𝐊𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐀
they wanna see you do good, but not better than them, remember that
"HELLO, Gilbert twins," Damon said, opening the door of the Boarding House to reveal the twins.
"Stefan here?" Elena asked as they walked in.
Echo smiled up at Damon, and poked him in the stomach as she bypassed him, and walked into the living room, and asked, "What is this about?"
Stefan moved out of the way to show Rose. Elena stepped up to stand beside her twin who pulled a face, and stood in front of Elena quickly. "Really? You?!" She scoffed.
"Hear us out," Stefan said, pleading the twins with his eyes.
Echo sighed and said, "You got five minutes before I drive a stake through her heart." She sat down on the couch and Elena sat beside her, taking her hand in hers.
"Okay, you have to understand I only know what I've picked up over the years," Rose told the twins. "And I don't know what's true and what's not true. That's the problem with all this vampire crap. But Klaus, I know is real."
"Who is he?" Elena asked.
"He's one of the originals, one of the legends," Rose stated. "From the first generation of vampires."
"Like Elijah?" Echo questioned, tilting her head, her hair falling slightly in front of her eyes, and she blew out a breath, and the piece of hair moved out of her sight.
"No. Elijah is the Easter Bunny compared to Klaus," Rose said, shaking her head. "Elijah was just a foot soldier. Klaus is the real deal."
"Klaus is known to be the oldest," Stefan pitched in.
"I don't care how old he is," Echo stated, running a hand through her hair. "You're trying to tell me that the oldest vampire in history in time is coming after us? Well great, that's just freaking' fantastic!" She huffed, rolling her eyes.
While Rose said, "Yes," Stefan said, "No."
"What they're saying is — I mean, if what she's saying is true—"
Damon was cut off by Rose saying, "Which it is."
"And you're not just saying it so we don't kill you—"
Rose cut him off again, saying, "Which I'm not."
"Then we're looking at a solid maybe," Damon finished.
"Look, Elijah's dead, right?" Stefan asked, standing up. "Thanks to Damon and Echo. So, no one else even knows that you two exist."
"Look, I've never even met anyone who's laid eyes on him," Stefan said, sitting on the couch next to Elena. "I mean, we're talking centuries of truth mixed with fiction. I mean, we don't know what's real. For all we know, he could just be some sort of stupid bedtime story."
Echo rose her eyebrows up. "And those are the kinds of stories you have to look out for. Since vampires, witches, and werewolves are real... who says he's not?"
"The point is, if he wants something, he gets it," Rose stated, giving them a wide-eyed look. "If you're not afraid of Klaus, then you're an idiot."
"Alright, we're shaking," Damon said, seeing the worried look on Echo's face. "You've made your point."
"TELL everyone we weren't feeling well and we went home from school," Elena told Caroline as Echo carried a large bag of things through the woods.
The blonde walked beside them as she said, "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. I'm a terrible liar."
"And keep Stefan busy, please," Elena said. "I don't want him knowing what we're up to."
"I'm even worse at duplicity," Caroline stayed, whining a little. "And you two know this."
"You managed to keep us occupied when Katherine paid Stefan a visit," Echo said, looking over at Caroline as they neared the tomb.
"Yeah, cause she threatened me," Caroline stated, sighing. "Not that I'm saying that you should use that as a tactic. Stefan's gonna see right through me."
"Care," Echo said, turning to look at the blonde, "I love you, and I need you to do this for us."
"Okay," Caroline said with a sigh. "I promise."
Echo smiled at her best friend. "Thank you." She turned and continued to walk towards the burnt down church.
Caroline followed after them, asking, "Why don't you want Stefan to know?"
"Because he would never be okay with us doing this," Elena answered as Echo headed down the stairs.
"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Caroline asked again as they stood in front of the sealed-off door.
Echo nodded and said, "Yes, Care. She's the only one who can tell us how to stop him."
Caroline sighed. "But you're asking for the truth from someone who's probably never given it. Are you sure about this?"
"If she doesn't answer us truthfully, i'll torture it out of her. I'm good at that sort of thing," Echo answered, shrugging slightly, grinning.
Caroline laughed and walked over to the door as Echo set the bag down. The blonde moved the large rock that blocked the door, and set it to the side.
Smirking, Echo shouted, "Katherine," in the dark cave. She grinned at her sister and Care as they hers a groan from somewhere inside. "We have a few questions for you!"
"We'll be okay from here," Elena told their friend. Caroline nodded, but didn't leave.
Shuffling was heard and a figure stood in their view. A very dead, sickly pale, looking figure. "Hello Elena, Echo. You two come to watch me wither away? Goodbye, Caroline," Katherine said, giving the blonde a pointed look.
"As long as we stay on this side of the door, she can't hurt us. Please," Elena said to the blonde. Caroline looked at the girls once more before she left.
"Wow, you look like shit." Echo smirked at Katherine who scowled at her.
"Stefan know you two are here?" Katherine asked. "Or Damon for that matter?"
Echo rolled her big brown eyes. "We're our own women, we don't need their approval."
"I brought you some things," Elena said, ignoring the question, pulling out a blanket and a new set of clothes.
"You came to bribe me? What is it that you want?" Katherine asked, giving them a look.
"I want you to tell us about Klaus," Echo said.
"Hmm, you've been busy." Katherine smirked at them.
"Yeah..." Echo trialed off. "Staked Elijah and everything." She then held out an old book. "We brought you this. It's your family history. It says in here that the family line ended with you. Obviously... that's not true."
"You think that if you'd bought some family keepsake then I'd open up?"
"We also brought you this," Elena stared, holding up a bottle of blood.
The veins under Katherine's eyes appeared, and she looked at the blood, hungry. She lurched forward, but was stopped by the invisible door.
"Tell is about Klaus and we'll give you some," Echo said, smirking at Katherine as she took the bottle of blood from Elena, and wiggled it.
"You don't look so good," Elena spoke up, tilting her head. "How long before your body shuts down? Ten, twenty years? It must be painful to desiccate and mummify. I can't even imagine."
They stepped closer to Katherine who slid against the stone wall, her eyes still lingering on the blood.
Echo poured some blood in a small cup, and pushed it over to Katherine with a stick.
Katherine reached for it with her shaky pale fingers and downed the blood. "You both have the Petrova fire."
"More blood?" Katherine put the cup on the floor, and Echo took it.
"It's a long story, Klaus and I," Katherine stated, "Goes all the way back to England, 1492 after I left Bulgaria. Or was thrown out."
Echo sat down on the ground, Elena joining her as she asked, "Thrown out?"
"My family, your true Ancestors, they disowned me," Katherine explained, "My indiscretions were not tolerated at that time. I had a baby out of wedlock." She rolled her eyes as she said, "The shame."
Echo gave Katherine some more blood, and it was weird to see the color slowly come back to the vampire. "It was kept secret?" She asked.
Katherine nodded and said, "Mhm. My baby was given away. I was banished to England, and I had to learn to adjust. So I quickly became English. It was there that I caught the eye of a nobleman named Klaus. I was taken with him at first until I found out what he was and what he wanted from me. And then I ran like hell."
"So, what would Klaus want from you?" Elena questioned.
"The Same thing he wants from you. He wants to break the curse."
"By sacrificing the Petrova doppelgänger," Echo realized.
Katherine nodded and said, "He wanted to drain every single drop of blood from my body."
"What does the Petrova bloodline have to do with Klaus?"
Katherine shifted slightly. "It's really tedious, but the curse was bound by the sacrifice of Petrova blood. Witches are crafty with their spells. The doppelganger was created as a way to be able to undo the spell. Once the doppelganger reappeared, the curse can be broken."
"So you ran before he killed you," Elena said.
Katherine pressed her lips together tightly before saying, "Something like that."
Katherine then told them about how after Trevor helped her get away, she was brought to Rose's house who said she would bring Katherine back to Klaus. It was a whole ordeal.
"Rose never ended up taking you back to Klaus, did she?" Elena asked.
Katherine shook her head. "No, but not because she had a change of heart." She then told them about how she stabbed herself so Rose would feed her blood, and then when she was left alone, she hung herself, officially turning herself into a vampire.
"You killed yourself?" Elena asked in disbelief.
Katherine nodded and said, "Klaus needed a human doppelganger. As a vampire, I was no longer of any use to him."
lBut it didn't work," Echo stated. "You didn't really escape. You've been running from him- from Klaus ever since."
"I underestimated his spirit for vengeance," Katherine explained, rolling her eyes. "But living out of a suitcase is better than dying so that you could have your blood spilled over some silly little rock." She then explained how she used both Rose and Trevor to escape.
"Rose and Trevor both spent the last five hundred years running because you used them!" Elena spat angrily, "Trevor just got killed."
"Never thought he would have lasted that long," Katherine said, nonchalantly as she picked up the Petrova book, flipping through it.
"You don't even care that you ruined their lives," Elena said in shock.
Katherine looked up at Elena, saying, "I was looking out for myself, Elena. I will always look out for myself. If you're smart, you'll do the same."
"So how much of your little story is true?" Echo asked, narrowing her eyes.
"I have no reason to lie," Katherine stated. "I have no reason to do anything but sit here and read and rot." "
"Okay, assuming it's partially true, that's the reason you came back isn't it?" Elena asked, her gears turning. "Because you wanted to be the one to hand me over to Klaus," she said.
Katherine shut the book and said, "Mmm, five hundred years on the run, I figured maybe he'd be willing to strike a deal."
"So, you got Mason Lockwood to find you that stupid moonstone..." Echo trialed off, before her eyes widened in thought. "What else do you need to break the curse?"
"It's not just Petrova blood and the stone, is it?" Elena asked, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Hmm, look who's getting smarter." Katherine smirked, looking between the twins.
"Elena's right," Echo said, snapping her fingers. "Otherwise, there would be no reason to trigger Tyler Lockwood's werewolf curse."
Katherine simply smirked and shrugged her shoulders. "Witches and their spells — so many ingredients, so many people to sacrifice."
"So you need a werewolf..." Echo trialed off, furrowing her brows. "What else?"
"A witch to do the spell. Mine bailed, but Bonnie will do just fine."
Echo's eyes then widened as she said, "And a vampire." She turned and angrily glared at Katherine. "How fucking da—"
"So, you were just going to hand us all over to be killed?" Elena asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Better you die than I," Katherine stated before walking back into the tomb.
Suddenly, Stefan walked into the bottom of the church, saying, "Elena, Echo!"
"Stefan, what are you doing here?" Elena asked in shock.
Stefan looked at Elena, eyes wide. "I could ask you two the same question."
Elena sighed and said, "Caroline told you."
"No, she kept your secret," Stefan said, shaking his head. "But it didn't take long for me to figure out what was so important that you two had to keep it from me."
"Well, I'm not a big fan of you,, not after what you forcibly fed me your blood, so..." Echo trailed off, crossing her arms.
"Listen to me," Stefan said, looking between the them. "Whatever she said to you two is a lie. Do not listen to her. She is a liar."
"What if she isn't?" Echo asked, raising her eyebrows. "She could be telling us the truth."
"You don't have to worry," Stefan said, looking over at her with soft eyes. "Damon and I will keep you two safe."
Echo scoffed. "Yeah, sure, right. Oh, come on, you have no clue what will happen, none of us do."
"She's right," Katherine stated, appearing at the door to the tomb. "There's nothing you can do, Stefan. I haven't even told you the best part of the story." She then told them all about how she went back home to Bulgaria to find her entire family dead.
"He killed them, my entire family," Katherine stated. "Just to get back at me for running. Whatever you do to escape Klaus, he will get his vengeance on your friends, your family, on anyone that you've ever loved."
"No, do not listen to her, okay?" Stefan asked, grabbing both of the twins shoulders. "We will protect you both. You're not going to die."
"Always the protector," Katherine said with a laugh. "But even you must realize that there is nothing you can do."
Elena walked up to her twin, saying, "We can figure it out."
"Oh, you can figure it out," Katherine said, holding up the Moonstone, "But you have to have this to do so."
"Oh, no. There it is," Stefan said, pointing at the vampire. "That's the ultimate lie, isn't it? You spun this whole thing so that we would have to get the stone from you, didn't you?"
"I didn't spin anything, Stefan," Katherine stated. "It's the truth."
"Let me guess, you want to trade that stone for your freedom," Stefan said with a grin as he walked towards the door, "You manipulative, psychotic bitch."
Katherine laughed. "My freedom? That's where you're wrong, Stefan. I don't want my freedom. Because when Klaus shows up to kill us all — and he will — I'll be in the tomb where no vampire will enter because they can't get out. I'll be the safest psychotic bitch in town." Katherine then turned and walked back into the tomb.
Echo let out a breath as she turned to her sister and Stefan. "I will be the one to be sacrificed. I will protect you, Elena. I will not allow some douchebag to come into my home and destroy everything that I have grew to care about. I won't." She then walked out of the tomb, clenching her jaw as she thought about what she was going to do.