chapter 7
I'm a survivor
I'm gonna make it
I will survive
Keep on survivin'
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The moment her eyes fluttered open, she shot forward, ready to continue the fight. Yet, was stopped by two strong hands.
"Hey, hey, hey. Chill out Harley, before you'll hurt yourself." The cocky voice of Damon Salvatore rang through her ears and she let out a groan, falling behind on the couch.
"The fuck?" She mumbled under her breath, clutching the bruised skin on her neck with her scraped hand. She closed her eyes, too sensitive to the blinding light. That motherfucker knocked her out to the next day, damn. She needed to work on that.
"That's what we want to ask you, sugar." Damon mused, pouring himself two fingers of bourbon. She contoured her face and took a moment to look around the room. She raised an eyebrow when she saw the whole Scooby Gang on a nearby couch, minus Elena Gilbert, staring at her like she was some exhibition in a museum. Caroline flashed to her sister in a heartbeat, worried expression on her face.
"We found you dead unconscious in the parking lot, all battered in blood. What happened, J?" Caroline muttered, helping her sister rise to a sitting position.
Jade hummed, silently thanking her. She looked around herself, finding out that she wasn't in her home, but in some pretty overdone man cave. Or man mansion. So this must be the famous Salvatore Boarding House, huh? "Oh, nothing too interesting. Where's Elena?" She asked and poured herself a glass of the amber liquid as well, ignoring the weird looks they gave her.
"She's late or went already to school, I guess. Why?" Stefan replied, uneasyness clear in his gaze. Jade took a sip, savoring the warmth that spread through her body and kissed her teeth.
Jeremy was about to chime in, but Jade interrupted him. "Well, I would check on that, especially since some creepy vampire wanted to kidnap her yesterday." She said nonchalantly, leaning back on the couch with an exhale.
"What?!" The whole choir chimed at the same time, Jeremy and Stefan already on their way to call the missing girl.
"Yeah, I beat the shit out of him for a sec, but you know." She proceed to gesture with her hands. "Vamp? Human? Do the math."
"Didn't you almost kill Damon?" Caroline muttered next to her.
Jade cocked her head to the side and raised her eyebrow. "I don't remember that, thank you very much." She pointed out, Caroline looked away in shame. Jade sighed, turing to the dark haired vampire and scanned him from top to bottom. "Besides, it's Damon." She didn't even know him well, only from her sister's stories. But as far as she knows, his ego is fucking endless, so why not stifle it a bit.
Damon let out a malicious side smirk and turned to the blonde. "I can organise a round two."
Jade let out her own smirk and tilted her head dangerously. "Oh, it'll be my pl━"
"Okay, shut up, both of you." Stefan demanded when he and Jeremy returned to the living room. Jade raised her eyebrow at the exclamation. Mind your tone, dipshit. "She's not answering. What did he look like? Did he say anything?" He sat down on the armrest of the chair Bonnie was sitting on, his leg frantically bouncing up and down in anxiety.
Jade sighed, swallowing her bitchy remark. "Well, he didn't offer me a chance to gaze at him, since he was wearing a fucking masquarade mask all over his face, but he was flashing left and right, so all I can say that he was a vampire. And no, we didn't have much time to chat." Stefan cursed under his breath and fixed his gaze on the window, hundred questions swirling in his mind. "With words, at least." Jade continued with a smirk, to which Damon rolled his eyes.
"And then he knocked me out." She finished, taking a gulp out of her glass. Bonnie started to bit her nails, eyes fixed on the floor, Caroline leaned back on the couch, her bottom lip firm between her teeth. She took a quick look at her bruised sister and nipped her finger with her fang, dripping few drops of blood to Jade's glass. Jade widened her eyes, startled by the action. "What the━" She shrieked, and Caroline pointed at her wounds. Jade let out a quiet 'oh' in understanding. She nudged her sister with her knee as a thank you.
"This has Katherine written all over it." Stefan broke the few second silence, wiggling his expanded finger at Damon. "I can almost feel her smirk right now."
Damon let out a snort. "The vampire slut's in the tomb, trust me. I'm the one that shut her in."
Stefan was now right before his brother. "Did you?" He cocked his head to the side, full on suspicion in his voice.
Damon mimicked his brother's mannerism. "Did I what, Stefan?" He narrowed his crystal blue eyes at the other vampire.
Jade leaned toward her sister and whispered, her eyes never leaving the testosterone battle a few meters away. "I'm sorry, did he say 'tomb'?"
Caroline sighed. "Yeah... there's a tomb under Fell's Church that had 26 vampires locked in it for almost 150 years." She whispered back, her eyes not leaving the two wannabe alpha males either.
Jade snapped her gaze from the bickering brothers, tuning them out. She raised her eyebrows at her sister words. "Had?"
"Yeah, they're dead now." She bit her lip with a sheepish look.
Jade pursed her lips and nodded gently, trying to process what she had just heard. "You have a lot of explaining to do." Caroline sighed and nodded, looking very forward to that conversation.
"What did she say?" Stefan asked inquisitively, crossing his arms. His eyes fixed firmly on his brother.
"Elena's in danger." Damon breathed.
"Wha━and you didn't ask her to elaborate?" Stefan huffed and started to pace around the room.
Damon expanded his arm in a desperate manner. "Everything she says is a lie. How am I supposed to know that she starts singing the truth?"
"We have to talk to her." Stefan stopped bouncing like a bunny around the room and pointed his finger at Damon.
"No-no. Let me tell you how that's gonna go━" The vampire brothers continued their bickering, but Jade stopped listening to them. Bored, she started counting how many times they said the word "slut" - it was surprisingly high.
If she thought about it, she would actually like to have a few words with Katherine herself. She had to admit that she was actually quite intriguing. She was not sure if it was a wise decision to confront her, but she wanted to hear what Katherine had to say. Yes, yes, she's an ancient vampire whore, blah, blah. But, this vampire slut was the only person in this town who didn't lie to her face. She was curious, sue her. And to find out more about Elena's whereabouts, of course.
She lit up the cigarette, ignoring the scolding look her sister gave her. "I can talk to her." She said softly, immidiately stopping brothers' cat fight. The siblings looked at her blankly for a few seconds. She took a deep breath and let the smoke out, the tension between them gradually faded and turned toward Jade.
"What? No." Damon twisted his face in a grimace.
"Jade, no." Caroline said firmy next to her.
Jade rolled her eyes and took a drag. "Why not? I've talked to her before."
Damon scoffed in disbelief. "And I've fucked her before. Didn't get much from that." Damon let out a condescending smile that didn't reach his eyes.
Jade snorted and looked at him up and down. "I can see why." She said with a slight head tilt. It took Damon only a few seconds to respond with a glare, the girls present huffed a laugh. Jade took a puff from her cigarette and stood up. "And I don't give a shit what you all think, I wanna talk to her either way, so━"
Damon suddenly flashed to her, grabbing her upper arm tightly. "You're not going anywhere." He pierced her with his icy blue eyes. She refused to back down, meeting his gaze steadily, she raised an eyebrow and said calmly. "I suggest you let go, bad things tend to happen in those kind of situations."
Damon's grip tightened and he shook his head. "You're not going. You don't how psycho she is."
Jade glared at him, her eyes flashing with anger. "Then we'll have some common ground then. Besides, don't you have your brother's girlfriend to worry about?" She said with a malicious smile.
He smirked and released her arm without a word. She took a step back and crossed her arms, not breaking eye contact. "Now, if you'll excuse me." She said in an even tone, grabbing her sister's arm. "We have a sisterly bonding to catch up on." Caroline groaned and followed her sister to the door.
"What about your morning tea with the vampire slut?" Damon shouted from his place next to the fireplace.
"Freaky supernatural bullshit first." She murmured looking at already exasperated Caroline.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
"So. There's some old-ass curse on vampires and werewolves, and it takes some kind of rock that Katherine has. Mhm, a normal thing. And the Lockwoods are werewolves?" Jade asked, hanging upside down on Caroline's bed. Caroline told her everything she knew about the supernatural world, hiding nothing. She felt so stupid for what she had done that she had no idea why Jade was even in the same room with her.
Caroline nodded. "Yup. We recently found out they even exist."
Jade perked her head up to look at her sister. "Bitch, tell me about it." She said with an eyeroll. She changed her position, so she could lay beside Caroline. "How do you not burn in the sun?"
"Bonnie spelled me this ring." Caroline said, bringing her hand closer to Jade. "The lapis lazuli in it has some special powers that the spell will not wear off after the death of the witch who cast it."
"Huh." She huffed, examining the ring. "It's ugly as fuck."
Caroline groaned, taking her hand back. "Ugh, I know. I didn't picked it. Bonnie wasn't━"
"━Wait a fucking minute." Jade muttered with wide eyes. "Blue rings. Cami asked me about them. Holy shit." She breathed, leaning back on the headboard. "I have to call her later and somehow not sound like a complete psychopath telling her that people wearing them are vampires."
Caroline barked a laugh. "Good luck with that."
"Wait. That day." She turned to her sister and pointed her finger at her. "The day you were at the house all day. You didn't have your ring yet."
"Yeah." She nodded, pursing her lips. "And I was trying to summon a godlike power to not rip out your throat." She said with a sheepish smile.
Jade flashed her eyebrows up and down. "Mhm, lovely." She mumbled. "And do you want to rip it out now?"
Caroline shook her head proudly. "No. It turned out that when I was a control freak when I was human, it multiplied a million times as I became a vampire. Vampirism amplifies the traits that you already have."
Jade noded, processing the information. "Huh. So control freak on crack, got it." She said with a smirk, Caroline rolled her eyes with a smile. "Vampires, werewolves, witches." Jade mused, resting her head back at the wall. "Don't you sometimes think you're living in some weird Stephanie Meyer novel?"
Caroline expanded her arms and noded rapidly. "Yes! All the freaking time! Everyday there's just something else. And now Elena's missing, ugh."
"Right, do you have any info on that?"
Caroline sighed. "Bonnie did a locating spell using Jeremy's blood, the Salvatore boys are currently on their way there."
Jade narrowed her eyes. "Spell... it's just sounds so..."
"Stupid and made up?" Caroline smirked knowingly.
"Yeah." Jade said with a laugh, Caroline soon joined her.
After the laughter died, Caroline cleared her throat nervously. "Jade, the day when I was in the hospital... I'm sorry."
"Huh?" Jade snapped her gaze to her sister's.
Caroline took a deep breath and bit her lip. "It was the same day Katherine killed me and I became a vampire, and you know, when you become a vampire your emotions are heightened, you are more sensitive to everything, to all factors, light, sounds, feelings, everything irritates you. And then you came, and I didn't even know what was happening to me, all I knew was that the light was burning me like fire, all I could think about was blood, then you came, and those emotions... and I'm sorry. I'm sorry Jade, I didn't really mean all that, I know I shouldn't say it and I feel so stupid for it, well now that I can tell you why━"
"Caroline, chill." Jade pulled herself up and stopped her sister's rambling. "I get it, seriously. But it was all true and I should hear it. I should come more often, not sit in my NOLA bubble, not giving a shit about you and how you feel." She sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "I offer a bad ass weekend when all this shit will calm down." She offered with a small smile.
Caroline smiled sadly, but it quickly faltered. "And I'm sorry about... you know what."
Jade sighed, fixing her gaze at the window. "Yeah, that was pretty shitty, not gonna lie." Caroline pursed her lips and stared at her fidgeting hands. "I know you wanted to protect me, but you have to know. How can I defend myself without knowing the danger? Especially since I have supposedly found myself in these situations a few times." She chuckled dryly. "Damon can kiss my ass, apparently." She muttered to light up the conversation. "And you can forget about protecting me. I'm the big sister, it's my duty to you. Not the other way around. Get it into that stubborn head of yours." She crossed her arms, her unwavering gaze fixed into her sister's eyes.
"And I'm not mad about the compulsion. Less mad than before, though. It's that you tried to blame it on my fucked up brain. For that I am mad."
Caroline sighed, biting her bottom lip once more. "I know... It's just that it was the only thing I came up with to somehow get you away from it all. I wanted to protect you. I wanted to keep you safe. Only later did I realize what a stupid way I chose to do it. And I know it was horrible and shitty." She said, looking straight into Jade's eyes. "I'm so sorry, I won't ever do that again, I promise. No more secrets." She finished shaking her head slightly.
Jade looked at her sister and saw the vibrating truth flowing through her words. She sighed. "You know I always see right through you, Caroline. There was no way I wouldn't find out about all of this."
Caroline exhaled a large breath. "Oh, I know all about your hunting dog traits." She said and Jade smirked. "I just... I guess I thought that if I kept you away from it long enough, you will go back to NOLA and be safe. I mean, I'm the danger itself here."
"Caroline." Jade called with one of her eyebrows raised, Caroline turned her head slightly to her sister's direction. "Vampire or not, I could kick your ass in my sleep." She said, and Caroline twisted her lips in silent agreement. "Besides, you're not Walter White."
Caroline laughed out loud with a nod, to which Jade joined after a second. After a few moments, the younger Forbes looked at her sister with a sorrow look. "Jade, I'm really sorry. I hate myself for what I did to you. I'm not keeping anything ever again from you, I promise."
"You better, or I'll find a pencil." She teased. Caroline barked a laugh, feeling as if a huge weight had fallen from her heart.
She perked up, when she thought of something. "Oh, wait! I have one idea, I just don't know if it will work. Take off the ring." Jade raised her eyebrows at those words, giving her 'are you fucking kidding me' look.
Caroline sighed, completely understanding the reaction. "I know you probably don't trust me, but I want to try to give you back the memories I took away. Nothing more, I promise." She tried again.
Jade looked at Caroline's sincere eyes, narrowing her own own. After a couple seconds of silence, she sighed and began to take off the ring. "Let's fucking hope not, because if not..." She trailed of, giving her a warning look.
Caroline looked at the ceiling. "Yes I know, pencil." Jade nodded and got closer to her sister. Let's hope to God that she won't try anything, or Jade swore she will be an only child. Sorry, mum.
Caroline looked at her sister, crossing her fingers that it would work. She can't help herself, but smile, thanking silently her sister for the given trust. Maybe not everything's lost. She brought her face closer to Jade, let her powers flow and said. "You will now recall all the memories I ever took away from you."
Jade blinked few times, pleased that she didn't try anything. After a second, she felt the familiar pain in her head.
She blinked again and groaned. "Ew, it just came back to me the sight of you trying to fuck Matt, take them back, please." She said with a grimace on her face.
Caroline laughed and rolled her eyes. "You'll live." She cocked her head to the side. Jade smirked and put the ring back, sighing when she flopped back on the bed.
"Carrie, are you okay?"
Caroline snapped her head to Jade. "What? What do you mean?"
"Just... the whole vampire thing, Katherine killing you. You didn't ask for this. I just want to know if you're okay with this."
Caroline stared blankly at her older sister, not quite believing what she was hearing and realizing one thing. Nobody asked her this before. Nobody. Bonnie as soon as she found out what had happened, was furious with her, as if it was all Caroline's fault. As if it wasn't her who made Damon give her his blood. Stefan helped, of course, but he also never asked how she felt about it. She won't even think about Damon, there's no point. Tears began to gather in her eyes, so she blinked hard, not letting them fall.
"Yeah..." She breathed hoarsely. "That's what's funny, I feel... better. Stronger, faster. I can stand up for myself and be who I want to be. It's not so bad." She said and Jade gave her a small smile. She was glad she wasn't suffering, but notheless, she will have a few words with Katherine about this.
Jade cleared her throat and clapped her hands. "So! I already know all about supernatural technicalities, right?" She asked, propping her head on her hand. Caroline let out a thoughful expression and after a few second of pondering, gave her a nod. "So now the best part. Bring on the supernatural gossip." She smirked and her sister immidiately mimicked her expression with a mischivous look.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Few hours passed, as did a bottle of bourbon from Liz's stash. Jade was already completely up to date with everything and was on her way to the Mystic Falls forest, and more specifically to the ruins of Fell Church. She couldn't believe about the Salvatore brothers and their obsession with doppelgängers, it's begging for a rom-com movie adaptation. She would love to watch that one, that's for sure. And the fact that Damon killed Elena's little brother? And he came back to fucking life? With a help of a fucking ring? You literally can't make this shit up, she swore.
She was now standing in front of the church ruins, a cigarette between her glossy lips. She looked up to the sky and took a long drag, the smoke curling up into the air. The ruins stood silent, but she was aware of a vampire desiccating beneath them. She exhaled a sigh and flicked the tabacco stick on the ground, picking it up and putting it in her bag. She did not. Litter. She rolled up the sleeves of her blouse and descended into the depths of the underground.
The musty smell of the crypt filled her nostrils almost immidiately. Her senses were on high alert as she navigated her way through the dark corridors. She knew that Katherine was sealed up without any way out, so she didn't worry about that. But as for bugs and other nasty little shits... ew. Full alert mode.
She took a moment to explore the crypt, which looked like it was pulled vividly from a series of the Indiana Johnes movies, the only thing she was missing was the whip. She noticed a huge stone gate with an engraved... pentragram. You can't make this shit up. She took a few steps forward and saw two sets of the same person. Did Elena really have nothing better to do but chat with her enemy a few hours after getting out of the hands of another? She sighed and knocked on the nearest wall. Savoir vivre, right?
"Do you have time to talk about our lord and savior, Jesus Christ?"
Elena whipped her head around with a shocked expression, while Katherine didn't move an inch, probably hearing her from a mile away. Or she was that close to drying up.
"Jade? What are you doing here?" Elena breathed, her eyebrows meeting her hairline.
"I could ask you the same question, not enough thrills for one night?" Jade questioned, resting her hand on her hip.
Elena shook her head. "You can't be here. You don't know how━"
"━I know, I know. She's the incarnation of Satan, blah, blah. But she was also the only one who didn't lie to my face, and I wanna talk to her." Jade mocked, imitating talking with her hand. "So, scooch." She cocked her head to the side.
Elena didn't move. "No. You need to leave. I have important things to ask her."
Jade raised her eyebrows. "Did you just tell me what to do?" She snorted. "I'm sorry, but that's over, Gilbert." Elena's eyes flashed with anger, her mouth opening to say something, but Katherine interrupted her from uttering any word.
"She stays." She mumbled tiredly.
Elena snapped her gaze towards the weak vampire with wide eyes. Jade let out a smug smirk. "See? The evil twin wants me here. So move your ass." She gestured with her hand.
"I can't believe this." Elena muttered under her nose, making room for Jade. The Forbes girl just gave her an annoyed side-eye.
"Little JJ, missed me so soon?" Katherine's hoarse voice echod through the tomb.
Jade kissed her teeth. "Oh, you know. Missed banging my head against the wall, the unwilling blood donations." She gave her a ironic smile, and Katherine responded with a small smirk. "How's the life of a raisin?" Jade mused, cocking her head to the side. Elena sat next to them, not quite believing the chill exchange.
"Peachy." Katherine spat with a dead expression on her face.
Jade hummed in acknowledgment and began to open her black messenger bag. "Don't pout. I brought breakfast." With that said, she pulled out a blood bag from Caroline's stash and tossed it toward the vampire.
"Jade, don't!" Elena hissed with wide eyes. Katherine immidiately grabbed it and chugged the whole thing in one go.
"Can you calm your tits for like two seconds? She's sealed for her dear life, she won't tear your eyeballs when you sleep." Jade said, rolling her eyes at the dramatics. She turned her gaze at Katherine, which was wiping her chin with the back of her hand, a pondering look on her face. "I guess." Jade added, to which Katherine let out a smirk. "Would you be happy to converse when you're on a verge of becoming a chip?" Jade snapped her eyes back to Elena, which was silent and not meeting Jade's eyes. "I thought so." She finished.
Katherine leaned back on one of the tomb's walls, crossing her legs. She was still in her masquarade clothes, and had dirt all over her body. If Jade had makeup on for this much time, she woudn't get rid of the zits for the life of her. But she guessed that vampires don't have such problems. "To what do I owe this delightful little visit, JJ?" Katherine mused.
"Why Caroline?" Jade immidiately asked, crossing her legs with a serious look.
"Not beating around the bush, I see." Katherine smirked. "You know, I've been chatting with dear Elena here for a while, and she didn't ask me this question once?" Katherine said patronizingly, turning her face to Elena's. Jade followed her gaze and raised her eyebrow. Nice friend.
Elena clenched her jaw. "I was about to."
"Sure." Katherine replied in a mocking manner. "And I was about to tell Elena about the ritual's ingridients." She turned her head toward Jade, the girl just crunched her face at the word 'ritual'. "Oh, right. You were in the dark." Katherine rolled her eyes. "Long story short, the biggest, baddest vampire is after Elena's precious blood. She's the key ingridient to breaking the sun and moon curse. She, the moonstone, a werewolf, a vampire and some crafty witch." She mused nonchalantly, Elena widened her eyes, pure horror on her face.
Jade narrowed her eyes at the vampire. "And you turned her to what? Hand her over to him tied up in a pretty red bow, or what?"
Katherine sighed. "Pretty much. 500 years on the run, thought he'd be willing to strike a deal."
Jade scoffed. "You know I won't ever let anyone do anything to her, right?" Over her dead fucking body. Maybe she's been a shitty sister for the past few years, but that has changed. As long as she's alive, there is no option that someone will lay a hand on her younger sister. And if someone dares, they can be considered dead. It's a shame that an accident and her sister almost dying had to happen for her to finally understand that. Well. She did die. But didn't?
Katherine exhaled deeply. "She'll die, JJ. Klaus won't let anything disturb the ritual. I'm the living proof what will happen otherwise."
Jade huffed, knowing smile on her face. "Well, there's more vampires in the town, aren't there?" She glanced at Elena and Katherine, the former looked at her perplexed, the latter gave her an amused look.
"Elena!" Stefan Salvatore's voice echod through the tomb. He was immediately by the side of his beloved, checking to see if she had any injuries.
"Speak of the devil." Jade mumbled, and leaned back on the wall, closer to Katherine. The couple started their banter that mostly consisted of; 'you can't. I can, you can't stop me. I love you. I love you more. no. I love you more. no, I━
"Wouldn't that be poetic? Her dying next to her epic love." Katherine whispered to Jade, her eyes not leaving the doomed lovers.
"Which one?" Jade whispered back. Katherine tore her gaze from the couple and looked at amused Jade, a slow smirk creeping on her face.
"Whatever she said to you is a lie, Elena." Stefan voice made them snap their gazes toward them again. "Do not listen to her, she's a liar." He spat, concern dripping from his forest green eyes.
"What if she isn't? You didn't hear what she said." Elena countered, visibly distraught.
"What did you say, though?" Jade mumbled to Katherine, the two lovers countinued their bickering in the background.
"Later. In shortcut? The origin of the vilian arc of Katarina Petrova." She muttered back with a sigh.
Jade twisted her lips with a nood, intrigued. "Cool name." Katherine gave her an eyeroll, begining to stand up.
"I haven't told you the best part, Elena." She said, catching Elena's and Stefan's attention.
"What?" Elena breathed.
"He killed them. My entire family. Just to get back at me for running." She said with a hateful look on her face. Jade snapped her eyes from the dirty ground back to Katherine, slightly widening her eyes. Well, she just said that he's a bad guy, what could Jade expect. Elena and Stefan fixed their glossy eyes on her, lips parted at the statement. "Whatever you do to escape Klaus, he will get his vengeance. On your friends, family and everyone you've ever loved."
"No, look at me." Stefan turned to Elena and grabbed her shoulders. "No. Don't listen to her, okay?" He whispered to the nearly crying girl.
Katherine barked a laugh with a slight shook of her head. "Always the fierce protector, Stefan. But even you must realize that she's doomed. There's nothing you can do to stop it." She said fiercly. Then, her expression turned to a smug one. "Unless of course, you have this." She said softly, showing them the moonstone. Elena looked at her in shock, Jade sighed and pulled out a cigarette, already evaporated.
"And there it is. The ultimate lie." Stefan let go of his girlfriend, pointing his finger at Katherine with a humorless chuckle. He did that a lot, Jade noticed. "You spun the whole thing so that we would have to get the stone from you, didn't you?"
"I didn't spun shit, Stefan. It's the truth. It's your choice if you want your precious Elena alive in the next month or two."
Stefan smiled, not believing what he was hearing. "No. Let me guess. You wanna trade the stone for your freedom, hm?" He taunted. "You manipulative, psychotic bi━"
Katherine scoffed. "My freedom? That's where you're tragicly wrong, Stefan. I don't want my freedom." She huffed, piercing him with her gaze. "Because when Klaus shows up to kill us all━ and he will━I'll be in the tomb. Where no vampire can enter, because they can't get out." She mused. "I'll be the safest psychotic bitch in town." She finished with a malicious smile.
Katherine disappeared into the depths of the tomb, and Stefan and Elena looked at each other with disbelieving eyes. Jade was still sitting in the same place, leaning against the wall and savoring the taste of smoke with a blank expression on her face.
It's not like she didn't give a fuck what would happen to Elena. The girl was young, she was barely 17, she should be enjoying life and worrying about her next math test and not turning over her shoulder in anticipation of the freaky vampire king. But if it'll comes to her or Jade? The choice is simple. Better━her or Caroline? Even simpler. Just let him show up here and try to even look at her little sister the wrong way. Not fucking happening.
At this point, she should be driving pencils into Katherine's heart for what she did to Caroline. However, she can see from her sister how it has changed her. And against all odds━for the better. She's smiling more, you can see she's comfortable in her own skin, not like she used to be as a human. Full of insecurities and not believing in herself. Even Caroline admitted it━she's weirdly better off. It's just a paradox after paradox. And the fact that she's so weird with her. Jade should be shitting her pants from just being in Katherine proximinity, but she... is not. And Katherine didn't threaten her, either. What a puzzle. She did threaten Caroline, though. Jade didn't forget that.
"Jade, come on." Stefan muttered under his nose, tilting his head toward the entrance. Elena not in sight, she must've already left.
Jade snapped her gaze from the ground and took a drag from her cigarette, slighly shaking her head. "I'm good. You can go."
Stefan ran his hand through his hair in a desperate manner. "Jade, you can't possibly still want to talk to her. She's a snake. Lying, manipulative━"
"Oh my god." Jade exhaled through her nose and looked upwards. "You're like a broken record. I know. She's a bitch. Nontheless, I'm talking to her. Alone. Goodbye." She flickered the ash off her cig and waved him off with a tight smile.
Stefan sighed and slumped his shoulders. "I hope you know what you're doing."
Jade stood up from her place and took a step toward him with a grimace. "Why do you even care? From what I remember and from what Caroline told me, we didn't even talked much. You've just compelled me and hoped we won't run into each other, so I wouldn't cross you little plans."
Stefan sighed and gave her a regretful look. "I know. And I'm sorry." He breathed and Jade raised her eyebrow. "But I do care. You're Caroline's sister, and she's one of my best friends. I won't anything happen to you, you have my word on that."
Jade scoffed and raised her eyebrows. "Your word means━"
"━Shit to you, I know." He finished for her and Jade furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion. "You kinda said that when we first met." He muttered sheepishly.
Jade looked at him with her nose scrunched, taking a puff. "You know, I would ask you to give me my memories back." She said. "Maybe I would trust you then. But I won't, because I don't trust you now. I guess you will have to earn it."
He scanned her for a few seconds and mumbled. "All right. That's fair." He said and she nodded once. "I was meaning to ask you about that fight with Damon." Jade rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to speak, but he was faster. "I know you don't remember, but━where did you learn to fight like that? You almost got him, I was impressed."
"You know you just said that you were impressed by me almost killing your brother, right?" She deadpanned with a slight head tilt, to which Stefan just shrugged his shoulders. "But thanks, I guess." She mumbled and sighed, throwing the cigarette on the ground and picking it up. "I was taught by a friend of mine from New Orleans. I got quite into it and started training Muay Thai and Brasilian Ju-Jistsu on the side. And a little Tae Kwon Do, too."
He hummed in acknowledgment with a impressed nod. "It's good to have you on our side then." He let out a small smile, to which she narrowed her eyes.
"I'm not anybody's bodyguard." She stated firmly. After a few seconds she sighed. "Maybe just Caroline's."
He smiled. "You're a good older sister." Jade snapped her gaze to his, taken back by the statement. She is so not. But she guessed it's a low bar when you have Damon as a brother. After her lack of response, he sighed and gestured to the depth of the tomb. "Be careful. Don't trust her."
She pursed her lips and nodded once, watching his retreating back. She let out a sigh, and sat back on the floor, next to the tomb's opening.
"Hungry?" She mumbled, turning her head into the depths of the tomb.
"Why are you nice to me? To the lying, manipulative bitch?" Katherine emerged from the darkness, sitting on the floor once again.
Jade shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not a nice person, I'm a lying, manipulative bitch myself." She twisted her lips and flashed her eyebrows up and down. "Why did you helped me, Katherine? No bullshit."
"I told you. You remind me of myself. You're a fighter and a survivor, like me."
Jade snorted. "And I too, run away." She said and Katherine gave her a puzzled look. She sighed. "I moved out, sorry, ran away from Mystic Falls when I was 17. Leaving everything and everyone behind, not caring about shit, only myself."
Katherine hummend, nodding slowly. "Who did you ran away from?"
Jade barked a laugh. "A bad guy." The fucking devil, to be more accurate, and they're thinking about realising him. He could rot there for his entire life, she didn't gave a single shit. "So what's your vilian arc, Katarina?" She changed the topic, before Katherine could ask any more questions.
"What do you offer in return?" Katherine raised her eyebrow.
Jade smirked and picked up her bag. "I knew you would say that." She tossed the bag over to the vampire. She gave her some of her clothes, seeing before that they dressed in a smiliar way. Some dry shampoo, wet wipes, three bags of blood and a blanket. Katherine gave her a surprised look and gave her a thankful nod.
She cleared her throat. "Like I said before, Klaus hunted me down for a 500 years. It's kinda a long story, full of lies, twist and turns, but I'm gonna keep it short." Jade let out a small 'thank god'. "I originally come from Bulgaria, from which I was exiled in 1492. Elena's grandgrandgrand-blabla-parents, disowned me, I had a child out of wedlock. Imagine the disgrace."
"Ew."
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes. "So I took my ass out of my homeland and landed in England. And there I met a delightful family of the Originals. Well, Elijah and Klaus."
"Who the fuck is Elijah?" Jade grimaced, furrowing her eyebrows.
"His older brother. He is the one for whom the two vampires kidnapped Elena."
"So family's business, damn."
Katherine kissed her teeth and wiggled her finger at Jade. "Ah, and that's were you're wrong JJ. Elijah had been in a mood with Klaus for some time now. Nobody knows why. So my guess? Elijah just took her to fuck with him."
Jade let out a snort. "That's the most sibling thing I have ever heard."
Katherine smirked. "Then, I discovered that I wasn't human. A doppelgänger. A carbon copy of another being. Atom to atom."
"What does it even feel like? Staring at practically yourself."
Katherine groaned, looking upwards. "Like staring in some dusty, bland and dull mirror." Jade barked a laugh at that.
"So. One of the vampires who worked for them, fell infuated by me, and helped me escape. Then I killed myself having another one's blood in my system.
"Oh, shit. So they've been running, too. Because of you." Katherine rolled her eyes. "What? I'm not judging. I would probably do the same. Altough living and constantly looking behind your shoulder doesn't sound nice."
Katherine scoffed and raised her eyebrows. "It's fucking not. But I'd rather that, than dying in some ridiculous sacrifice."
"I guess you have a point." Jade muttered.
"Yeah. So I collected the ingredients for him. Hoping he'd be willing to strike the damn deal." She spat, annoyance in her voice.
Jade raised her eyebrow and gave Katherine a warning look. "Call my sister an ingredient one more time and I'm letting you starve."
"Okay, okay." She raised her hands defensively. A minute of silence passed through them, in which the whole time Katherine was studying Jade. "So what's your deal?" She said, cocking her head to the side.
"What?" Jade breathed and snapped her head to the vampire, scrunching her nose.
"With the head." Katherine pointed at her own head and swirled her finger around. Jade gave her an amused smirk.
She huffed a laugh, staring straight ahead. "I believe my shrink called it 'schizophrenia with psychopathic tendencies."
"So, you're a psycho."
"Pretty much."