𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧?
- - -
❝So if you see her
Tell her I'd do anything, I need her❞
If You See Her
~LANY
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The Veritas Estate - 1864
The boy rushed out to the porch as the carriage drew nearer. The colt stopped right in front of the house and the 17 year old boy's servant rushed to open the carriage, offering a hand to the maidens within.
Stefan had been told to receive the newest addition to their estate warmly. Though the boy was thoughtful about his brother's hard days at the front, he was eager to welcome the girl if it meant a new companion in the days that dragged by without his one true friend, Damon Salvatore.
A handmaiden accepts the hand with a greeting and gets down. Following her, a beautiful girl steps down, gracefully placing her hands in her handmaiden's and the servant's. She was clad in cloth that cascaded over her like a light glint, It was elegant, just like her step out of her carriage.
The first thing Stefan Salvatore witnessed of the maiden were her eyes. They rested like two pools of shining earth under the shadow of her hat. Brown doe eyes that reciprocate his smoldering stricken gaze. Stefan Salvatore was stricken by her looks.
To be honest, he felt something emotional stir in him. She looked so angelic, so delicate and elegant, that he wanted to caress her marble skin until the world ended.
The strikingly beautiful maiden makes two steps up the steps, her skirt swishing with her step. It seemed like she was barely touching the ground, that was how graceful she seemed. Stefan smiled, rushing down the rest of steps to take her fingers in his hand, bringing his anxious lips to the back of her slender hand, "You must be Miss Pierce..."
The maiden blushes and her face blossoms into a lovely shy smile. She bows innocently, "Please, call me Katherine...."
Late at night, the Gilbert residence - Present Day
Stefan tries calling Vivi again but it goes to voicemail. Where is she? He really needed her. Though he didn't want to accept it, the elder Gilbert being beside him seemed like the best option that assured him of the world not collapsing on him. Damon broke out of his cell and escaped once dark fell. There was some smell of blood mixed with the scent of vervain, but he couldn't stand and track down who's blood it was when he had an angry brother probably rampaging through town. To add to that, Elena had somehow found out about him.
He didn't find anyone in the house either. If only he paid more attention to his situation, then he would have realised that Kat was nowhere but with Damon.
Stefan groaned obliviously to all of this, running a hand through his hair when a ring summons his furtive green eyes to his screen. Damon's irritant voice rang across the line, some crackling heard faintly behind him, "I want my ring Stefan"
"Where are you Damon?"
"I'm at the sizzler," Damon mocks, his underlying rage veiled by his dangerous tone, "I had the buffet. Where's my ring Stefan?"
"I don't have it," Stefan insists, "Where are you? What have you done?"
"No, what have you done Stefan? You're the one that locked me in the basement and starved me, so whatever I've done, whoever I've sucked dry is on you, buddy"
"You're being careless," Stefan glares at air, imagining his brother before his eyes, "How many more animal attacks is this town gonna believe, huh?"
"I know how to cover my tracks little brother. Now, where's my ring?"
The younger Salvatore lets silence sink in, "...I'll get it back, but I need time"
"What, did you FedEx it to Rome?" Damon scoffs, a crash vibrates through the line and Stefan represses a blink, "Where is it? I want my ring, Stefan, or my next stop's is your Vivi's! Maybe Elena will be ready for me,"
Stefan growled, "I already want you dead. Don't give me another reason to make it happen."
"Don't give me another reason to rip you apart." Damon says. The nonchalance in his voice was very threatening, more threatening than it would be if he had actually snarled.
"Is that gonna be before or after you get your ring back?"
The taunt silences Damon for a short while before he hisses, "Just get it."
Stefan cuts the call with a sigh, leaning against the pillar as he slid to the porch at Elena's house. He could hear Elena crying in her room, hiccuping and wanting her sister to be there with her. It broke him every time he heard it.
Stefan could just hope he hadn't scarred Elena, or endangered Vivi. He'll protect them. He has to
A few hours later, at the Boarding House
Kat's eyes jerked wide open. She gasped, her throat clinging to its walls, mouth dry and eyes wide alert. She looks down to herself, only to see her hands tied tightly to the back of a wooden chair, very tightly. And her legs suffered the same fate. She tried to move but to no avail.
How was she even alive? The last thing Kat remembered was a sharp pain in her jaw as Damon twisted her neck. She should have been dead.
But here she was, feeling the pain of blood throbbing in her hands. She felt mucky, as if she had waded through the forest half naked in her bikini cover-all.
She was tied in the middle of the parlor of the Salvatore Boarding House, the archaic paintings colored by the macabre yellow light hanging from the walls. The big maroon curtains were drawn close, making it look like night inside the house.
"Stefan!!" she screamed. She screamed in panic till her dry throat went raw with pain. But he didn't come. Why would he let her be tied?
Everything hit her like a freight train. Her screams grew louder despite her pain as she yanked harder at her aching hands to be freed until a cheery girl jumped by her.
Wait, Vicki?
"Vicki!!!!" Kat shouted to her friend. The girl stopped in front of Kat, stretching her lips into a big dazed smile. It was too happy, too carefree. She was compelled.
"Vicki! No!" Kat tried to move her hands, "Help me out of these! Pleas-"
Kat's pleas trailed off when Damon Salvatore entered, swaying to a beat no one feels and shimmying to a tune no one hears. He looked at the Gilbert girl, gasping mockingly as if his vampire hearing didn't work when his poor captive was screaming the place down.
"O Katherine! Good, you're awake!"
His eyes glinted with something unreadable when he addressed her with her name. His shirt was carelessly billowing past him as he sauntered over towards them. He had a bottle of bourbon in his hand, from which he took a swig before smirking at Kat.
"Untie me Damon," Kat said. She was trying too hard not to sob, which just made her throat fill up with throbbing pain of a knot. Her eyes grew hotter, burning under the stress of tears begging to be released. No, she will not cry. She refused to be that coward girl who cried the moment she was in trouble. Damon will let her go.
Damon simply tutted at her brave facade, strutting down to Vicki. He put his torn wrist to her lips while he takes her free wrist and bit into it. To Kat's horror, Vicki happily accepted and returned the favor too readily.
Anger bubbled in Kat as she shouted, "Stop it! Stop it! Damon!"
He glared at her, then letting his face morph into a smirk as he lets go of the almost naked Vicki in the middle of the parlor.
He saunters over to her and bends down. Sour bourbon breath fans her face as his fangs hovered inches from her lips. Vicki's blood still dotted his lips that smirked. Kat couldn't remember how in the ever loving hell was she ready to guard something that menacing that fearlessly. She wished she could borrow some of that bravery right now.
Kat gulped, closing her eyes in a whimper as his cold breath moves closer up her mouth, to her neck.
"Your eyes..." he sighed, a bloody hand patting her cheek, "Why are they green?"
Kat cringed further onto the chair, shaking her head with trembling lips.
The tremble turned into a scream when pain pierced the soft skin of her neck. She tried to thrash about, trying to butt her head into Damon's despite the sting that ran up her right side, paralyzing her sensations.
Damon ran a hand over her hair, while he let his hand run over her eyebrow. It wasn't meant to hurt her, his pose was no longer predatorial but thoughtful. He looked stricken and in a daze, taking her features in with morbid admiration as he whispered, "How did you get out?"
"Please... Let, let me go," she trembled, with fear and blurring vision.
Whatever spell he was under, Damon swam out of it with his eyes creeping back into his cold facade. He sighed, as if pitiful for her.
"Wrong answer"
He sunk his fangs into her neck once again in the same place, denting the holes deeper. She protested in pain as everything brightened for one moment and grew dimmer the next.
Damon's phone rang, making him pull his teeth from out of her skin. He whistled and held it up smugly as he put it on speaker.
"Damon, I have the ring. Just, stop killing people."
Hearing Stefan's made a knot unclench in her gut. She had to let him know where she was, Kat started to scream, only for Damon to paste his palm strongly against her mouth before another decibel got out of her mouth. She writhed and protested, groaned and whined. But the stereo in the background diminished her voice to nothing.
"No promises Stefan..." Damon spoke into the phone with a sharp tone, "I need my ring now, if not... who knows, maybe I'll stop by Elena's house in the evening..."
Kat gasped. He shouldn't get his ring back. He'll just start attacking innocent people again and all trouble would have been for vain.
Kat moaned once again, trying to bite into his palm to let her go. But the action just makes Damon's lips lift up against Kat's cheeks, "And oh, you might wanna check in on Katherine first."
He cut the call irritatedly, looking to Vicki who was still dancing her hips off to the music, "Shimmy baby"
They danced around the house and Kat clenched her eyes closer as her neck burns. Vicki kept rambling on about her life. She even spoke of Jeremy until Damon started hating himself for not killing her yet.
"You are so damaged." Damon bluntly stated, his eyes ironically displaying what seemed like pity.
"Yep."
"I mean, you don't have one hint of self-esteem...."
He slowly pushed Vicki back from his chest, shaking his head, "You need to go"
Kat looked up in surprise as he compelled Vicki to get out of there. Just as the door closes, Damon turned to her "Now, tell me Katherine. How did you escape?"
Kat shook her head yet again "Escape what Damon? I don't know what you are talking about."
A whoosh sounds by her ears and Damon suddenly stood in front of her with a sneer, "Does Stefan know?"
She whimpered at his closeness, "Damon, I really don't know what you're talking about. I'm Kat, Damon... It's me."
His ice blue eyes widened at her in the yellow light, he stumbled on his feet with a gasp, "Katherine?"
He looked at her with the same dazed look as before, slowly peeling his gaze to her neck.
And then her tied hands.
"No no no" he shakily untied the knots of her hands and legs. He helped a confused Kat get up.
Weak and sore, her body wilted into his arms.
As if a switch is flipped, Angry Damon reappeared. He snarled, throwing Kat off her balance, "Kat."
She shouted in fear, wriggling once again out of his grip as she stumbled away from him. She didn't look behind, just ran. Inches from the front door, and Damon's hand snaked around her waist to pull her back.
High on reflex and not really looking where she was driving her limbs, her elbow jerked deep into his cheek. Taking advantage of this, she staggered outside the threshold, rolling over the porch steps as she stumbled down onto the stony concrete.
The sun was still in the sky, thank heavens. Kat heaved herself towards her car, which was parked out back now. Her shaky hands go to the door, but it didn't give in. She frowned, yanking even more desperately until she realized.
Her keys.
"No..." she hit the hood of the metal and began her weak barefoot journey into the forest where she and Stefan hid the daylight ring.
Kat grits another time as something sharp digs into her feet. The estate ruins didn't have the ring. She didn't know why she was looking for a ring, she even forgot how it looked but all she had in her mind was to get it or go home.
So she does the later. Stumbling out of the woods, she sighs as the blurry sight of her dull-green house awaits her. She switches on the hose of her backyard, cleaning her plain neck and hands. Splashing her face with more and more water, she blinks and goes around the house and inside.
Where she finds a panicking Vicki. Jeremy and Matt stagger back as she pushes them with a snarl. "Damn Vick!"
She frowns, and pushes them back herself "Guys move... Shh" she motions them to back off and kneels in front of her. Vicki cringes back into the wall, sunglasses on and half-eaten food in her hands. Kat blinks and gently takes her face in her hands "Hey Vicki... Shh, it's me, Kat... What hurts?"
"My gums, my teeth, Kat they hurt so bad" she cries.
"Shh," Kat rocks her back and forth, hugging her close. But Vicki pushes her back "Your heart"
This causes the elder Gilbert to freeze. No, it can't be.
"Vicki, look at me," she takes her cheeks as quickly as she can manage in her fear-hazed situation "You're gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be fine. Guys?" she looks to her brother, "Take her up to bed. Shut the blinds. She's gonna be okay. And come down okay?"
They take her up and Kat slumps down on a chair, hands and wrists aching. The door opens then, making her jump.
She was half afraid that Damon had somehow gotten out. Instead, she was met with Stefan's aghast form. He stood frozen at the door of her house, in different clothes than she last saw him. It seemed like a long time had passed since she last felt that wave of calm that overtook her in Stefan's presence.
"Vivi?" That was all the proof she needed that she was not hallucinating him. She gave a long sigh, the knot loosening in her gut as she barreled into his arms. He staggered back at the force of her arms, his hands cradling her in panic.
"Wha- Kat are you okay?" Elena rips her sister towards her. But every muscle in Kat's body screamed as she was yanked forcefully. She probably looked like a zombie who rose out of the dead: unkempt wet hair nested with streaks of mud, almost naked in the car wash bikini and hysterically showing up at the house after who knows how long. God knows what Jeremy and Matt thought.
"Vivi..." Stefan whispers as Matt and Jeremy come down "What happened?"
Wiping at her tears, she walks out to the front porch after gesturing the rest of the boys to stay in, both her sister and best friend following her.
"Dam...Damon," she swallows the lead in her throat, "He got out of the cellar."
Stefan sighs in agreement, "I know, wait—" realization dawns his eyes, "Wait, di— no no" he holds her firm by the shoulders, furtively leading his eyes across all of her exposed skin. His eyes were wide with a mixture of anger and fear. Too bad, Damon's fang marks had already healed to enrage him further.
"Stefan, Stefan. I'm fine," she whispers "I'm fine,"
She was not really fine, having come back to death and what not. But she really found it the worst time to bring it up to an emotional Stefan.
"Wait..." Kat hears her sister's panicked voice, making her realize that this wasn't a private conversation. Elena was there too. "He hurt you? Damon hurt you?"
"I healed Elena! But that's not the point! Vicki's transitioning" Kat bursts out but she backtracks with frowning eyes. She turns to her sister with a frown, "You know? What do you know?"
Elena sighs as she walks down the steps - away from Stefan "Let's not talk about that right now, what do you mean transitioning? Transitioning into what?"
Kat exchanges a look with Stefan and looks to her brother's window.
"...A vampire"
𝐈𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞'𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫
Somethin' somethin' going on peeps
Personally I just love writing Stefan and Kat little moments of unexplained concern.
Elena who?