves and still fluctuating emotions from her experiences like Lana had gotten the better of her.

She hadn't lied. She believed she deserved every word and action thrown at her and so much more, but she hoped the three could have a heartfelt conversation about the past and move on for Elena's sake. However, those five minutes alone with the brothers were making her realize that, most likely, it would not be like this, not for quite some time, and probably until it would be too late to work out every detail. Most likely, She'd be forced to work alone against the time and, above all, Klaus's supporters, who had undoubtedly learned by now of the liberation of the crypt vampires.

"Look, I don't know what you want from me or what I can do to get to at least a truce. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry for everything I did to you. Falling in love with you two, making me love in turn, and using you both was incredibly wrong. Going back, I would behave differently, but we all know that the past cannot be changed, that the choices made are cemented, and that we can only deal with their consequences. And that's why they are here: if I can do anything to help you and not make you suffer even more, I'll do it. You can hate me, you can curse me, that's fine. But I won't go until we have faced Klaus, and I will know that you two are safe, as is Elena. You three are my responsibility, and I won't have you on my conscience," she murmured, clenching her fists to hold back the tears and forcing herself to bury both the memories of Lana and Katherine in depth.

Oh, how she hated the amplified emotions of the vampires!

Damon laughed. "Because you were so good at taking care of us throughout this time."

"Damon," Stefan recalled him.

"No, Stefan, let me speak because there is something that does not come back to me," he blocked him, fixing his eyes on Kate's while walking for the living room. "In your story, there are so many holes and inconsistencies. Do you think it didn't notice? You said you turned your emotions back on, but not when, just that it started in 1864. However, something doesn't add up. I know from Anna that you knew where we were but didn't care. And then you said something strange yesterday as if you knew something about me from the 1950s. However, you did nothing. Furthermore, you also said to love me, but not only once time you looked for me. And all this story of Klaus? There is something that stinks, and I begin to think that this is only another stupid and typical Katherine Pierce manipulation and that innocence of Kate is just your biggest deception. "

The vampire girl broke out laughing. "There is nothing more innocent in me, Damon, and if this is the idea you had of me, you have dropped a clanger as well," she gibed him. "I am no longer the person you knew, and you no longer be the people I knew. It's life: we change. You can have doubts about my words, about what I did, and you would be dead right. There is much more in my life than any of you can imagine, but what I said is the truth. And my work with you was bad, I know. I didn't intervene with Stefan's craving, I didn't help you when you needed, I wasn't in the tomb when you freed me, but I was probably going to bed with Mason at that moment, so you can forgive me!" She said ironically. "But I'm here now. I'm here now with all my emotions turned back and all the will to help you. I'm exposing myself and telling you things about myself that I never thought I'd share and that I didn't want you to know. Just that look there, on your face, Stefan: it was what I feared most," she said, indicating the youngest brother, who looked at her with pity.

"I don't need it. I don't need your sympathy and sorrow for the young Bulgarian who dared to love. I made difficult choices that I hated, but that made me what I am: a survivor. And I am damned if I cannot save the man who allowed all this and reported that spark of humanity in my life. So yes, Damon, I'm probably omitting a lot, but there is nothing false in my purposes or some strange subterfuge behind my words. I'm here to save all of us, and maybe yes, I'm here even for you because, although I can't understand the reasons for one hundred percent, your stupid blue eyes cannot leave my head even after all these years. I don't regret how I acted. If I had found you before, without Elena, without the information I have now, we'd probably both be dead at this hour, or Klaus would still be torturing you only to spite me. I protected you while remaining away from you."

"Well, it would go like this, but at least we would have been together, damn!" Damon blurted out. "I would have run with you until the end of the time if I had known, Katherine! I would have done anything to be with you. I loved you, goddamnit! I gave up my brother for you!"

Kate looked at him sweetly, knowing there was not even a grain of lies in his words. "I know. Don't you think I always knew? I knew you would have been by my side. But, Damon, you don't understand? I loved you too much to be selfish with you. There would have been no happy ending for us, just racing, fear, and frustration. And in the end, you would have hated me."

"If you had told me everything and allowed me to meet you completely, I would not have done it. I loved you and waited for you all this time. Escapes and fears would not have changed my mind," Damon replies tiredly. "I would have done anything for you," he added, just as his cell phone started ringing.

Damon took the phone and saw that it was Liz, who had also sent numerous messages that invited him to reach her at the Lockwoods'. Taking advantage of the getaway offered, he started to the door. "I have a place to be. I leave you two the reunion."

He did not give time to either of the two to reply. And if he left behind a disappointed vampire girl, he was only satisfied.

_________________

Caroline looked out the window when the door to her room was opened. Before seeing who it was, she heard and recognized her boyfriend's voice.

"See for yourself!" Matt exclaimed.

Caroline watched Bonnie and Elena walk into her room, and she smiled at them.

She was beginning to believe that everyone had agreed to never let her be alone. Her mother and Matt had stayed up all night, and now that she had left, her best friends had come.

"Jersey Shore's on," said the girl, sitting up.

Elena and then Bonnie came up to hug her.

"Careful, still a little sore," she said when Bonnie squeezed her a little too tightly, and the witch immediately apologized. "It's okay," she smiled. "But they say I'm healing really quick.."

Matt then stepped forward. "It's my turn."

Caroline smiled as she kissed her boyfriend. They had already been together for a couple of months, and many of her insecurities had vanished.

However, her trust in their relationship always grew a little more when Matt kissed her in front of his ex.

"Oh, isn't he cute?" she asked ironically, and she was happy when she saw Elena smile and be happy for them.

Caroline was surprised when she saw Bonnie's eyes water. "Why are you crying?", She asked Bonnie in surprise.

"Oh, Bon," Elena murmured, and she on one side and Matt on the other hugged the girl.

"I'm just happy you're okay," sobbed Bonnie.

Caroline herself was almost moved. "Oh, I love you guys."

"And we love you," Elena exclaimed, and then all four of them laughed, and a little lightheartedness filled the room, and a little pain was chased away.

"Yes, about that. How much do you love me? Because the carnival is coming, and someone has to replace me on the committees."

Elena laughed. "Don't worry, we'll take care of it. It will be perfect."

Bonnie nodded, albeit with much less enthusiasm. "Just think about getting better."

Caroline looked at Bonnie, puzzled. The girl was much less lively than usual, and the concern due to the accident was not a good excuse. Bonnie's eyes were dull, and her foot kept moving anxiously, which was so far from the lightheartedness of her best friend. Of course, it had been a tough time from the beginning of the year to that part. The three had argued more than once with each other. Bonnie's grandmother was dead, and many other people in that town. She, too, still bore the scars of her wrong decision to date an older boy. But Caroline had always had a sixth great sense that had allowed her to be so up-to-date regarding gossip. And she felt that there was more to it.

And not for the first time, when Caroline saw a look and a pat on the shoulder shared between Elena and Bonnie, she felt left out. But, like every other time, she'd just have to get over it and enjoy that one-hour visit before she was done.

As Rossella O'Hara said, for the rest, there was always tomorrow.

_____________

Thanks to his speed, Damon left the house in less than a second. Avoiding taking his car, he darted on the empty roads of Mystic Falls regardless of being seen.

His emotions were out of control. Love, hatred, anger, sadness, devastation, regret, revenge: he could not even catalog them. They were a tangle without beginning and end that almost removed his breath. He had discovered too much and didn't talk about Klaus. That was the last of his thoughts. Kate's past had shocked him. He didn't believe that the woman had such a tragic past. He had no idea of anything.

When Damon hadn't found her in the tomb, he only thought that she had never loved him and deliberately chose to leave him behind. To think she had done it to save him was inconceivable. And Damon could not understand if that made him love or hate her more. What was certain is that he had never really known the owner of his heart. And that questioned everything.

When he came from Lockwood, he stopped with a heavy breath in their garden to catch his breath and try to take a demeanor.

He tried, but when he met Liz, the woman immediately noticed something was wrong with her friend.

"Damon, everything okay?" the sheriff asked worriedly.

He sighed. "Yes, don't worry," he reiterated before noting the dark circles under the eyes of the woman and remembering that his daughter was in the hospital. "Rather, tell me about Caroline: how is she?"

Liz smiled. "The doctors said she is recovering incredibly quickly. I probably will be able to bring her home within two days."

"I'm glad. Carol is inside?" Damon asked, referring to the message that Liz had sent him and that he had offered him an escape route from the unpleasant conversation.

"Yes, she is waiting for us."

The two entered the house, where many people had already arrived, and found Carol to keep them on the door. After accepting their condolences, Carol nodded to them to follow her inside the house.

"I want to know exactly who's responsible for killing my husband," the widow claimed angrily.

"I'm looking into it," Liz said gently. "But you have to be straight with me. Is there any reason Richard was affected by the vampire device?" she asked her as touch as possible.

On Carol's face appears a cumshot expression. "What are you implying? That he was one of them?"

"No, no. No one's implying that." Damon exclaimed, trying to calm Carol, but the woman ignored him, continuing her invective against Liz.

"Your deputy screwed up, plain and simple, which makes you responsible."

"Carol, listen..." she tried again by putting a hand between the two, but once again, it was ignored.

"Your husband is the one who helped John Gilbert execute his idiot plan in the first place."

"Liz..." Damon insisted, starting to lose patience with the quarrel between the two.

However, he was also curious about why the mayor was dead. Furthermore, he wanted to know if Kate was telling the truth about the werewolf gene that ran to the family, making the Lookwoods sensitive to the device.

"Someone got my husband killed," said Carol with tears in her eyes and pain in her voice.

"We're all on edge here," Damon exclaimed, looking at Liz and Carol with as much touch as possible. "You've suffered a great loss. The whole town has. We have to stick together, okay?" He adds, placing a hand on every woman's shoulder. "Trust each other; we'll get through this."

_________

Salvatore Boarding House

Stefan waited for Kate in the living room while the girl was in one of the rooms above to smooth her hair and change her clothes. Immediately after Damon left, Mason, in fact, had informed her that he was going to his brother's house. So Kate quickly left Stefan alone to prepare to go to Lockwoods and masquerade herself in Elena.

However, neither had breathed a sigh of relief, as if that was their best opportunity to escape the embarrassment.

Without Damon there, the tension had significantly lowered. Stefan was not as involved as his brother. Although Kate's presence had been a shock and had brought to mind numerous memories and feelings, the vegetarian vampire was more than convinced of his love for Elena. The bond that united them was solid, profound, and, unlike the one with Katherine, completely honest. If the latter had been the great love of her late adolescence, Elena was undoubtedly the love of her life as a vampire. Where Katherine had fascinated him with her noble ways, her security, and her intelligent and wild gaze, Elena had made him fall in love with her sweetness, her fragility, and, at the same time, human strength. It was not difficult to separate the two even before colliding with Elena in front of that bathroom on the first day of school. Their personalities were polar opposites, and Stefan knew he had fallen in love with every virtue Katherine didn't have and every flaw Katherine lacked.

So, unlike Damon, he didn't feel anger for his behavior. He had made peace with events decades earlier. He would not have lingered on that little spark of emotion that had ignited in his heart when he had seen her at the boarding house door. He wouldn't dwell on all the feelings that returned when he stared into the girl's eyes, so sincere, innocent, and mischievous simultaneously. And most of all, he'd ignore that little heartbreak that had hit him when she'd looked at his brother as if he were the center of her universe. However, he knew he wanted answers, and being the only two in the house made this moment the best opportunity to get them.

Therefore, when Kate returned, he didn't wait even before expressing his thoughts.

"Was it true?" He asked, and Kate looked at him confused while she sat beside him. "I really loved you, or was it only constraint?" He clarified when he saw her perplexed.

There was a flash of understanding in Kate's eyes before her gaze seemed to hide and move away and the corners of his lips lifted.

Her voice contained a note of sweetness that had so far been present only when she spoke with Damon, and Stefan would have been lying if he said he didn't like it. "I have never forced you to feel feelings for me, nor did I seduce you against your will. Your feelings for me have always been real. It was all authentic until I had revealed myself, and you were disgusted by this. I forced you to not be afraid of it, to accept it and keep it secret, but it's all here, "she explained. "What you felt for me was real. I sent away fear. I didn't force love."

"And with Damon?" Stefan asked her.

He could see her eyes light up and a smile of love appear on her lips while her eyes were lost in the memories.

"When he saw my vampire's face, he smiled and kissed me. He was not afraid, he didn't run away, but he accepted me as I was and loved that part of me like any other."

"Why wasn't it enough for you? You could have Damon and be happy."

Kate laughed. "Do you think he did not understand it? Do you think I don't want to go back, really light those damn emotions, and love him and only him how he deserves? I was greedy, and I adored that you both loved me. I fell in love with you, Stefan, because every time I looked at you, I could see your disgust for my vampire side, a disgust that I tried but didn't allow myself to try, and I fell in love with Damon because there was no trace in him, and he even made me forget. I looked at him, and I could see myself as perfect. "

Stefan remained silent for a while. He understood that disgust and tried it every day when he looked in the mirror.

"Would you ever tell us about your past if I hadn't ended up in that tomb?" He then asked.

Kate thought about it. She wanted to say yes and tell him that Katherine would have the courage to be honest. But Kate knew it would never happen, even without Klaus being on her trail. Katherine would never have put herself in a position that had made her seem vulnerable.

Stefan had to read the answer on her face because he sighed deeply. "You could have told us, Kate. We could have protected you or hidden you. We kept you. You were part of our family."

Kate smiled sadly, rethinking the months passed at the Salvatores' with Emily, Pearl, and Anna. Katherine and Kate had both heard at home for the first time after so many centuries, and when the two ran away and turned to look back, they did not only have to say goodbye to their dead loves but also to the short-duration happiness they had. "I was also my family, my home. I hadn't been so happy for so long. For the first time, I really wanted to stay and not run. The days before I was captured, I was really thinking of taking you with me, but as I said, it would have been dangerous. Believing me dead in the tomb was the best solution."

"But we died to try to save you, and unnecessarily, you were saved. You've always been."

Kate bit his lip and looked beyond Stefan. "There are worst ways to die than for love."

Stefan, perhaps for the first time, didn't even think to deny it. He hadn't helped Damon just because he loved Katherine or because of his guilt. He also didn't want to lose her. Then he would have given his life for Katherine, as well as his brother. So he sighed. "Probably."

The silence enveloped them for a few seconds, and Kate was about to rise, thinking that the conversation was over, but Stefan blocked her.

He had so many questions yet to ask, so many questions he was curious about. But there was one most important of all: a detail about Katherine's life that had struck him and hadn't left his mind.

"Have you ever found her, your daughter?" He asked her.

Kate looked at him sadly. "No, not yet. But I'll do it."

"It's a vampire," he understood.

Kate shrugged. "She is also tenish years older than me, physically. She probably doesn't need a mother, but I owe her answers and at least a hug. I promised this to her more than five centuries ago. And it is a promise I don't intend to break. "

And it was true. Although Lana was only eighteen years old, reliving Katherine's life, Kate had tried her maternal love of her, her own protection for that little girl who grew up in her womb. And when she had been torn away, Lara's heart had broken a lot, if not more than Katherine's, and she had embraced the promise to find her daughter and hug her again. Lana had always wanted children, it was her biggest dream to have a big family, and now that she would no longer have had the opportunity, Nadia was all that remained, and this time things would go differently with her.

Stefan looked at her with tenderness. He had heard her pain while she spoke to Elena about this. Stefan had always wanted to have children, and while he didn't know what it would feel like to have one taken away, to look for it and not find it, or to find it but not get to know it for its own safety, he figured it must be devastating. "I'm sure you will be able to keep it."

Kate sighed, wanting to remove the thought of her daughter before this depressed her too much. "When this story with Klaus is over, it will be my priority."

Even if it hurt just thinking about it, there were more urgent things at the moment.

"It will be better that I go," she said after a few moments of silence. "I have a werewolf to leave, a father and ally to be brought back in line... are the days at Mystic Falls always so full?" She asked ironically, making Stefan laugh.

"You will have to get used to it."

"Yes," Kate smiled. "I guess I have to."

_____________

Kate reached the villa of Lockwood twenty minutes to have left the pension. She had taken her time, reviewing everything she knew about the tv show and looking for the best words to break up with Mason. Lana's nervousness was starting to show, and Kate had to make an effort to keep her emotions under control. She placed her head on the leather seat and closed her eyes, recalling all the moments when Katherine had ended a relationship to find a little of his security. But it was easier to say than to do. Every time she felt a little safer, the moments Lana had broken with one of her ex-partners, starting with Louis Aston in third grade, also returned to her mind. She perfectly remembered the tears on the face of the boy and the way she had fallen down from the slide while trying to console him and had broken her arm. Well, she may have understood when that insecurity had begun.

Suffering from the anger she felt for herself, she opened the door, got off the car with its more acidic expression, and headed quickly towards the entrance. There she found Tyler waiting for the guests, to whom she gave a sweet smile, putting her mask of Elena on her face.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Tyler," she said.

The boy nodded to her. "Thanks, Elena."

"Is your mother inside?" Kate asked then, trying to be invited in.

"Yes, please enter. She should be in the main living room with the other guests." Tyler moved awkwardly as if to make room to pass, even if there was more than enough.

Kate mentioned another smile before overtaking him. "Thanks, Tyler."

Once she had passed the barrier, she wandered around the house and tried to find Mason without succeeding. Following the flow, she sent him a quick message and approached the buffet to fill that purely human hunger. Soon she began to be approached by many people who greeted her and had to remember that Elena was the daughter of a founder family and was very popular at school. She had chatted with at least thirty people who asked her how she was and if the events brought to mind her parents' death – they were a little inappropriate for a girl who had suffered that loss less than a year before–. Others asked her about Caroline, and Kate/Elena replied that Caroline would come home soon. After ten minutes, she was tired, and she smiled almost ecstatically when she glimpsed a server with some glasses of prosecco. Taking out all her charm, she approached him. The server quickly found her in the crowd, and Kate could see him swallow as he looked at her. Lana was not the biggest in flirting. She had been with the same boyfriend for four years, but their relationship had never been based on aesthetics or seduction, and she had to admit that she always had been a little bad on the latter.

On the contrary, Katherine was the queen of seduction. Her only presence could make every man and woman around her dizzy. And Kate was sure he was in the middle. She didn't have to strive too much to maintain the server's attention on her as she walked towards him. A blink of eyelashes here, an extra hip movement while walking, and the server was stopped in the middle of the room waiting for her to reach him. When he was less than a meter away, Kate smiled at him.

"Is there champagne for me too?" Asked gently and almost in a honeyed way.

The boy swallowed. "A-are you twenty-one years old?"

Kate had to admit that it was cute. He had disordered black curls and two adorable honey-colored eyes. The server was also relatively high, but by how his shoulders were lowered, and his eyes moved uncomfortably between her face and the rest of the room, Kate could deduce that he was not used to capturing women's attention. She had to hold back a thrill. This server reminded her so much of Lana's boyfriend, and Kate felt all the nostalgia she was trying to bury. And maybe that's why she chose not to play hard whit him.

"What's your name?" she asked, both to distract him from his age and both for pure curiosity.

"Luke Evans."

Kate's heart dropped, and she endeavored with all his strength to avoid gasping. Lana's memories returned overbearingly to the surface. Scholarship afternoons, evenings in the game room, called in the night, and dawn look together by the sea were just some of the painful memories that her mind made her relive.

The boy –Luke - seemed to notice something in her expression. "Is it all okay?" he asked, looking at her with concern.

Kate shook her head. "Yes, sorry. You reminded me of someone I lost, sorry."

Luke bit his lip. "I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?"

Kate sighed. "How about one of those glasses reserved for adults?"

'It's that Mrs. Lockwood was very explicit," he murmured and then looked around. "You promise not to tell anyone," he exclaimed and gave her a glass from the tray.

Kate smiled at him gently. "I will not do that. And if Mrs. Lockwood creates problems for you, let me know. Thank you, really. You probably improved my day. "

After a last little smile, the server moved away, even if he turned back at least a couple of times to look at her, and then blushed when he realized that Kate's gaze was still on him while she sipped the drink.

Kate, on the other hand, was still affected by memories. And probably now, she would have needed more than one drink to overcome them. Never as before, she appreciated that she no longer had the disgust for the alcohol that had accompanied her life like Lana. Never as then, she wanted the haze that alcohol caused. She had to bury her Luke, find concentration, and focus on the commitments that day reserved for her.

She was so focused on this that she didn't notice the arrival of a presence to her right.

"For a moment, I believed that you were going to cry. Were there tears in your eyes? "

Kate submitted and risked overturning the liquid in the glass. "God, Damon! Was it necessary?" She screamed, turning her face towards him.

He laughed. "Of course, it is, Kate. So, has your wolf already made his appearance?" He asked.

The vampire girl snorted. "No, he is taking his time. After all, he is mourning," she exclaimed, taking her glass to her lips.

"Yes, who knows because of who," said Damon, stealing the glass.

"Hey! Damn, Damon! I worked to get it! "

He snorted. "Please, you could get another ten in less than a second with a little compulsion."

Kate rotated his eyes and gave up the glass. "You know, it is unnecessary to use the compulsion for everything. Sometimes, playing hard brings much more satisfaction. You should learn it. One day may come when everyone will be immune. "

"Yes, maybe the water network will be irradiated by verbena," Damon ironized.

Kate had a stroke because it was so near to the truth. Well, at least as far as the synopsis of the TV series was concerned, which she intended to change.

"Be serious, Kate. The compulsion is the most significant advantage of vampirism."

Kate shrugged. "Remember my words, Damon. One day they could prove to be true, "she said before taking the glass still full in half from the hands of the man. "Now, if you want to apologize, I will go to enjoy the party."

"It's a commemoration, Kate."

"Yes, well, I don't think the mayor will really miss someone," she murmured, thinking about how violently with his son was. "Bye, Damon."

Kate moved away and breathed a sigh of relief, shaking her neck to remove the tension. Ignoring their verbal exchange and all the emotions that his presence close to her had brought to the surface, as well as Luke's memories, she made a quick recap of commitments only for the day.

She would probably have been with Stefan or Bonnie at this point in the show. She didn't want to clash with the witch. Nor did she have any love to profess for the minor of the brothers. She only had to wait for Mason, and then she could be unwary from John to clarify with the man before working for the return of Isobel to Mystic Falls and finally going to the pension. But although she tried to think of anything else, the beautiful vampire and Luke did not leave her mind, and her emotions were making her hungry –and not for human food–. Walking through the house and focusing on the sounds, she identified a girl who spoke on the phone closed in a room. With a sly smile on her face, Kate headed in that direction. She waited for the girl to end his phone before slipping into the sitting area and closing the door behind herself. Before the girl could even notice her, Kate had already forced her to silence and sank the canines in her neck.

Once her desire was under control, she pulled back, and after curing her and removing the blood from her neck, Kate left the room unnoticed with the same tranquility as she had entered.

Yes, maybe Damon was right: the compulsion was helpful. Now she had a werewolf to see. However, she should have paid more attention to where she put her feet.

–––––––

Bonnie was exhausted. And if she had been honest, she had been for months, since she had predicted Tanner's death and almost set on fire her classmate, since she had been possessed by Emily and snorted by Damon, since she had been kidnapped and frightened to death.

Bonnie probably had reached her maximum after her grandmother's death. Going out of the city had helped her, but she couldn't stay away forever. And when she returned to Mystic Falls, the witch believed to could resume her everyday life; she only had to stay away from Salvatores. But then Bonnie had to face the tomb's vampires, the fight between her loyalty towards Elena and her hatred towards the vampires that imposed her being a witch. But she had made it, and she had made a decision. And if that had been wrong, it was not her fault but of the circumstances. She saved Damon for Elena and to overcome the guilt she felt for having betrayed her, certainly not to help the one who was the cause of everything that had gone wrong in her life since the previous September. Caroline had been a consequence that she could have never foreseen. It was not her fault.

But despite that thought, that belief, Bonnie had not been able to sleep the previous night. She had continued to turn around and turn to bed without sleeping. The thoughts continued to run in the lead, her actions continued to be questioned, and the tears obscured her sight every time she returned to being lucid.

She had found herself at three a.m. to look at the photograph she kept on the bedside table. Two summers had been taken first, in mid-August and just before the start of her second year. In the photo, there was her, Elena, and Caroline, who laughed fun wearing the cheerleaders' uniform. Caroline had just been named Captain and convinced them to take a photo with the new uniforms she had chosen. Matt took the picture. It hadn't come well in the first shot. At least Matt took twenty-five photos on Caroline's camera from one to the other. If they had seen them in order, they would have noticed that the laughter increased to each next shot, until in the last, they had placed on each other with tears in their eyes.

Bonnie didn't think she ever appreciated that moment enough. It had seemed so normal, so devoid of interest, that the three girls could almost forget it the second after. Bonnie had chosen the photo because the old one had been damaged, and it was the first she had found come across. However, at that moment, she would have given anything to go back only a year and thoroughly enjoy what, she was sure, had been the last period of genuine naivety she would have lived. Whatever had happened, she would never have a normal life, and this broke her heart.

However, that morning she got up with a smile on her face. If that was her new reality, everything she could do was hug it and try to draw the best. Bonnie was no longer defenseless as months earlier. She had her rumps and was learning more spells than she could. A vampire would not have put her down without her having the opportunity to defend herself. She was a Bennett.

Determined to take the best that the future could offer her, she had gone to the cemetery to greet her grandmother before seeing if Elena wanted to keep her company while she went to visit Caroline.

And for a couple of hours since she got up, Bonnie really seemed that she could succeed: the sun was tall in heaven, her friend would have been fine, Mystic Falls was safe from vampires - she understood that Stefan and Damon would always be the 'exception-. But then she went to get Elena at her boyfriend's house, and the first words she had turned to her had removed her smile from her face entirely.

"You have no idea what happened."

No, Bonnie had no idea at all. She almost wanted not to know why any peace which she could have hoped had failed when she had discovered that there was not only a new vampire at Mystic Falls and that apparently there were also the werewolves and the Lockwoods brought the gene, but apparently the first vampires of history had the intention of sacrificing his best friend and then in some way the hybrids would have been a real thing.

She was not Buddhist and did not believe in reincarnation, but for a moment, she wondered what serious offense had done to the universe to find herself in that situation.

But she was a Bennett. She would face everything and would come out on her feet.

And perhaps it was because she was a Bennett that when Elena had told her that she would be late for the commemoration of the mayor to allow Kate to jump there, Bonnie had decided that she would take the opportunity to meet the vampire in question.

She had ascertained with her eyes that Kate was not a danger, as Elena had repeatedly underlined her on that long journey by car.

Bonnie had been looking for Kate for a long time inside the house and asked many people if they had seen Elena. Still, apparently, she had disappeared more than fifteen minutes before, and Bonnie wondered if she was too late and Kate had already gone away. With tired eyes, she headed for the patio, ready to surrender, when she crashed into someone and, lifting her eyes, realized that she was Elena, or, to say better, her ancestor.

"Katherine," she blurted out.

The vampire looked confused at Bonnie before a sly smile formed on her lips. "Hi, Bonnie Bennett. I see that Elena has updated you. I'm going by Kate now. "

Bonnie retained his breath and mentally crossed his fingers, hoping everything was fine. She was a Bennett.

––––––––––––––––––––––

Damon was talking to some of the other council members, annoyed by the mayor's death, when he glimpsed Carol approaching a tanned man who looked roughly his human age. Noticing his closeness with Carol and her son, Damon came to Liz to get more information and confirm that this was indeed Kate's last toy.

"Who's the guy with Carol?" he asked the sheriff, masking his curiosity about the newcomer and trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, at which he knew he was a master.

"It's the mayor's younger brother, Mason Lockwood," she replied while Damon scrutinized him, trying to figure out what could have attracted Kate to him.

"Is he on the council? Like John Gilbert was when he rolled in?" Then he asked since he hadn't gotten any information about this from Kate.

"He's nothing like John," Liz said almost mockingly. "For one, he's not an ass. He's not a believer either. He wants nothing to do with the council. He's too preoccupied finding the perfect wave," she clarified before walking away.

"Mmm. Thanks. See you later," Damon muttered, still watching him.

It wasn't bad. And somehow, Damon felt their two had something in common besides blue eyes and outward good looks. However, there were also many differences, starting with the fact that the boy seemed like the classic southern waster, who dressed too shabbily and seemed too happy and open, especially since he had just lost his brother. However, there was only one thing that he really focused on in his analysis of the guy that left him flabbergasted.

"A surfer. Really?" Damon snorted, mentally teasing Kate.

But as he watched him from a distance, he couldn't help but think that Mason was far too similar to what Damon was like as a human. And this drove him into a rage.

_____________

Kate seriously hated Lana at that moment. Somehow, her awkwardness had also followed her in this new life. There was no other reason why a strong and old vampire like her crashed into human municipalities except for the eighteen-year-old interference.

She was about to apologize quickly to move away and find Mason in that vast house when the pronunciation of her old vampire name blocked her. She raised her gaze, confused, and just widened her eyes when she recognized that it was none other than the unfriendly-to-the-vampire neighborhood witch, Bonnie Bennett.

And she found himself almost wondering if fate somehow wished their first encounter took place there. But she resumed quickly to the shock and revealed a sly smile on her lips that had decidedly got from Katherine.

"Hi, Bonnie Bennett," she greeted her with an all too melodious voice. "I see Elena updated you. I'm going by Kate now. "

And Kate would be damned if those six words had not become his distinctive phrase.

Bonnie stiffen. "Yes, she informed me."

A flash of understanding appeared in Kate's eyes. If Elena had informed her, she probably also told her that Kate was from Lockwoods' pretending to be Elena. And if it went like this, the meeting with Bonnie was not accidental but more than planned by the young witch. She stayed from smiling. It was getting interesting. Now she wanted to understand what the witch desired from her.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, but something tells me that the case has nothing to do with this encounter," she said, and a flicker in Bonnie's eyes confirmed it. "What do I owe the pleasure to, Bonnie Bennett?" she asked warmly.

The young witch was about to speak when Kate stopped her. "Forgive if I interrupt you, but I recommend we withdraw to a more secluded place. Maybe the garden? "She asked, going in that direction after the girl nodded slightly.

They still had to reach the desired distance from Kate when Bonnie could no longer remain silent. "What are your intentions here?" She blurted out.

Kate smiled, immensely amused, and called an external waiter with a wave of the hand. He did not look like Luke and seeing two beautiful girls did not have problems breaking the law. Keeping Bonnie on her toes, Kate took two glasses from the tray and then turned to the girl, offering one, who immediately brought to her lips without even checking what it contained, perhaps for the tension.

Kate could no longer maintain a severe expression and melted into an amused smile. She admired the strength of the characters a lot now that she knew they were real. However, Kate tried a lot of fun observing their fakely mature and falsely brave attitudes. That day, watching Elena and Bonnie, she realized how young they were and how they tried, in every way, to appear confident when they were obviously frightened. For the first time, Kate wondered how she could forget that Lana was the same age as the characters when she looked at the show and how she could approve and forgive some of their actions when they were obviously wrong. She was sure that if she hadn't had Katherine with her, at that point, she would be screaming for panic and, perhaps, fleeing as far as possible from Mystic Falls, the vampires, and everything that was related to you.

Believing that she had made the young witch wait enough, Kate left those thoughts from her mind and focused on the current conversation.

"If you talked to Elena, you should know my intentions," she replied diplomatically.

The girl tightened her fists and finished her gaze. "I do not believe you. If you are a danger to this city, you must leave."

The fun left Kate's face. "What did this impression give you?" She asked.

That words floored Bonnie for a moment.

"You are a vampire," she replied, almost as if that statement contained the response to all the world's problems.

The vampire in question laughed. "Bonnie Bennett, you made that sound almost true."

The witch looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Do you genuinely think that the mere fact of being a vampire makes me a danger? Being one is not a necessary or sufficient hypothesis."

"Indeed it is. Wherever there is a vampire, there is death and pain," the witch replied.

"Wherever there are living beings, actually," Kate wisely replied the oldest. "Humans, vampires, we all have the power to be a danger. There is no distinction. If I had some numbers, you would know that where there are fixed communities of vampires, crime is lower, while in places where there are no at all, typically, it is higher. Which, in itself, is not a given, but it should make you think. "

"No, it shouldn't. Humans do not feed on other people to live."

"No, but they kill each other for pure pleasure. I'm not saying that vampires are holy. We were human, too, and mostly we are still. But it's not a speech I want to face. You said they are a danger because I'm a vampire. You're mistaken. I am dangerous because I am a vampire, which makes me capable of creating danger, but this doesn't make the danger in itself immediate or near. In reality, I have no intention of damaging anyone here at Mystic Falls or everywhere. I'm only here to help," she declared.

"Elena did not enter the details, but she told me a lot about what you said today. I don't know what is true, but I know it can't be all as it appears. I heard of Katherine from the Salvatore themselves, and I just can't believe you. But I promised Elena to give you the benefit of the doubt, and I have already broken my word once. I no longer intend to betray her trust, so you have a chance. Skitting again, and you and Damon will have finished giving problems to this city. "

Kate shook himself slightly at the last words of the witch. It was not possible. It could have been a coincidence. She remembered that in the episode, Bonnie faced Damon and blamed him for what had happened to Caroline, but in some way, she knew that the reference to the vampire was not a warning for him. It was for her.

Kate smiled falsely proud. "Well done, Bonnie Bennett. It's an excellent way to threaten a vampire: taking advantage of its weaknesses. I didn't think you had the courage or even the cunning. You could become a superb witch if you used that intelligence to learn from your mistakes and weigh your actions."

"I don't need to weigh any action. I am a servant of nature. My task is straightforward: I have to protect humans from your species. "

"How did you protect Caroline last night? Or the mayor Lockwood or Tyler or Matt?" Kate pressed her.

Bonnie tightened her teeth. "What happened has nothing to do with me."

"Yes, well, it is you who cheered your friends and delivered a working device instead of deactivated, as you said. Without it, the accident would never have happened. So I'm sorry for you, Bonnie, but it's your responsibility."

"It was unpredictable," Bonnie raised her voice. "There was no way to predict such a result! And it was enormously advantageous. We got rid of the tomb's vampires, and the city is safe. My decision was right. I couldn't have done it differently. Those vampires deserved to die, and it was my job to ensure they did. What happened to Caroline has nothing to do with me. If anything, The fault lies with your lover and his decision to open that damned tomb. Not mine.", He blurted out in a safe voice.

"You know, I would expect prejudices from many, but not from you, a witch whose ancestors were burned alive at stakes, accused of being the evil of the world and the messengers of the devil. You should be the first to be open-minded and not label a group without knowing the individual," Kate muttered. "There are bad vampires, it's true and undeniable, but it's the same for witches. Some were genuinely evil and did such so unimaginable deeds that they made the worst vampire appear to be a saint. Does that make you a danger to Elena and Mystic Falls, too?" she asked rhetorically. Important Author Note on first comment➡️

Only for a moment, Bonnie deposed her self-confidence in favor of doubt, but Kate had no time for existential crises at that moment: her cell phone had vibrated, and she had an idea of who it was.

"Each action has consequences, Bonnie Bennett," Kate continued looking at her almost with pity. "And you can believe that they are unpredictable, not perfectly connected, but the fact is that they derive from the decision you made. Lay the blame on others will not help you feel better. You are intelligent and could become so powerful, but not until you realize your limits and not until you are so blind towards those around you. The world is not in black and white, Bonnie Bennett. It is full of the most varied and extraordinary shades, and it is a pity that you persist in not seeing them, " Kate said, moving away immediately afterward, leaving the young witch speechless.

Taking her cell phone out of her jeans pocket, Kate read the message received: she had a place to stay and a werewolf to leave.

________________

Mason Lockwood had come to his brother's house a little later than expected. He had remained shocked in front of his nephew, whom he remembered as a child, but now Tyler was a man. Maybe it was at that moment that he felt the pain for his strongest brother.

Tyler was the same age as Mason when his parents died, and his life had begun to go in ruins. e had spent the following year counting the days missing from the diploma, which would allow him to move away from the oppressive brother and that town. And just when Mason believed he had found his place in the world, fate also deprived him of that. He did not want his nephew to try the same pain, and for a moment, he wondered if the Lockwoods' fate was precisely that: to be deprived of the family warmth still before having appreciated it.

Of course, his nephew still had his mother, but Mason had not been entirely alone, which had not made a difference or helped him recover faster. He vowed to do everything possible so that his nephew did not commit his own mistakes.

Mason had barely entered the house when he felt someone's eyes on him. Wisely examining the environment around him, Mason quickly identified who was staring at him. It was a dark man dressed in ebony hair and blue eyes, more or less of his age, who looked at him. It doesn't take much to recognize him. He had done his research.

These were Damon Salvatore, a vampire transformed shortly after the city's foundation, but, above all, one of his girlfriend's ex-lovers.

Although he was sure that Kathy loved him, the woman had never really wanted to talk in-depth about the Salvatores, and he could not say that the thing did not make him jealous. But he trusted his girlfriend. She had never given him a reason to doubt her.

He could have been a werewolf, but he had never been particularly territorial or excessively short-tempered.

If he was honest, he considered himself particularly atypical. Mason had easily controlled his anger and instinct. He had employed extra energy in sport, first in football and then in surfing, and for instinctive and territorial behaviors, a bit of pot had always been enough.

Therefore, Mason was sure he could peacefully live with vampires as long as they remained away from him.

He had no prejudices, not when his girl was and, above all, not when he had always considered himself a free spirit and believed in personal freedom in all his forms. He would not have imposed on any woman to stay with him if she had feelings for someone else, but certainly would not have set aside without even fighting.

By ignoring the conversation between the vampire and the sheriff that he was able to capture, he concentrated on his sister-in-law.

However, Mason could not hold back a smile at the vampire's last comment before moving away. Yes, he was a surfer.

_____________

Stefan came from Lockwood shortly after Mason's arrival. Passing through the garden, he felt some pieces of the conversation between Bonnie and Kate, and even if he tried to hold back, he could not prevent himself from smiling.

'That is the Katherine I know,' he found himself thinking, and for the first time, he didn't dismiss the thought as it arrived. Their conversation had helped him to come to terms with the past.

He would not have said he had forgiven her, for that it would take time, but somehow when she had said, looking at him in the eyes, that his love for her was not a fiction, a part of himself had exceeded the torment that the memory of their relationship involved. He had asked himself what was true and what was forced for over a century. He had passed nights and nights in doubt, wondering if his suffering for her death was motivated or was only the result of the compulsion. Now he had an answer. And, surprisingly, in a way he didn't even understand, it was the one who actually desired because, just as Kate said, there were worse ways to die than for love.

Now that he had allowed himself to think about it, Stefan knew he had loved her Really, who had loved his vision of the world without rules and, with the same conviction, he knew that Katherine Pierce or Kate, as she wanted to be called, would always be a sweet memory of his heart. And perhaps a tiny part of him would always have been attracted by her. However, it was a past that he had to close and seal. He had Elena and loved her for what she was and not for what she remembered.

Continuing to walk towards the manor, he was amazed to find his brother intent on fixing with curiosity, doubt, coldness, and perhaps a pinch of jealousy a man engaged in a conversation with the mayor's widow. Sharpening his senses again, he understood the conversation and had to hold back a smile when he realized it was Mason Lockwood and then a laugh when he saw his brother's reaction to the profession of Kate's new boyfriend.

As much as Damon believed it was too severe, even Stefan knew how to have fun, and that was the best opportunity to tease his brother, so he hurried to follow him.

"A surfer, huh? Kate knows how to choose her partners," Stefan mocked him, appreciating the tic in his brother's eye and hoping to bring out his real emotions.

Damon does not fall into the trap, focusing on a drink to pay before responding. "Yes, well, age will be hitting it. There are only two reasons to go out with a surfer: you are crazy or are facing a middle-aged crisis. As strange as Kate is, it is not out of mind, so the second remains: it's a beautiful crisis of half a millennium."

"I don't know. I find it quite sexy," Stefan continued and saw his brother snorting.

"So why don't you go out?"

Stefan Rise. His brother was all too irritable today, and for once, he appreciated the change of role. "You know, if you're interested in her..."

"I wanted to kiss her," interrupted him.

Stefan looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and Damon shrugged.

"That evening, on the porch. I wanted to kiss her. She spoke, made me feel important, understood me, and listened to me with those damned fawn eyes. I don't know if it were for the things she was saying, I don't know if it were for her appearance, I don't know if I saw Elena or Katherine in her, but before she told me she was not your girlfriend, I wanted to kiss her. "

The thing would have made Stefan furious at any other moment, but it had been a long day, and since it hadn't happened, it remained calm.

"You wanted to kiss Elena," Stefan murmured.

Damon snorted. "That's what I said."

Stefan remained silent for a while, brooding on Damon's words. "But Katherine was talking."

"Yeah," Damon confirmed the obvious. "Well, Kate. And this opens a world because, in some way, it seems to me that there are three of them and not two. And that's even worse."

"They will have the same aspect but are very different individuals. And what differentiates them is their character and their attitude. You said you didn't know if you wanted to kiss her for what she was saying or for her appearance. Well, the second is the same. The first..."

"What are you trying to say, Stefan? Because it seems that you're beating around the bush", Damon interrupted him, already tired of the open heart chat.

"I am saying that what seems to have hit you were her words and attitude towards you. And that was purely Kate, not Elena. I know you feel something for my girlfriend-"

Damon whimpered. "Stefan..."

"No, let me speak. I know you feel something for Elena, but I also know that much of the charm you feel for her is given by the love you have always tried for Katherine. And as you were looking at Mason, I don't think Kate is indifferent to you. Therefore, and I'm talking to you as your brother, not as Elena's boyfriend, try to give Kate a chance. "

"As long as she is honest," the oldest vampire snorted.

Stefan put a hand on his shoulder and forced Damon to turn to him. "Believe me, it is. After you left, we talked. And you're right: she's sincere. She loves you more than he ever loved me and perhaps more than anyone loved. Try to give you two a chance. Try to get to know her again", he proposed before taking a step back.

"What if it was all a staging, one of her further planes?"

"Then it will be a defeat, but at least you have given meaning to those one-hundred-forty-five years. And if you chase my girlfriend, you will know it is really for her and not for what she reminds you. "

Stefan gave him his shoulders to find Bonnie and see how she was. However, Damon recalled him.

"When we were on the porch, for a moment, I knew she wasn't Elena. She was saying all the right things, and all this I would always want someone to tell me, and I knew she couldn't be Elena. She was too far from her. "

Stefan did not turn, even if he listened very well to his brother's words. Somehow, he knew how it would end: at the next dance of the founders, every brother Salvatore would have had his distinct girl in his arm, and there would be no second thoughts.

Stefan still didn't know how he would feel in this regard, but if someone deserved to be happy, he was his brother. And he should have been insured. After all, it was because of his actions that he was alive.

He found himself frowning. Perhaps Kate's words on responsibility began to influence him. Oh, if only he had been able to tell him to the self of a century and a half earlier: Katherine Pierce, a hater of the rules, instilled in him a sense of responsibility for him.

It really was the end of the world.

____________________

Kate bit her lip, trying to silence her emotions and simultaneously process what she'd overheard. It wasn't her intention to listen to the conversation between Stefan and Damon, and she probably would soon regret it, but she still had to learn to hold back her heightened senses.

When she overheard their conversation, Kate was trying to figure out where the benches were where Mason had arranged to meet her. Curious, she couldn't help stopping herself once she caught their first words. But she should have learned to allow more privacy, especially since both parts of her weren't the best at it.

Lana was famous and known among her friends for being the best keeper of secrets, but everyone knew that she had a manic curiosity and tried to pick up whatever was said around her. She blamed the country club where her grandmother took her since she barely walked. Growing up surrounded by blabbermouth ladies had conditioned her a lot, and Lana still paid the price not only in her daily life but also when watching movies or reading books: she couldn't go on without spoilers.

Yes, Lana Lewis was the kind of person who reads the last few pages of a book before even getting to the second chapter, only to go back and continue reading. She said that she was to know if it was worth it. In reality, she did it because she hated surprises, and she preferred to be ready for the ending before starting to enjoy the journey. And Katherine, after all, wasn't so different. She was always hungry for information to be one step ahead of everyone and to be able to manipulate those around her. Katherine may never have read the ending of a book, but if she could, she would have rewritten it into her image. They were two sides of a coin, and Kate still needed to learn to move on the edge. For the moment, she presumed she was doing a good job.

However, when she saw Mason approaching, Kate couldn't help but think that the upcoming conversation was more important than anyone could think.

It was easy to navigate between Lana and Kate in their similarities.

However, this would have been the first time the two were at antipodes, and Kate wondered who would have prevailed. She prayed that everything was fine.

"Hi, Elena. How you've grown," Mason smiled at her.

Kate reciprocated. "No one is close enough to hear, Mase."

The werewolf breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I would have slipped too many times."

The two sat down on one of the benches in that area of the garden.

"What did you want to talk to me about in a hurry? I thought we'd keep our distance. I don't even know where you're staying!" the werewolf exclaimed curiously.

Kate sighed, looking down at the hands with which she'd been playing. Mason looked at her with a frown and profound confusion: he had never seen Kathy embarrassed of her. Hell, Mason didn't think there was anything that could make her that way.

"Hey," he whispered, taking her hands. "What's the matter, Kathy?"

The girl wet her lips, trying to remember the right words to say to her. Oh, God, she'd told her at least five times just coming from the boarding house to the villa. He had written them in her second notebook until she found them perfect. Maybe she was right, and perhaps, as she had written in her diary while she was in the car outside the Lockwoods' house, Lana would take over. She looked like she already had. She didn't even dare to look up to face him.

"I don't know where to start," she murmured.

Mason smiled at her. "The beginning is always a good point."

Kate nodded. From the beginning. She could do it. She just had to find the beginning.

"I saw the Salvatores again."

The boy frowned. "I thought you'd keep your distance a little longer."

"I know, and maybe that was what I wanted at first, but I still saw Damon and then both of them, and when I did, all my emotions just exploded, and there was no way to keep them caged anymore," he began to blather. "I don't want to hurt you, I care about you, and if I could help it, I would-"

"Kathy, stop. I don't understand where you are going with this", Mason stopped her with a confused face.

The vampire sighed and then turned to her boyfriend, even if for a bit longer. "When we started dating, we were not in the perfect place. I had just learned there was a way to break the curse, and you had just become a wolf. We leaned on each other, giving each other hope for a better future. You've made the last few months so enjoyable, and even though I knew it wouldn't be forever, I still enjoyed our time together and-" Kate trailed off. She was losing her train of thought.

"Kathy?" Mason called her.

The vampire sighed, Lana's talkativeness had taken over, and she knew that she would never have been able to end if she had not given a demeanor. Therefore, Kate chose to change her way and hoped it was the right one to correctly express her feelings and not make Mason suffer too much.

"When I met you, I was still Katherine. I know you can't understand, but my vision is not precisely Shakespearean. I always thought the name was an essential part of a person and somehow their showcase. The name with which I came to the world is Katerina Petrova. Katerina was a Bulgarian girl who dreamed of freedom and would do anything to be. Because of this, she has lost forever everything she cared about, including the freedom she so ardently desired. Katherine Pierce is reborn by the blackened ash of that girl full of life and has made survival her purpose, rejecting her old name in favor of one that reflects her new life. And that name has remained for over five centuries, cementing in her heart and changing her forever. I believed that Katherine would be all I was and that there could be nothing else. And then I met you, and I became Kathy. I was no longer the manipulative vampire with more enemies than days lived. I was only a girl who liked the margaritas, the walks on the beach, and the sun on her skin. I was a simple girl who, for the first time, could have a boy without too much subterfuge. I felt free with you when I forgot my task, but I would lie if I told you that it was all in the sunlight. "

Mason smiled at her. "I know it."

Kate looked at him, speechless.

"What? I'm not just a stupid surfer; you should know it now. When she told me that my brother had the moonstone, I understood that the reason why you had looked at me was not just my beautiful appearance, "he revealed, making her laugh. "But, honestly, I didn't care about that then, and it doesn't now. Not if I would have done it to overcome all those moons without you by my side. You gave me hope, as perhaps I gave you and this was enough. But something tells me it's no longer for you or, from what I understood, for Kathy. "

Kate sighed. Mason was so intelligent and witty. He almost made her want to be totally honest with him and put Lara inside the cauldron, but she knew she couldn't. Lana Lewis was a secret that her heart would guard for eternity.

"I thought I was ready to go beyond Katherine and focus only on Kathy, and as I said, these months with you were fantastic. I could see Kathy loving you completely and without reserve if only every part of me had not given my heart a century ago, "she said as tactfully as possible.

Mason looked at her, surprised and with pain in his eyes. He had finally understood the point. However, he did not appear too troubled. "He is one of the Salvatore brothers, right?"

Kate smiled. "It's Damon. When I arrived here, I knew I still had feelings for him, but when I saw him, every emotion came back wholly in me, and I felt my heart alive for the first time in my life. I arrived here with clear goals, but a look was enough to call everything off. "

"You know, I saw him before while trying to eavesdrop on my conversation with Carol. I noticed a certain similarity between us. "

Kate laughed. She had also thought about it, and perhaps it was why she had become so fond of Mason as she relived Katherine's memories. "Yes, I know. You have the same vivid look he had when he was human and the same joy of living."

"I will not fight for you if there isn't a chance for us. I'm not so masochistic, Kathy. But I know I love you and that you make me happy, and if you think you can reciprocate me ..."

Kate sigh. "I love you, Mason. I really do. But I'm not in love with you, not like him. When I think back to him, to the moments we spent together, I feel complete and perfect because it was so that he saw me, and somehow he was able to convince me. "

"I didn't expect it. I truly believed I could have a life with you, but I understand that we cannot control our hearts. So, I don't think I have no choice but to step aside, Kathy. Or should I say ...?", He asked with a shrewd glance.

Kate smiled. "Kate, I'm going by Kate Pierce now. Or rather, I'm Kate Pierce. "

Mason offered her hand with the same smile. "It's so nice to meet you, Kate."

The vampire bit her lip and remembered a conversation between the two that had taken place a little over a month ago. Katherine had retained laughter during it, but Kate had deeply appreciated them and had warmed her heart. "If he weren't there, I would have been honored to be Kathy Lockwood one day. I want you to know that you are important to me and will always be. I know it was not what you expected by returning to Mystic Falls, and I would understand if you no longer intend to deal with me, and I don't say it just because it is a cliché, but I would like to remain your friend, Mason. "

The boy sighed and leaned forward to caress her cheek. "I truly loved Kathy and will be happy to meet Kate. But it hurts, and I need time. "

Kate leaned against her touch. "You have all the time in this world."

They remained silent for a few seconds before Kate chuckled. "You know, I was so worried about this conversation. I stayed in the car for more than twenty minutes and was literally going crazy. I kept rethinking the first guy I left. He did not go well: he burst into crying, and I fell, and I hurt myself while I was trying to console him. Apparently, once I was so awkward, and I was afraid that with my emotions turned on, I would be it again. "

Mason shook his back. "Well, I have lost you several times, and I'm almost certain that you blushed during one of your outbursts, but I would say that it could be worse."

Kate nodded. "Yes, it could," she murmured before glancing at him. "It's not the only thing I wanted to talk to you about, however," she said, and Mason turned his attention to her. "I know we talked about other plans, but I spoke with the Salvatores about the curse, and, as expected, they had no idea of the existence of the werewolves. They want to see you and ascertain that it is real; I consider it the safest option. Together, rather than divided, we are more likely to succeed. "

Mason shook his back. "It wasn't what I wanted. However, if you think it is for the best, we will act like this. When did you think you do it? "

"Tonight at the pension. There will be them and Elena. And there's more."

Mason sighed theatrically. "What, now?"

"It concerns the curse. There's much more than you think. "

Mason stiffened and looked at her with doubt. "What are you talking about?"

Kate put a hand on his arm. "Trust me, that isn't the time. We'll talk about it tonight after seeing the Salvatores, okay?"

Mason mulled it over a bit, uncertain and curious. But until then, Kathy had led him on the right path. He probably would never have gotten that close to breaking his curse without her, so he chose to trust her and nodded.

"Well, that's all then," he exclaimed, looking at her with all the regret and sadness that separation caused him. "You know, I thought we could have a future together," he said again.

"Maybe we could have, but my heart is not free," she shrugged, and there was no afterthought in her eyes. For the first time, Mason knew the person in front of him wasn't his Kathy. Her eyes were too clear and too honest to be his Kathy's.

"You don't want it to be," he said sagely, and she smiled sadly.

"No, I don't think I want to."

They weren't words said to hurt him but to make him understand more clearly because she had to break up, which made him feel better. Though with many digressions, the girl had managed to make him understand her motivations, and never as before, the saying 'it's not you, it's me' had been truthful. The problem wasn't Mason. It was her and her feelings for someone else. He was sure that he and Kathy would have had more than one chance to be happy together without Damon, but fate had always had other plans.

His heart aching but appeased, Mason embraced her and kissed her forehead. "Be happy, Kathy. I mean Kate. Wow, it'll be strange to get used to it."

She laughed, melting into her embrace. "Yes, I think it'll be."

After a nod, he got up and walked away from the girl. Only then did Mason let the real pain could appear on his face.

It hurt, but it would have been better.

____________________

Damon had moved away from the porch as soon as Stefan had disappeared from his sight. His mind was so full of Kate, Mason, Klaus, Elena, and the sacrifice that his head almost seemed to split. He wanted to grab a bite to let off steam, but there were too many people, too many officers, and too many few occasions. In other moments it would not have been a problem. He would find eye candy, drain all her blood, and disappear toward the next destination. But, as he had said to the fake Elena, Mystic Falls was his home. He would not have risked his place on its for anything in the world, and he knew it was not only for the people he cared about that lived there. Mystic Falls had something different from all the others, and it was able to capture you most deeply, and he had not been exempt from it.

He was walking through the park looking for a distraction when he understood the voice of Kate... and the surfer.

Kate was talking. Although, more than words, they seemed muttering, disconnected and meaningless phrases. He leaned against a tree and couldn't help to prevent an amused smile from forming on his lips.

This Kate was so different from the Katherine he knew.

Probably this thought would not have left him soon. At each interaction, there was at least something new in the girl and, at the same time, something familiar. He didn't understand her and didn't think he would soon. At the same time, he didn't know if he liked it ––and her. There was like a spark in Kate that Katherine had not had, but at the same time, there were parts of Katherine that Kate didn't have, like selfishness. He could have said anything about Kate, but that adjective was as far as possible from reality, at least from what he could read in her words and her eyes. And even now, while he watched her stammer about feelings and emotions, he knew that it was only for altruism that she temporarily, not for inability or insecurities. Kate Pierce genuinely cared more about the neighbor and their feelings than Katherine could even pretend. And this pissed him off because she seemed to do it with everyone except with him, who had loved her for one hundred and forty -five years, who had dedicated himself to her, soul and body since he had crossed her eyes for the first time. And she said she loved him! Well, she had a funny way of showing it.

His forehead frightened when she started talking - or better, digressing - about Katherine, Katerina, and the new addition, Kathy. In the beginning, Damon lost the connection and had to think about it several times before understanding what she was trying to say. He felt pretty stupid and perhaps stupidly jealous when Mason understood him before.

Maybe it was because Damon hadn't read Shakespeare for a long time or because he had never given so much importance to the names. However, a piece of Kate seemed to fall into place when he understood. The vampire woman had passed a lot in her life and had to reinvent herself many times. He had also done so, although to a lesser extent, after becoming a vampire, hardening and closing a lot of himself in a closed box that still certainly not wanting to reopen. He had thought that the change of her name to Kate was only to vary a little, to add a little panache to her person, but it was much more than this.

However, he wondered if it was so simple to change. Was it enough to get up one morning, realize your mistakes and buy a new certificate with a new name? No, it was not possible.

The change was much more difficult, heavy, and painful. So what made her change? Was the release of the noose around her emotions so significant? Damon did not know what to think, and then Kate said her name, and all her attention was on her.

He knew she was unaware of his presence and concentrated his hearing to capture every word. They did not differ from what she had told him. And, perhaps, as Stefan believed, he was sincere.

He then found himself snorting. He and that surfer had nothing in common. He would never have worn a Hawaiian shirt. Reluctantly, however, he had to admit that he was indeed a good boy. He would never have managed to give up the woman he loved. He hadn't done it even for his brother. He did not know if this showed that he loved her - or she had loved her - more or less than the surfer. He listened carefully to the exchange, mulling over what he had heard.

Unconsciously, he had approached the two, managing to have a clear view of both. He felt thick when he saw the loving gaze with which Mason looked at Kate, and then Damon heard himself highly jealous when he saw the sweet one that she returned to him. And when Mason left, he didn't even think of doing the same, but he went quickly to the girl who appeared thoughtful. To tell her what he still didn't know.

"Embarrassing, really embarrassing," Damon began when he arrived beside the bench.

Kate jumped, not expecting his voice behind her. "A bell, Damon. You need a bell, "screwed. "It is the second time you will appear from nothing in less than an hour."

The man rotated his eyes and ignored the comment. If he was honest, he liked to be able to surprise her and found that hilarious, above all since she was a vampire and not a human. That said a lot about how different she was from the girl he knew. He had never been able to surprise Katherine. "Do you know, I remembered fascinating, sexy, sure of you. Not a stammering landslide. Really, how long have you left a man? Have you lost your sheen?"

Kate curled her lips. And maybe it was for all her emotions, but she felt vindictive. "I don't know. With the last, it went well. One hundred fifty years, and I'm still at the center of his thoughts," she replied with the same tone before sighing. "It is more difficult to leave someone when you care about them. And I never had my emotions with me when I did it. Or, perhaps, you're right. I lost my sheen."

Damon grinned. "You know, I should start listing all the strange and different things in you. I already have a couple of points."

Kate smiled cleverly. "I'm so different, Damon?" She murmured, approaching him until she was within an inch of his nose.

The man did not go away, but, on the contrary, he still reduced their distance. "I am still trying to understand it. See, there are moments like this, in which you're flirting, and you're witty, and I have problems remembering the century in which we are. But then I look at your eyes, or I see your lip biting, as in this moment, and the spell breaks. "

"I'm sorry I'm not like you remember me," she replied, holding back from biting her lip again.

Damon remained silent for a few seconds. "There is one thing I don't understand, though. Mason is helpful to you. He gives you access to this house and what you want. Why leave him? You have given up part of your hold on him."

Kate smiled at him gently. "Still, my sweet, innocent Damon," she murmured. "Why didn't you go on all these years? There are so many beautiful women in the world."

"We both know why," he replied, without taking not looking away from hers.

Kate wet her lips. "And I can't be with him for the same reason. Sex is purely physical, and he was binding too much. I couldn't do the same. I gave my heart years ago and never wanted it back."

Damon folded quickly to her lips, but Kate was faster to lower her head, putting her hands on his chest.

"Don't do it," she prayed to him almost in a broken voice and heard a part of her protesting. "Please."

"I believed it was what you wanted. Isn't that what you've been alluding to since you got back?" Damon replied with a slight trace of anger in the voice due to the refusal and that inner voice that told him that for all this time, she had taken herself Still game of him.

Kate issued a verse of frustration. "But not in this way, not by anger, for venting or whatever. I will not come used by you, and I will not use you. If you understand that you still feel something for me, if you believe that we still have a chance, you can kiss me how much and how you want. If I have you, I'll want to be true. "

"Once you would have said when," he replied, not showing how much that refusal had hit him and how much, at the same time, he appreciated her desire to be exclusivity.

Kate smiled almost timidly. "Well, you can add it to your list, maybe under self-confidence problems. Keep it up, and soon you will have a long one."

Damon curled his lips. "We'll see."

Then he moved away, confused even more than before. It doesn't matter with whom Damon spoke: Kate remained at the center of her thoughts.

It would have been for a long time.

_________________

Stefan found Bonnie quickly enough. She had retired to one of the dining rooms bordering the kitchen. He immediately understood that she was upset by how the room's lights flashed slightly. He had not caught the entire conversation between Kate and Bonnie but had taken enough to understand that it had not been a peaceful exchange, at least not by the witch.

He came to her behind, and from the contracture of her fists, he understood that Bonnie was aware of his presence.

"I couldn't help but listen to part of your conversation with Kate. Are you okay?", He asked her tactfully.

For a couple of seconds, there was silence.

"Are I judging and full of prejudices, Stefan? Because I don't think. I've valid reasons to hate and be wary of vampires in addition to my instinct as a witch", Bonnie asked, continuing to give him her shoulders.

Stefan sighed. He didn't want to offend her. She had passed many and had good reasons to be wary of vampires and were more than justified. But the words of Kate he had caught were correct. Vampires were dangerous, not a danger. They were two different concepts, even if the border was thin. But it existed, and it would have been stupid not to see it.

"I think you are a seventeen-year-old thrown into a world bigger than you can imagine, and you are trying to learn to manage it."

"You didn't answer my question," Bonnie reiterated sternly, turning toward him and looking at him with absolute seriousness.

Stefan crossed her gaze. "I think Kate is not wrong."

The witch laughed. "Fantastic. Two vampires who make me preach and judge me. And in less than twenty minutes, I can be satisfied. "

Stefan tightened his lips. "This is precisely the problem, Bonnie. You see two vampires and not two people. "

"But you are not! You are no longer human!", He blurted out.

Stefan widened his arms. "Look at me, Bonnie: did it seem so different to you? Humans and vampires are not separate as you believe. We were human too!"

Bonnie laughed again. "These are her own words," he exclaimed, and Stefan had no idea what she was talking about, he had not heard that part of their conversation, but he could guess what she meant. "Maybe you're right, and maybe you're not so different. After all, I am not properly human, either. I am a Bennett, a witch, "she said and then laughed again, but there was no fun. "Bonnie Bennett; this is how she continued to call me. Not Bonnie, or witch, or anything else, no. Bonnie Bennett, again, again and again, "she said and passed her hands through her hair. "I have always been sure of me and my powers - Except for the small parenthesis about Damon -but she was able to make me feel small and defenseless, without even threatening me or being domineering. No, it was enough that she was there and used my name and my surname. I've never felt intimidated by a vampire as she was able to do it simply there to look at me with those wise eyes. "

Stefan shook his shoulders, understanding what she meant. "Yes, well, Kate has a certain something of... I don't know, but it was something that Katherine did not even have. He looks at you, and it's as if she could see through you. "

"It's not just this, Stefan." Bonnie opposed, and the vampire looked at her confused.

"There is more?"

Bonnie took a breath. "When she left, she touched me, and I heard a shock, and then I saw something. And it was different from whatever I had ever tried when I touched a vampire."

"How?" He asked curiously and full of doubts.

Bonnie looked towards the candles, which had resumed trembling. "There was no death, blood, terror, or anything like that. I saw a golden-haired boy with caramel-colored eyes and then a girl with red curls and deep blue eyes, and what I tried was so strong," she tried to explain.

"What did you feel, Bonnie?" Stefan asked her with the utmost seriousness.

The witch turned to look at him with hesitation and eyes full of feeling, the same, it was sure, that he had to have tried when he had touched Kate. "Pain. A sharp and immense pain."

_________________

Kate left the Lockwoods as soon as Damon had disappeared from her sight. She would have gladly made another snack, but she had to come from John as quickly as possible, and she could have exploited that frustration to make him better understand the point. Entering the car, she rapidly drove to the Gilbert House and parked the car at the same place where she had done it the previous evening. God, it seemed so long before.

After setting up her hair –which was already starting to enrich itself–with the help of the rearview mirror, Kate got off the car and headed quickly to the house door.

She knocked, and soon the man in question opened the door. Kate had to admit that Katherine's spies in the city were valuable. Without them, she would probably have gone there after leaving the boarding house, and in that way, she would have come across Jenna rather than John.

The biological father of her doppelganger looked at her with confusion. "Where were you all morning?" He asked.

Kate put on her mask from Elena. "From my boyfriend that you tried to kill," she reiterated before pretending to look at home as if she felt observed. Subsequently, she returned to look at John as if she were worried. "I have to talk to you about something in private. Follow me, please, "she prayed, and John didn't have to be thinking because he nodded without asking questions, leaving the house and closing the door behind him.

Kate resisted shaking her head. Didn't he find no strange that Elena, number one, knocked and, number two, dragged him to the back of the house? Because she would have asked herself some questions.

"What's so important?" The man asked with a sigh when they came to the back of the house.

At that point, Kate let her farce go and smiled in pure Katherine style. "I thought it would be more challenging to attract you here, but you made it very easy for me. And you know how much I hate when things are easy, John, "she lamented.

The man opened his eyes and brought back a step. "Katherine," he said, and the girl snorted.

"Getting warmer. I prefer Kate, actually. But you couldn't know it. So, I will gloss over it," she said, still light tone.

The next moment, however, her gaze hardened. "You know, I thought you, a Gilbert, would know how dangerous it was to make a vampire angry. But you have to be forgotten it. Otherwise, I don't explain your decision to put the life of the Salvatore brothers at risk when I had been clear enough that they were off-limits. And Pearl, seriously? She was my best friend, John. She did not deserve to die, not she and not her daughter, who, BTW, was the girl of your nephew. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"You can't kill me, Katherine," he replied, almost growing.

However, Kate could read his fear.

The vampire laughed. "You little humans have so much confidence," she said before shooting towards him and breaking his ring's arm.

John issued a moan and bent on himself.

"It's Kate. I don't like to repeat myself, "she exclaimed, attacking him again and doing the same with the other arm.

At that point, John screamed and fell to his knees.

"See it as a warning. Put the Salvatores at risk, go out of line again, and your days on this world will end, ring or non-ring, "she threatened him before taking him for the hair and bringing her lips closer to his ear. "You and Isobel would be better not to get me angry again, John. I will not be as gentle next time, "she murmured, biting her wrist and forcing him to drink some of her blood, despite his vigorous protests. When he had enough, Kate released her grip on him. However, not completely satisfied, she bashed his head on the ground and knocked him out.

She returned to a standing position, shook her shoulders, and smiled, satisfied. Lana hated violence, and Kate maintained a little bit of this, but John had risked killing the man she loved. She did not feel at fault for her actions.

Probably, Kate would have dealt with her conscience later, but at that moment, she only felt satisfaction. She put a foot on his chest and turned him on his back. Sure that he was just passed out and non-life-threatening, she was ready to leave. However, the opening of the back door and the call of the name of her doppelganger changed her plans.

_____________________

Jeremy was so confused. The last twenty -four hours had been a torment. A minute was kissing Anna, the one after the girl was taken away.

He had tried so much pain when he had learned from her death. It seemed that the suffering for the end of his parents had added to that for Vicky and Anna. And when Damon told him that vampires could turn off their emotions, he saw vampirism as the only solution. Finding out that it hadn't worked had been a real disappointment for him. For a second, even when Stefan had told him that at that point, the vampire blood was out of his system and he would like to really die, he thought of trying again. Then, however, he thought of his aunt and sister and knew he could not risk leaving them.

Therefore, Jeremy abandoned the idea. He thought that if his sister could overcome the loss of their parents, discover the supernatural, fall in love with a vampire, face a strange twin of five centuries and still have a smile on her face, perhaps he could have succeeded too.

Thus, he had spent the day waiting to go to the Lockwoods doing normal things as a teenager, or rather, as a boy who hadn't lost his parents. It had worked for a while. He had spent the entire late morning in front of the PlayStation with high-volume headphones until, in a break, he had heard screams. By blocking the game, he looked around, confused for a few seconds, but he didn't hear anything and returned to play. However, less than a minute later, it happened again, and he could no longer ignore him at that point. Going down to the floor below, he sharpened his ears in search of some noise. He crossed the kitchen and the living room, yet he heard nothing. After a minute, there was a noise in the back of the house, probably from the garden. He recovered a knife in the kitchen and went quickly in that direction. He opened the garden door slowly but found himself speechless when he saw what was in front of him.

Less than two meters, his uncle John lay on the ground with an apparent deep cut on his head, perhaps due to a fall. Above him, with a foot on his chest and a scowl on her face, there was his sister, Elena. Or, at least, what he believed to be his sister.

"Elena?" He found himself asking.

When the girl looked at him, she blocked and tilted her head before scrutinizing him for a couple of seconds. "You must be Jeremy. I'm Kate. You may know me with Katherine, "she introduced herself, and the fifteen-year-old raised the knife by putting himself in a position halfway between the defense and the attack.

At that point, the girl chuckled. "I see you still need to be updated. Don't worry. I come in peace. John and I only had a couple of things to make clear. After all, he tried to kill my former boys and succeeded with my best friend and her daughter. He had to learn not to joke with a half-millennium vampire," she explained. "John will be fine, even if he will do better not to die in the next two days. Now, you could take him inside, but I think a few hours in the garden could only be good for him, don't you think?" she asked with a smile on her face very similar to a grin if it were not for the kind gaze with which she was looking at him.

Jeremy remained motionless for at least a couple of seconds after the girl had finished speaking, trying to absorb her words and put the new information in order, as well as all the questions he wanted to ask her. However, his mouth moved before he could contemplate them all. "You are really the photocopy of my sister. It's creepy," he mumbled.

Probably, he should have to ask himself some questions about his priorities. Affirm the obvious must definitely come after asking about the uncle's safety. But it was John Gilbert and, if he was honest with himself, at that moment, he was not among his favorite people - or he stood, frankly -.

Kate shrugged. "Absolutely creepy, I know. And others have also existed over the centuries. But the supernatural history lesson would bore you, "she commented. "Rather, did you really believe you have some possibilities with that knife? Do you know that the only way to kill or hurt a vampire seriously is by using wood? "

Jeremy snorted. "It could not even be a vampire."

The vampire laughed. "It's Mystic Falls. It has everything to do with vampires, Jeremy Gilbert. It's in the history of this city. Vampires were created here and probably will be ended here."

The fifteen-year-old frowned his forehead. "How do you mean they were created?"

Kate opened her mouth a couple of times. "You know about the witches, right? Bonnie and... yes, probably just her?" she asked, continuing to speak after a nod from the boy. "Well, where did you think they come from if not through a spell- or a ritual, in this case -?"

Jeremy's expression was comic. "I had never really thought about it," he stammered.

Kate shrugged. "Yes, it is not a common habit in these parts lately. Now, I'm delighted to have met you, but your sister and aunt will probably be here in moments. Therefore, it is better that I go. Good day, Jeremy Gilbert. And don't be too hard with Tyler. He is a good boy, under his fur ", I recommend before turning him back.

Jeremy looked at her speechless before a thought headed him in his head. "Wait up! You said she killed your best friend and her daughter. You meant Anna and her mother, right? "

Kate stopped and turned his head towards him. "I apologize for your loss. He did not have to go like this, and I am deeply sorry for my role in his death, "she apologized. "Whatever I say or do will not help with your pain. I can only tell you that sooner or later, it will pass, and you will move on. "

Jeremy sighed. "You make it sound so simple. The point is not that it will never go away. It's the journey before you arrive at that point. "

Kate's gaze became much more serious. "Listen to me well because I won't repeat myself. The loss sucks, and the pain is incredibly horrendous. At times it disappears and then returns even more powerful than before. But it ends; it is not eternal or invincible. Life goes on, and you will fall in love again, and it will be fantastic, and one day all this will only be a bittersweet memory. What seems timeless to us today, tomorrow will have lost its light, "he said before mentioning a smile. "And who knows, you could even see her again one day. After all, the magic is real. "

Jeremy made a laugh. "If I see it, I will really have finished with the supernatural. And mental health, probably, "he joked before sighing. "Thanks. I will take your advice to heart."

The vampire made a wink before flying his back. "Oh, if you are interested in really learning to defend yourself from those like me, let me whistle sometimes," Kate exclaimed, raising her voice and disappearing, leaving a confused Jeremy behind her.

The boy slams his eyes a couple of times. "He is much cooler than she appears in Elena's diary," he murmured before shaking his head, ignoring his uncle, and returning to the house.

The girl's words remained in his mind for a long time that day and in the following days when he reached an agreement with pain, and the supernatural drama became an essential part of his life.

'Maybe I should accept her help,' he thought while returning to gaming. Maybe, he would really do it.

__________________________

Elena arrived with her aunt and brother from Lockwoods twenty minutes after Kate had written to her to have left the commemoration.

She distractedly participated in the conversation with her family, and when she saw Damon, she took advantage of it to reach him.

"Hey, how are you doing?" She asked him, worried that Kate's return could give him the head.

The vampire rotated his eyes. "Great, Elena. Walking on the sunshine, thanks for asking."

"Damon," he recalled him frustrated.

The vampire sighed. "Elena."

"We should be able to talk about this. Damon, we're close enough now. I really want to know how you are doing with Kate's return. "

Damon shrugged. "She reappeared. I thought it was you, but then it's been her, and I witnessed a gigantic declaration of love. How do you think I'm doing?"

Elena looked at him gently. "I think that you're hurt."

Elena expected Damon denied him, even if it was evident in his eyes that it was so that he felt. However, Damon surprises her.

"Of course, I'm hurt. I'm not made of stone, Elena. "

"I just want to ensure you don't do anything stupid for anger."

Damon quickly turned off to her with a fire in his eyes that she knew but of which she had never been the recipient.

"Despite what you think, I'm not so impulsive or stupid. Kate will not send me out of control, don't worry. Now, if you want to apologize, I have more to do. "

"Damon!", He called him back, but the vampire did not stop to listen to it.

Elena groaned in frustration. It hadn't gone the way she wanted. She hoped that things would go better with the werewolf. Now, she would have given her condolences to Tyler and his mother, and after, she would have found her boyfriend. Afterward, she would probably have recovered from Liz the bag with the gearbox for Caroline that the girl had asked her to bring to the hospital. The sheriff's affair would not soon free her mother, and Matt was busy with work and could not have done it before the visits' time ended, so Elena volunteered.

In any case, Elena's day was busy, and until she returned to the boarding house, the supernatural would have been far from her thoughts. If only it were what happened...

The truth is that her problems with the supernatural had not even started, and she would have had her first taste that night. Nobody could imagine the way the turn that the events would take.

________________________

In a dusty and dark attic, a figure wrote incessantly in a diary. Memories, emotions, sensations, plans, ideas, doubts: whatever passed through the mind was pouring on that small brown diary. There were few truly relevant things in their thoughts at that moment, but two stood out: revenge and regret. They were different emotions, almost at the antipodes. And the figure could not choose which of the two was more predominant. A severe pain captured them again, and moaning and nearly shouting, they brought their hands to the temples to try to drive it away. But there wasn't much that they could do. It wasn't the first time it happened to them, and they knew it would only pass when it completed its work.

Revenge and regret. Hate and love. Anger and happiness. At every headache, the balance of the scale moved, and the confusion grew. They screamed for frustration when it happened again when he never knew what to do. He wanted to destroy everything, to snatch the diary on which he was writing and return to the life of a few days before. But it was not possible. Nothing would ever have been the same. A trickle of sunshine entered the room through the thick curtains that were not completely closed. The figure stared at the light for a while before closing their eyes and sighing. Their mind was confused as never before. Few were the clear things at that moment, and they knew it would worsen with time. They had to make decisions and had to do it quickly.

Underlying, uninformed of the inner torment of their teen, a man and woman prepared dinner.

When the guy appeared later than their parents expected, a little of their torment was gone. During dinner, they seemed almost the same person they had always been. It was just a typical evening at Mystic Falls. But in the twilight of the house, placed on a 1960s armchair, there was a briefcase of a deep blue left open. A decision had been taken. Which emotion had won was not yet clear, but the consequences would soon be visible.

__________________

A few hours later, a few kilometers away, a young girl sighed, frustrated by the silence that had enveloped the hospital after the end of the visits. She still did not know that those would be the last minutes as a human. Three minutes later, she lay dead on the terrace of his room. A syringe was next to her body.

__________________

In the hospital car park, another girl realized that she had left her phone in her best friend's hospital room, and she turned to go back, moaning. She ignored the person who came out of the lift just as she called it, and she waited to get to her destination with her eyes ajar of tiredness. No nurse was on the plan, and she appreciated that she did not have to explain her presence there again. Perhaps it was good because when she entered the room and saw the body of her best friend on the ground, nobody could hear the worried cry that she had launched. At the same time, she ran encounter and sought a beat no longer present because Caroline Forbes was undoubtedly dead, but she would soon wake up.

However, neither girl still knew that Caroline would no longer be the same as before.

_____________

Kate, Damon, and Stefan were in the living room of the boarding house, waiting for Elena and Mason to arrive, who seemed to be late.

Kate had half wished she could postpone the event, but Elena had texted her shortly after she'd finished talking to Jeremy, asking when she could meet the werewolf. So, Kate reluctantly had to give up her plans for a long sleep to release the stress.

She hadn't thought much of Anna since it started, but she felt profoundly guilty since she'd seen Jeremy, and apologizing to him had done nothing to lessen that. Of course, she hadn't meant for that to happen. She didn't ever exist when the decision to kill the vampires' tomb had been made. Nevertheless, she had woken up before the event and could have done something more. But that first day, her urgencies were different, and they concerned the two vampires in the room with her.

Since that morning, not much had changed in Damon and Stefan's attitude toward her. They still didn't believe her, not entirely. Knowing Mason could lead to even more questions, but at least he would confirm her story, and when Elena returned home, she could get some more information from John and, potentially, Isobel.

Speaking of those two, she would soon have to tell them what she had discovered and especially inform Isobel of the originals' ability to compel other vampires. It was severely necessary for the woman to start taking vervain. And it would have been safer for Isobel if she went back to Mystic Falls, where they could keep an eye on her.

While watching the show, she had always wondered what it would be like if Isobel and Elena had a chance to get to know each other and develop a relationship without the Klaus thing in the way and without Isobel's emotions gone.

Lana had had the best relationship with her mother, the two had always been very close, and after her father's death, they had relied on each other to get ahead more than they probably should have. She had never been ashamed to say that her mother was perhaps her best friend.

Therefore, imagining that it wasn't like that for everyone was strange.

She remembered the first time her roommate had received a phone call from her mother while Lana was in the room.

It hadn't been more than two weeks since their move to the college, and they hadn't talked much, not with Lana avoiding society as much as she could, but when she had heard that Josie had come back into the room, yelling at someone on the phone, she made been more than intrigued –it was also the fault of her grammys' friends. At the end of the phone call, Josie had yelled at her mom to go to hell, and Lana had been absolutely speechless and, above all, displaced by the hatred with which it had been said. It had ensued an hour of Josie complaining about her awful mother and all the problems in their relationship. When Josie finally asked her about the things she couldn't stand about her mother, Lana was too stunned to say anything other than: "Well, she really hates apples, like there's no way to make her eat them even in a pie, and apple pie is my favorite."

Josie had said nothing, but she had looked at her as if she had two heads.

Therefore, it was no wonder that Kate had insisted in her notebook of things to change the heading 'heal the relationship between Isobel and Elena and prevent the latter from seeing her mother burn in the sun' and that its level of importance was higher than 'preventing Lockwood from becoming a werewolf pain in the ass and then hybrid.'

Well, almost everything was on top of this heading, even 'find Jeremy a good puppy to get him through his abandonment issues.' No, she didn't get that idea from any fan fiction.

But back to the evening meeting at the Salvatores', Kate couldn't imagine anything more boring. She was starting to feel hunger pangs, and she couldn't wait to get back to the b&b to get her hands on a nice blood bag; the girl from the Lockwoods' hadn't been enough.

Now that she thought about it, she wouldn't have minded a good burger and fries. She knew vampires didn't need to eat, but, God, their taste buds worked so well that it was a waste to deprive themselves of food.

So, not caring that she may sound weird, Kate exclaimed loudly, "Do you think there's a place in this desolate town that delivers burgers?"

Stefan looked up from the book he was reading, and Damon raised an eyebrow from the couch by the fireplace he was sitting.

"What do you need a hamburger for?" Damon asked.

Kate frowned. "Maybe I'd like to eat it? Well, I was actually planning on grabbing a bite from the delivery man too, but if I'm being honest, I'd like a nice cheeseburger with lots of onion and cheese right now."

"Your wolf cup finally bit you, and you're going crazy? And since when do you like to eat? You've always hated it, even when it comes to pleasantries," Damon muttered.

"A burger sounds all right to me. And we can get one more for Elena. As long as there are no pickles," Stefan said instead.

Kate snorted. "I still can't figure out how people like them. And, by the way, I love the food. Plus, no risk of gaining weight or pimples, and I'll benefit from it," she murmured before realizing what she had said and widening her eyes. "As I've done for the past five centuries, of course," she added quickly.

God, she needed to sleep or to put the carb-loving Lana to sleep.

Lana had always loved food, in any form, and she had been a fan of Italian cuisine since her family visited it. She had refused to eat pizza for a year after trying the one from Naples and realizing the difference.

And, if you were being honest, the California one looked nothing like the original. It was good, yes, and she would never have given up a slice, but they two could be considered completely different foods.

New York was another matter, even if her father had never agreed. For him, the only edible pizza was from California, particularly the town where they lived.

"No, it wasn't. I remember the dinner for the mayor's son's wedding. You had been complaining the whole time about how annoying it was to pretend you like human food," Damon exclaimed.

"What you hated the most was meat," Stefan added.

Kate refrained from moaning as those memories of her came back to her. Yes, it was true, Katherine Pierce hated human food with all her might, and if she could, she avoided eating it. However, in his 'assembly,' it seemed that Lana's love of food won out, even if it joined Katherine's love of alcohol, even though Lana was mostly teetotal and couldn't stand the taste if not in company and after a couple of cigarettes.

Kate sighed. "I'll blame it on dull emotions. Somehow they screwed up my taste buds too."

Damon moved quickly to retrieve a small notebook and pen from the desk, fast scribbling something on it.

"What are you doing?" Kate asked, confused, before understanding and rolling her eyes. "Oh my God, don't tell me you were serious!"

Damon shrugged, taking his place on the sofa again, this time with a full glass of Burbon. "Of course I was. That's the fourth point of the weird stuff about Kate Pierce that goes against everything I knew."

Kate frowned. "That name is too long and really bad."

"What list are you talking about?" Stefan asked.

"Oh, come on, Stef, you may have noticed too that this Kate is slightly different from Katherine! So I made a list: number one, lack of machinations and tricks. At least, according to what you say. Number two, the inability to break up with one person properly: We've all heard you stutter in Mason's presence, and I have to say, never seen a more embarrassing breakup. Number three, unlikely Harry Potter quotes. And number four, your hatred –changed in love– for food. I'd also add the chatter in pure Caroline style, but that's really the only thing explainable with the emotion switch and the fact that you're an eternal 18-year-old."

"You know, for an eternal twenty-four-year-old, you're extremely immature, Damon," Kate commented, rolling her eyes, even though she was amused.

"Oh, but please. If anyone here is immature, it's Stefan. How does it feel to repeat high school for the...what, thirtieth time?"

Kate wrinkled her nose. "Well, he's right about that; I'm sorry, Stefan. You voluntarily choose to torture yourself. Have you ever wondered why teenagers cheer when they graduate with a hat toss?"

Stefan rolled his eyes, amused by the exchange. "As I recall, you've never been there, so you can't comment."

"I went there once, and if you're interested, I graduated with honors!" she protested, still proud of Lana's academic results, especially given that they had been achieved in a difficult period such as a pandemic.

"Really? And when?" Damon asked.

Kate shrugged. "I finished last year. A small town in California."

It wasn't a hundred percent true, Katherine had never gone to high school, and until the previous year, she had been hiding in Russia since Klaus was wandering around the States. But Lana had graduated less than seven months earlier and had even been the valedictorian. She still remembered the speech by heart.

"Really? Kate Pierce in high school. Were you a kind of Regina George?" Damon asked curiously.

Kate chose to continue with honesty. "I was a nerd, indeed: head of the computer club and valedictorian of my class. Well, I even made the cheerleading squad, but only because of a girl I had befriended," she said, minimizing it.

Damon raised an eyebrow. "Really? Apparently, the cheerleader runs in the family; I would never have said you were the progenitor."

"It was an experience I wanted to have," he shrugged. "I know I'm not going back, anyway."

Stefan sighed. "Would it be okay if I swore that if it weren't for Elena, I probably wouldn't have done it for at least fifty years?"

Kate and Damon looked at each other before answering simultaneously: "No."

Stefan shrugged at that. "I had to try. But I won't feel guilty for doing it. Unlike you, I've learned something in my life."

Kate pursed her lip. "I've visited almost the whole world. So, if we're being honest, you're the least informed. Not to mention that I've known painters and artists before they even painted their masterpieces and seen history take place."

"Ditto. I've traveled the world when I wasn't ruining your life," Damon interjected.

Kate turned to him and poked a finger at his chest. "You are no better than him. You went to college!"

"What?" Stefan asked in surprise.

Kate looked at him with a massive smile on her face. "He thought he was tricking me and probably did the same to you and Elena, but he didn't meet the witch Bree just because she visited the campus. He lived there!"

Damon moaned. "Oh, come on, I've been keeping it from him for decades!"

Kate had never been more grateful to Katherine for keeping track of Damon herself all these years, even if it was to avoid him. However, there was one piece of information Katherine hadn't picked up that interested her greatly.

Kate put a fake sorry face on her face. "But I'm curious, what did you study?"

"Ah! No way, it's a secret," the vampire argued.

Kate approached him with the most pleading expression she could stamp on her face. "Come on, come on! Let me know! I'll tell you what I would have studied if I had the chance!"

Damon shook his head. "Nope. And don't give me puppy eyes, Kate Pierce. They don't work on me."

The girl pouted and glared at him. "I'll find out. I know I will."

Damon smiled in amusement. "By all your means. But you won't get anywhere."

Kate laughed and leaned even closer to him. "We both know that when I set my mind to something, there's no way I won't get it, and you, Damon Salvatore, will be no exception! I'll find out what you've studied if it's the last thing I do."

Damon leaned over her slightly. "You will have a beautiful commemoration."

Stefan watched them joke with a strange expression on his face. Since Kate had proposed the burgers, he hadn't understood if the two were arguing, having a pleasant conversation, or flirting shamelessly; he could not read his brother or even Kate.

However, Stefan had no problem admitting that the two seemed to have an understanding, and he really didn't know whether to worry or not. Unlike Damon, Stefan had taken Kate's apology much better, but if he were being honest, compulsion or not, he'd never loved the girl as much as he did her brother. Damon, on the other hand, had developed an unhealthy obsession with the vampire. While Stefan had forced himself to hate her, even lying to himself, Damon had thrown himself into his love for her, devoting himself entirely to the woman.

In another situation, he'd probably be worried that Damon could again fall into it, that Kate was just playing with him. But after their conversation that morning, Stefan couldn't help but believe that Kate truly loved his brother. And Elena had thought so too. Kate's love for Damon almost seemed to ooze out of her person. He wasn't sure if there was still hope for them, and he didn't want to think about how strange it would be if they really started dating and his brother was perpetually on the arm of a woman identical to his girlfriend. This thought made him frown, and maybe he finally understood Damon's point of view regarding his relationship with Elena. However, if that could be his brother's happy ending, he'd root for them, even though his heart was still pounding over Kate's arrival.

He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't immediately hear his phone ring. He had to ring at least five times before he noticed it and answered Elena's call.

"Hi. Mason hasn't arrived yet. Are you coming?" he exclaimed but stopped when Elena's frantic voice interrupted him.

"Oh my God, Stefan, she's not breathing. She's not breathing anymore!" The girl cried, and all three vampires present jumped to their feet.

"What's going on?" Damon asked her.

"Elena, are you hurt? Who's not breathing?" Stefan said, ignoring his brother's words.

"I was walking home, but I forgot my phone! It happened in less than five minutes: she was fine! Oh my God, Stefan," sobbed the girl, breathing heavily.

"Elena! Elena, calm down! What's going on? Where are you?" Stefan asked frantically.

"She's dead, Stefan! Caroline's dead!" His girlfriend yelled.

Kate's eyes widened. No, no, that wasn't possible. She hadn't done anything, bloody hell! And there certainly weren't any other vampires in the city, not anymore and, in a way, not yet.

Kate stepped forward and snatched the phone from Stefan's hands.

"Are you in the hospital?" she exclaimed, cutting through the girl's sobs as she motioned for the brothers to follow her out of the house House and towards the cars.

"Kate? I...yes. We're on her balcony!" she replied.

"On the balcony?" she asked, confused and curious, before shaking her head. "Do you have the compass with you? Does it point to somewhere?"

"Yes, yes, I got it. And no."

"Well, okay, try not to attract attention; we'll be right there, okay? We're leaving now," she exclaimed as Damon jumpstarted his car.

Elena answered with a sobbing yes. "I have no idea how that happened," she added.

"We'll figure it out," Kate interrupted her. "You check the compass and make sure it points west only. Close the door to the room and the curtains too, okay? Elena, I need you to listen to me, it's important: Caroline isn't dead. She's going to wake up and be in transition. Don't worry about it." too close. Avoid cutting yourself."

Kate could feel Elena's eyes widen and her breath catch. "What?"

"Damon fed her his blood last night. It's unlikely it's left her body yet. I know how busted up she was," she explained. "Everything will be fine, okay? We'll sort everything out."

Elena took a breath. "That is fine."

Kate nodded. "I'll put you on Stefan again."

When she handed the phone back to Stefan, he immediately began to comfort and distract his girlfriend as much as he could as she lay next to the dead body of one of her best friends, of course.

She caught a glimpse of Damon in the mirror, but her head was elsewhere, and she was too distracted to decipher his expression. After texting Mason that she was postponing their meeting due to an issue, she leaned her forehead against the window and let Stefan's sweet words lull her through the rest of the ride.

They arrived in less than five minutes at the hospital and rushed to the blonde's room, compelling a couple of nurses along the way.

When they got to the room, Elena had done as Kate told her, and everything was closed while Caroline still lay on the balcony.

Kate's eyes immediately found the syringe beside her body, ignoring the reunion between her doppelganger and Stefan.

With Damon following her, she walked over to the girl's body. Caroline had her eyes closed and an almost relaxed expression. There was no fear, no terror. In reality, she didn't even seem to have fallen to the ground, given the absence of bruises, but she was almost leaning delicately. The only sign of her strangeness was the syringe left beside her.

"Is it the only one who notices the absence of any supernatural evidence?" Damon commented.

Kate shrugged. "You're not alone," she said before standing up, going back inside, and retrieving a handkerchief from Caroline's nightstand.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked Kate, her voice still broken, as she saw her go back to the blonde and pick up the syringe with that handkerchief.

"I'm collecting evidence," she replied. "We don't know who did it, and while I think it has something to do with the supernatural, there is no record of it. There may be a killer out there, and we'd better find out who he is."

Her explanation was very logical, and Elena was surprised how it hadn't even occurred to her that it could be an ordinary murder. The thought of alerting the police was so far out of her head, and for the first time, she realized how much knowledge of the supernatural had changed her and her entire conception of authority.

Having tucked the syringe away, Kate bent down and gathered Caroline in her arms, then moved to bring her back onto the bed.

"If she's in transition, when will she wake up?" Elena asked.

"It depends on how she died. The vampire blood has to have time to cure her and then change her nature," Stefan explained.

"At a rough guess, an hour," Damon added.

"What are we going to do? What will she do? Either because she will become a vampire or she will actually die. Oh my God, Liz will be destroyed!" Elena began again to her hysterics.

"She won't die," Kate clarified. "I know a witch who can make her a ring if Bonnie can't. And Stefan, Damon, and I will be able to teach her self-control in no time."

"Leave me out of this," Damon exclaimed. "I've been through this before. Easy reminder: Vicky Donovan. It'd better if she died as she would have if she hadn't had my blood, probably."

Kate turned to him with her most grim expression. "Just try it, and you'll be the one with a stake in the heart! Caroline is not to blame for what happened to her. She is your friend's daughter, and if we're being honest, a lot of the shit she's been in is your fault! "

Damon rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, I didn't cause the accident; someone should ask themselves some questions about who is the cause of all this."

Kate growled. "I know, it's my fault; it's always my fault! Thanks for the reminder. But do you know what the difference is between you and me? I take care of my problems! And if I have to devote my life to teaching her about control, I will. Caroline Forbes is off your kill list. Do we understand each other?"

Stefan and Elena watched the exchange with barely concealed surprise. They never expected such a defense for the blonde from Kate.

On the other hand, also Damon was immensely shocked at the turn of events. He knew the uncaring and selfish Katherine; this Kate that took on her responsibility was utterly illogical to him.

Damon wondered if they were different people. Not separate, there was too much of Katherine in Kate, but there was a nuance, a particular facet that he just couldn't fit into the woman he knew. Maybe Kate was right, and she really had changed. And he still didn't know if he liked this new person or not. What he was sure of was that she confused him and not a little. It was as if there were now three doppelgangers: Elena, Katherine, and Kate. All were almost fighting for a place in his heart. And even if he didn't want to admit it, since the third and, in part, also the second had returned, the first had lost much of her charm.

Damon smiled tight. "Okay. Have it your way. Anyway, I just found my sixth point," he commented.

Kate raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were at four."

Damon shrugged. "Yeah, well, your investigative skills occupied the middle position."

Kate sighed almost theatrically. "What can I say? I'm a Crime fan. It's almost cathartic."

The argument stopped when he heard a pained moan from the bed. All four turned to the blonde, who had come back to life, perhaps too quickly.

"Um, my head," she murmured, rubbing her forehead.

Kate bit her lip as she sat down next to the blonde. "It's normal. It will go away soon, don't worry."

Caroline opened her eyes and looked at what she believed to be Elena. "Didn't you leave?"

Kate nodded at the true Elena. "She forgot her cell phone, luckily."

Caroline turned to the direction indicated, confused by the use of the third person, when she saw a mirror of her friend and jumped sitting up. "Why the hell are there two of you?" she almost squealed before narrowing her eyes in a twinge of pain.

"Oh my God, it wasn't a dream! There was someone here and a syringe and..."

"Caroline, please slow down!" Stefan told her.

"No, Stefan, I'm not slowing down! And seriously, why are there two Elenas? You've had a twin all this time, and you haven't told me?" she asked, alternating her gaze between the two. "And who is Elena?"

Kate pointed to it. "She is. And I'm Kate, we've never met, but you may have known me as Katherine."

Caroline blinked a couple of times. "My pleasure. Wait, Stefan and Damon's Katherine?" she asked, more confused than ever. "Did you date Elena's twin?"

"She's not my twin, Caroline," Elena said. "She's..." she froze, not knowing how to explain everything.

Indeed, she didn't know what to say in general. The situation was so new and foreign. She was grateful that Stefan intervened when she remained silent and decided to leave the explanation to the three vampires.

Stefan wrinkled his nose. "It's a little more complicated than that. What do you remember about your time with Damon?" he asked her, hoping the memories would start returning.

"Um, he wasn't the nicest guy," she murmured.

Kate sighed. "This will take a little longer, and you should be more specific, Stefan. Caroline, what do you know about vampires?"

The blonde sighed. "They have red eyes, and they shine in the sun, and they're made of marble," then she frowned. "I actually think they don't glow at all."

Kate knew something was coming back; she clearly remembered a scene from the show where Damon explained how this was fake.

"How do you know it?" Kate asked her, hoping to speed up the process.

The girl was perplexed, her memories seeming to keep stirring. She knew that information was true, she was sure of it, but she had no idea how. Then it was like a flash; she remembered a yellow dress and revisited her bedroom, and the memory of Damon lying on her bed telling her this became as clear as if she were happening at that moment. "Damon, he told me. They actually burn in the sun," she revealed.

"And how could he be sure?" Kate asked again, ignoring Damon's gaze that was looking at her confused and curious because somehow she seemed to know what he had said to the blonde even though she wasn't present.

Caroline's eyes, meanwhile, grew massive as other memories came back to her. "Because he's one of them; he's a vampire! As are Stefan and..." she blurted out quickly.

"Ten points to the blonde," Damon commented, and Caroline seemed to remember only then that he was there.

She backed away from the bed quickly as if trying to be as far away from him as possible. "Stay away from me; you bit me! Oh my god, he bit me! Why didn't I remember? Why didn't I say anything?" she started freaking out.

Kate sighed and placed a hand on the frightened girl, who gasped. "Vampires have a skill: it's called compulsion, and in a certain sense, we can modify memories and make people do things. But don't worry, an herb can prevent it, and Elena gave you some."

"If they can do it, why do I remember everything now?" she asked in confusion.

Kate and Stefan looked at each other, and the boy spoke up. "There are two ways a person can get their memories back: the first is if the vampire who placed the compulsion removes it; the second, in the event of a transition."

Caroline frowned. "Transition into what?"

"In a vampire," Stefan clarified.

At that point, Caroline seemed to put the pieces together. "Damon didn't give me my memories back."

"No, I didn't," Damon confirmed.

"Then I'm...I'm about to become–but it's impossible."

Kate looked at her softly. "After your accident, you were in bad shape. Vampire blood has healing properties for humans, so Damon gave you some. We don't know exactly how that happened, but after Elena left, someone had to do something to you on the balcony, and you died. Dying with vampire blood will take you into what we call a transition."

Caroline's eyes filled with tears. "Am I dead?" she murmured.

"Yes, but now you have a choice: you can die permanently or turn into a vampire. You don't have to decide now. You still have a few hours to do it."

"I'm only seventeen," she said through tears.

Kate looked at her softly. Caroline reminded her a lot of Lana in her innocence of hers. Sure, their life experiences were very different, but there was something about her girlfriend that seemed familiar. "I know, and it sucks, and it won't be easy if you decide to move on. But I can tell you that for every bad thing, there will be a good one. It will be different, but not impossible. Probably nobody in this room really wanted that, but it's the cards that they've offered us, and we can take advantage of it and see it as a gift rather than a condemnation. And you can believe me. I've been around for over five hundred years; it sucked for a lot and probably always will, but I'm grateful to be a vampire; it offered me things that, without it, I would never have."

Caroline's eyes widened. "Are you a vampire? And what do you mean you're five hundred years old? You look like...."

Kate laughed. "Like a normal eighteen-year-old, I know. We'll explain everything to you."

The blonde nodded. She was still freaking out internally, of course. But the absurdity of the situation had almost begun to make sense. Okay, it wasn't so, and maybe it was just the shock speaking, but she felt almost normal.

However, there was something that she didn't figure out. "Wait a minute, how did I die?" she asked.

The four looked at each other.

"We don't know. Remember what happened after Elena left?" Stefan asked her.

Caroline frowned, trying to focus on her memory. "I was fine and wanted to get some air. I went out on the balcony, I heard a noise, and someone blocked me from behind, and then I saw them shove a syringe into my arm."

Did they move fast, like a vampire?" Damon asked.

Caroline shook her head. "I have no idea."

"Do you know who they were?" Damon asked again.

"I don't know. I don't know who they were. I haven't seen their face. And I heard a voice, I think female or maybe just not hoarse, whispering in my ear. That's all I remember," concluded the blonde, babbling in a voice that contained more than a note of despair and anxiety.

Kate frowned, her fists unclenching and clenching to hold back the anger she'd been trying to hide all along while supporting the blonde. There was one item on her list, second to be exact: to protect Caroline. For much of the show, she'd been sidelined, ignored, and it had upset Lana quite a bit. Caroline was her favorite character, and there was nothing she didn't like about her. She was so full of life, so loyal to her friends, and maybe a little meddlesome, but she was a teenager, and Lana had always found good reasons behind her behaviors. And now she was dead and forced to be a vampire.

It wasn't much different than what had happened on the show, other than the syringe thing and that, of course, she hadn't done it. This confused her a lot; Kate needed to know every detail. "What did they say?" she asked, and Caroline looked at her.

"It didn't make sense at first. When I woke up, I thought it was a dream, and when I realized it was true, the words started spinning in my head, and I don't think they made sense until I saw you both, but also so..."

"Caroline," Stefan interrupted. "What did they tell you?"

The seventeen-year-old gulped. "They said, literally: tell the pretty look-alike the real game is on.", she quoted.

And Kate froze up at that phrase.

"Dear Katherine Pierce,

maybe not everything can be changed."

End of First Episode

of Season Two

Author Note:

Hello! Sorry for the months of waiting, but this chapter put me in crisis. Well, the whole story did.

After publishing the first chapters, I saved in a university folder the file with the plot I had in mind, the writing style I had chosen to adopt, and a lot of random scenes that had come to my mind. Unfortunately - and I really owe this to my carelessness - it was a folder relating to an exam which, having passed in September, I proceeded to eliminate, having already printed the material I would need later. Of course, I forgot it contained that file as well and only realized it after I emptied the recycle bin. Now, one may think that this is not a severe problem. But I tend to write new fanfiction every week and am constantly bombarded with new ideas, and it was really a pain and ultimately got me hooked. I could not remember the writing style or reproduce it, even re-reading the old chapters. The imprint I had decided to give to the story was missing, as well as the references to the characters' psychological states. I didn't even remember Lana and Katherine's backstory that I had concocted. And every time I wrote, I found myself falling into contradictions that made me want to continue writing. Also, not being who knows how good with the English language - you will have noticed -, even having finished drafting the chapter in my language in mid-November, it took me weeks to translate it and make it decent enough to pass all the controls of Grammarly - and to try to find on the internet English idioms and metaphors that coincide with those I wrote in my language without looking like a jumble of words.

Anyway, sorry for the delay. I'll try to find a way to speed up the process. P.S. This was not the case, but the next chapter will be published on June 20, 2024. Note dated May 27, 2024.

However, all this got me thinking, and I decided, if you agree and like, to use you to improve my English.

At the end of each chapter, I will ask you a question, and you can answer it if you like.

I probably won't get answers, but it never hurts to try (is there such a saying in the language? Sort of it's always good to try something)

The second question that concerns me is purely about the style of this story.

Do you prefer the way it was written previously, focusing only on Kate and only occasionally on other characters, like Damon and, perhaps, Stefan, or do you like to get almost everyone's point of view, as in this chapter?

The question I ask you about the language, however, is: how can you talk about a single person without specifying their gender? Sifting through the internet, I found the use of "they" as a singular form without gender. But is it usual, or is it purely a verbal and informal form? In the part where I talk about "a figure", should I have used the "they" or the "it"? Or what else? Consequently, is it correct to use "teen" to refer to a child?

Oh, I should probably sign up for some classes with a native speaker, but I don't know where to fit it given all the university commitments...the last year sucks.

I will be grateful if you answer me. And I also thank anyone who even reads.

Now, if you notice grammatical errors, or anything else, let me know, and I will correct it. And if anyone wants to become my beta, let me know! A girl had proposed, but I deleted the email by mistake – yes, I have to stop emptying my recycle bin -. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! See you soon and merry Xmas and happy holidays!