Save it, Damon (Katherine | Damon)

Working for Russel was a good deal. He was a powerful vampire, and she thought that that meant that she was safe as long as she was under Russel's protection, and she considered herself to be, since she was working for him and she didn't think he'd want her dead, not as long as she was useful. However, Katherine was always looking over her shoulder. She didn't trust anyone, much less a vampire as powerful and old as Russel. They often went power crazy.

It was stressful, but definitely worth it. But after some time, she really needed some vacations. When she wasn't needed, she slipped away in the hopes of managing to get one or two weeks of peace before returning to Russel. But what would she do with her time off? Little after she'd left, an idea came to her. It'd been a while since she'd last talked to the Salvatore brothers, so why not pay them a little visit?

A few hours after that thought occurred to her, she was standing before the Boarding House. At first, she thought about just walking in without knocking, but then she had an idea. Why not be polite for once? She could play with them better that way. With a wicked smile that she quickly hid, Katherine rang the doorbell.

I sat on the couch when the doorbell rang. I already knew who it was, I could smell her even when her legs weren't spread out like scissors. I used my super speed and opened the door. "Well, if it isn't the Petrova skank. What the hell do you want!?" I asked, glaring at Katherine, making sure she got the picture that she knew I knew she wasn't Elena. I motioned my hand, letting her know she can walk in, even though I didn't want her to. I had heard from Pam, that there was an older Vampire that looked like Elena at Fangs and Games a few nights ago. "What the hell brings you to Crystal Waters?" I asked.

Katherine smiled ever so slightly as she walked in, wanting to keep up her pretense. She'd hoped to find both brothers, but Damon was more than enough. She'd always enjoyed playing him, and that was what she was there for. After all, what could be better than to pick up an old pastime during her little vacations? If she actually managed to get him to think she was playing nice, it would be so much fun. It never seemed to take much to fool the Salvatores, especially Damon.

"The same as always. Opportunity." She let her eyes become a bit thoughtful as she thought about what she would say next. "I wanted to get away from Mystic Falls, from the past. A lot changed." She kept her features serious as she spoke.

I rolled my eyes when she said she was looking for "Opportunity". "Well, I'm sorry for your buzzkill, but if you are wanting my job, you're gonna have to stop being a bitch, unless you did stop," I said, taking a sip of my whiskey that was laying on the counter. "Well, we finally decided to move here with Elena and the others. Elena is a Vampire, now," I said, not sure if Katherine was aware of what happened.

Job? Katherine didn't even know Damon had a job. As far as she knew, he preferred living easy and using all this time for fun and relaxation. Well, until Elena came along and he automatically got the job of keeping her alive and fun was demoted to a second priority. "I've already got myself a job." Then, as she thought about the rest of his sentence, she decided to put plan "fool Damon" in action. "But I did change, Damon."

So Elena was a vampire? Good for her, Katherine thought. Klaus probably wouldn't be very happy about that, though. His line of doppelgangers was over. Elena couldn't have kids, and she was of no use to him anymore. It seemed like they were on the same boat. "Well, she's safe now. That's what you wanted, right?"

I was shocked by her choice of words. I wanted to say, "Who the fuck are you, and what the hell did you do to Katherine? but instead, I just said, "Yeah, but it's not what she wanted, but she's coming to accept it. She has transitioned already before coming here, and what sort of job do you have?" I asked, smirking at Katherine.

Elena as a vampire. That thought interested Katherine greatly. How was vampire Elena? People changed after transition, sometimes quite a lot. Having heightened emotions did the job quite nicely. Maybe she'd go after Elena to see for herself later. For the moment, she was having some fun.

"She'll adapt. We all do. It can be hard at the beginning, but maybe she'll even like it once she gets used to it." For once, Katherine was telling the truth, even if it was mixed with her pretense of niceness. She did think Elena would adapt to her new life, especially having two vampires to tend to her every need. "Just helping out a vampire, nothing much."

I nodded at Katherine and said, "Yes. To be honest, the whole synthetic blood thing was a little out of hand. It tastes worse than animal blood," I said, rolling my eyes. I gave Katherine a smirk when she said that she was working for a Vampire. "Aren't we all. I'm Vampire Sheriff of Crystal Waters," I said, keeping my smirk on my face. "Stefan is also Sheriff, along with another ancient Vampire named Eric that I haven't met yet," I said, taking a drink of my Whiskey.

"Synthetic blood?" She was going to add a remark about Damon getting soft when she caught herself and continued her pretense. "It's hard to imagine something worse than animal blood."

Damon as a Sheriff? The thought made Katherine smirk inwardly. It was definitely a position that suited him, and a small part of her, the part that still cared about him and Stefan, was glad that he'd found himself a job that he seemed to like, something that fit his profile. "It seems like you've come a long way since I last talked to you. Sheriff? That's a pretty important position." Katherine appealed to the part of her that was happy for Damon and used to it manage to put on a smile.

I gave Katherine the same smirk she had given me. "Yeah, and whatever you do, please don't drink it, it's like not drinking blood at all. It's like a Human drinking Water. there's no taste at all." I said, rolling my eyes. "Not as important as Guardian of the Vampire Authority. That bastard, Elijah has become Guardian" I said, making a disgusted face. "That psychotic bitch, Ravyn is his assistant, and I think they are hiding, Klaus, Rebekah, and Kol, but I am not sure," I said, smirking. "But, you might. Have you seen, Rebekah, Klaus, or Kol in Crystal Waters for that matter?" I asked, smirking at Katherine. No matter how much she runs from them, the Mikaelsons are always right behind her, tracking her down. I think it might be some lame fetish thing that they have for Katherine, which I find odd.

Blood without taste? For her, that sounded better than animal blood. The latter had a taste, alright, and it was a very, very disgusting one. How Stefan could have survived on that for so long escaped her. The mere thought of drinking it made her nauseated. "Why did they make synthetic blood when there are blood bags?" She mused, a bit more to herself than to Damon.

If Elijah was a Guardian, then she could consider herself in trouble. How could she hide from the Originals when one of them was practically the head of the Authority? They had eyes everywhere, and not even Katherine could hide from them. But Klaus was dead, so she was free as long as no one else decided to go after her.

"I haven't seen them since Mystic Falls. But isn't Klaus dead?" If Klaus was somehow alive and in Crystal Waters, she had to run. Again.

I smirked at Katherine and said, "Because the blood is still Human, and it would cause Newborns to want the real thing than rather from some plastic bag, but Vampires have the Option of Tru Blood the synthetic crap, or blood bags., which is what I drink. I only drink the synthetic blood to gross out the Hybrid, Tyler Lockwood." I said, chuckling. I quirked an eyebrow at Katherine, and said, "No, sadly. Bonnie used her Magical JuJu to keep us alive. If Klaus dies, then all Vampires created by him supposedly die if he dies, but I think it was just a way to keep him alive, actually, because when we desiccated him, he was truly afraid, and Klaus never really showed fear." I said, making a perfect assumption. "So, yeah. Bonnie did a bad mistake keeping him alive," I said. "I don't get why he wouldn't go after when things got bad. I'm also surprised Rebekah and Kol didn't find you," I said, sounding impressed. "The only good one now is Elijah ... supposedly," I said, taking another sip of my Alcohol.

Craving blood was only natural for a vampire, that was the way Katherine liked to think. There was nothing wrong with ripping out a few necks, especially if you did it to keep yourself alive. She didn't drink from blood bags - she thought they made blood taste like plastic. Besides, nothing could beat the feel of the warm blood spilling out of a human's neck into her mouth, the feel of their heartbeat under her lips and on her fangs, still attatched to their carotid artery. How could a blood bag possibly compare? "Humans never stop trying to control us, do they?" Instead of smirking like she wanted to, Katherine forced herself to sigh. Was Damon falling for her trick? She couldn't tell.

"She did what?" For a split of a second, Katherine felt herself slipping out of control. They'd had the perfect opportunity to kill Klaus, but they it go. They let him live. And once again, Katherine was on the run. She couldn't believe it, and she couldn't believe she was still alive. Slowly, she forced herself back into control, focusing on the little game she was playing with Damon. "So Klaus is still alive, Elijah is a Guardian and they might be in Crystal Waters?" Just peachy. Katherine was already thinking about that nice little town she'd visited before coming to Crystal Waters. Maybe she could take an extended vacation there, away from Klaus. "Elijah betrayed you, he betrayed Elena. All that for his brother. What makes you think he won't do it again?"

"That' just it, Katherine! I don't know if he will, but if he does, then he betrays the Authority, which means The True Death" I said, rolling my eyes. "Elijah's body has become weak now. He can staked and killed by normal wood now, which means so can Rebekah, and Kol. As for Klaus, we have to rip out hi heart, or kill him. I don't even know if they work for Russell Edgington, the leader of the Sanguinistas. He's fucking three thousand years old. How is that even possible, when the Originals are supposed to be the very first Vampires? That's why I think the whole bloodline thing was just something Klaus made up. Also, It could be Esther that weakened her children's bodies. I think she might be in Crystal Waters somewhere as well," I said, smirking at her. "There's that Bitch Salome, and her daughter Nora working for Russell, along with those other psychotic Vampires who originally worked for him," I said, rolling my eyes.

"If he's a Guardian, he practically is the Authority!" Katherine exclaimed. She didn't really care, not about Damon and Stefan's side of the problem. Or at least she didn't want to care. Deep down, she did, but that was something she barely even admitted to herself. After all, humanity was a vampire's greatest weakness, and Katherine didn't like being weak.

"They're weakened?" Katherine felt way out of the loop. When had all that happened? As far as she knew, everything was normal with the Originals. But she'd rather things weren't. Having Klaus and all his siblings dead sounded like a dream come true. It would be a dream come true. She'd spent centuries imagining their dead bodies, her family's death avenged. "He joined the Authority for protection, didn't he?" It made sense. Being a Guardian, there was no way he could be killed without an army of powerful and resourceful vampires going after his murderers. Besides, he was in a highly secured location. No one went in or out without authorization .

So Damon didn't like Russel? He would be so pleased if he ever learned that Katherine was working for him. It was what was best for her. Sure, she knew that Russel was completely out of his mind, but she was fine with that as long as he offered her protection. "If they're working for Russel, then they're against the Authority. And Elijah always sides with his family."

I sighed at Katherine and said, "Yes, he is basically the Authority, but he won't put his Family first because I saw how fixated he is on his new job, and plus, do you honestly believe Klaus, and Elijah's other two siblings would actually mainstream? They kill just as much as I do, and why I'm mainstreaming is because I'm playing smart. Elijah has the Human population wrapped around his finger, along with the Vampire population. If Klaus or his siblings honestly did something bad, he'd give them the True Death without blinking. Trust me, Elijah is completely fixated on his job, and yes, they're weakened. I could sense it just by standing next to him, but he's still physically powerful, so it would still be a death wish to try and kill him, especially since he's Guardian," I said all at once. I sighed and lit a cigarette.

"So if his family is siding with Russel, Elijah doesn't know about it." Katherine inferred, her eyes turning thoughtful for a moment. It would be so easy to kill the Originals since they were vulnerable. Russel was older than them, Katherine remembered. If she could somehow get him to help her, he'd have them dead before they even realized it.

"Of course they won't mainstream!" Katherine blinked, trying to get a grip on herself. Sometimes she had the feeling that Damon purposefully pissed her off supposing that she didn't know something that she found extremely obvious. Playing nice was getting tiring. She just hoped it was worthwhile. "But especially Klaus always seeks comfort with family. He carried them around in coffins for centuries! If Elijah is siding with the Authority, they probably all are. But with Elijah as a Guardian, they can kill as much as they want without anyone giving it much attention. If someone finds out something, he might even choose to betray family for once, but as long as no one notices a thing, they're safe. Besides, they probably trust that Elijah will put family before anything as always."

I looked at Katherine, and said, "I thought you knew about all them being weakened, especially with them keeping tabs on you ... Unless they knew they couldn't trust you with the information, and wanting to kill them, which was actually smart of them, but I wished they told you so that you could've killed them," I said, being honest. Katherine was more physically powerful than me to kill them. "You're right, then that would mean they are on the council, but I wonder why they haven't come out of hiding like the Chairman did. I met the chairman of the Vampire Council, and he's two thousand years old. I have access to the Council, but Elijah could deny my access. If he does, then I'll know for sure that they are indeed here, but I want you to come with me," I stated. If they truly with the Authority, then What Katherine said is true. He's letting them kill and keeping them in hiding. The only one besides him that knows is probably Evon and Ravyn.

Katherine bit back a sarcastic reply. Of course they wouldn't tell her that they were weakened, not unless they had a death wish. They knew she wanted them dead, and telling your enemy that killing them had suddenly become much easier was never a good idea. Instead of her sarcastic reply, Katherine forced herself to say something nicer and hoped that Damon was falling for her trick. Having to be so nice in vain would put her in a very bad mood, and that could end badly. "They know I want them dead, Damon. When did this happen? The last time I saw them was when they were still in Mystic Falls."

"If they're vulnerable, they'd rather stay hidden until they find a way to protect themselves. They've got a lot of enemies, Damon. If word gets out that they're vulnerable and they're found, they'd be killed within a week." It seemed like playing nice was getting her somewhere, at least. She'd learned more about the Original's latest accomplishments in the few minutes she'd been talking to Damon than in the weeks she'd been in Crystal Waters. "To the Authority?" Katherine took a moment to think. A lifetime of running or putting her life in risk for her freedom? She'd take the chances. After all, she'd done that before and she'd come out alive. "I'm in."

I smirked at Katherine and said, "This happened when Alaric died. Once her all mighty weapon was gone, she took things into mother nature's hands, and took away there weakness to the White Oak, and gave them the ordinary weakness that normal Vampires have." I stated. I continued to give Katherine my smirk and said, "Good, but no matter how much you want to stick a piece of wood through their hearts, I implore you not to. The Headquarters have cameras up the ass from every angle. They even make you put on Stakes that are strapped on your chest that automatically stake you if you hurt someone in the building." I said, rolling my eyes. I thought it was retarded for me, but technically it was clever for the most part. Newborns that walk in there must die a lot.

Katherine nodded. That was, in her opinion, what Esther should have done in the first place. Then, Esther herself could have killed them easily. Or she could have used Finn to do it, since he had betrayed his siblings. Alaric had been too much of a risky play. Sure, Katherine preferred to send other people to do her dirty work, but there came a time and a situation when even Katherine would take matters into her own hands.

Stakes? Great, that was going to be fun. She rolled her eyes inwardly, still trying to keep up her pretense. It'd gotten her that far, and she was sure it would get her further along. That hadn't been her intention, she'd just wanted to toy with Damon a little, but she wound up getting invited to survey the Authority. Katherine wasn't one to pass up on opportunities. "This will be strictly a survey mission, then?" Katherine asked. "I can work with that. But isn't there a way to deactivate the stakes? That way we could kill two birds with one stone: get rid of Elijah and figure out if the other Originals are there."

I looked at Katherine like she was crazy. "Once the Guards strap it on you - it's activated, and the only way for you to deactivate them is rip them apart, but the stakes are triggered by our negative senses. It has a chip with Witches blood in it that can give the stake a mind of it's own. Let me show you what I mean," I said, opening up my labtop. I had an examination recording on a Sanguinista rebel that was the first guinea pig to test out the Magical electric stakes. The Sanguilist was strapped on chair in front of the chair and his fangs contracted, and then, plat. The Vampire had imploded from the impact of the stake. "See what I mean? Even making your fangs grow can set off the Stakes, and like I said, once you make slightest negative movement - your dead." I said, being serious. "So does that answer your question?"

If even the slightest aggressive movement could set it off, Katherine was pretty sure that that mission had just become infinitely more dangerous. They couldn't control all of their movements. Involuntary reflexes, like clenching your jaw if something angered you enough, were almost impossible to control. 500 years of practice gave her an advantage, but she was sure that even she couldn't control them all. But it was all or nothing, and she was willing to take the risk.

"You said you have contacts in the council. Could you maybe get them to give us a placebo, a stake that wouldn't set off?" She asked, knitting her eyebrows together ever so slightly as she thought. Though she could barely admit it to herself, she was a bit scared. The idea of having a stake strapped to her back that could set off at any time was not pleasant.

I shook my head and said, "No, they are all tested by Elijah himself. If a placebo were made, Elijah would kill the person who made for treason. Like I said, We have to play by there rules. I know you don't really like other peoples rules, and neither do I, but we have to do this, or we meet the True Death." I said, looking at Katherine. She wasn't all too thrilled with the stakes, but I wasn't either. If I could, I would destroy the annoying things myself.

Katherine nodded. She was out of ideas, and they didn't have much time. If the Originals managed to find some way of getting their indestructibility back, she would be powerless to kill them. They would be powerless to kill them. Their reconnaissance mission had to be carried out quickly. Granted, she wasn't comfortable with it, but her freedom might depend on it. After 500 years of running, she wasn't going to give it up so easily.

"Then we play by their rules. It's just a recon mission, we won't need to do anything drastic." The last part was a bit to comfort herself, though she'd never admit to being uncomfortable, much less a bit scared. It was only natural, she knew that, but it wasn't her natural.