If We Had Met First

Chapter Forty Four

            It had taken ages to move Sadie from the side of her mother’s body. Caroline had run back to the car that was still parked on the side of the road and was back with a blanket in hand in a blink of an eye. Even when Sadie’s small frame had been draped with the blanket it still trembled.

            Her hands had grasped her mother’s shirt and she refused to be pulled away so for awhile Caroline and Stefan stood off to the side unable to tear their eyes away from the girl crying over her mother’s.

            Eventually the sobs quieted and she stopped moving. When Caroline checked it was obvious she had fallen asleep. It was the hardest thing she had ever done to carry her limp form away from her mother’s body and to the car.

            Stefan didn’t follow the blonde vampire as she walked slowly away as to not wake Sadie. When she asked he said something about bringing the body so that she could be buried in a cemetery.

            He was crouched beside her body when he heard the voice.

            “Now that’s love, giving your life for someone you love.”

            Stefan spun around and saw a girl wearing a leather jacket with her long brown hair falling in ringlets around her shoulders.

            “Katherine.” He said, his tone resigned.

            She smiled slyly at him and asked, “miss me?”

            “Not in the slightest,” he said with narrowed eyes.

            “Don’t be mean Stefan.”

            “What are you even doing here Katherine? Aren’t you supposed to be on the run from Klaus?” Stefan asked.

            Katherine shrugged and began to walk towards him from the tree she had been leaning against. Even though she was wearing heels on uneven terrain she walked with the grace of a ballet dancer but still managed to remind him of a cat on the hunt.

            “It’s almost like you don’t want me here. Oh wait I forgot, you love the Gilbert girl now. In that case it might interest you to know that she did it. She woke up about an hour ago, her and your dear brother can be bloodsucking monster’s together now.”

            Stefan shrugged and tried to avoid looking at Katherine whose brown hair and eyes reminded him so much of Elena that it hurt. In the back of his mind he wondered when Katherine started reminding him of Elena instead of the other way around.

            “You know I did exactly what I told Damon I would do. I got Mason and myself out of dodge, I didn’t think he would be able to find a backup werewolf so easily.”

            “Why did you care, as long as you weren’t sacrificed right?” Stefan asked, his voice dripping with disgust.

            Katherine tossed her hair back over her shoulder proudly looking as though Stefan’s words didn’t faze her in the slightest.

            “I understand what you must think of me. Ever since I left my family in Bulgaria my life has been about me. Better anyone else die than I. But don’t mistake the fact that I will do what I need to survive with me being emotionless. The older you get the harder it is to keep the emotions at bay, sometimes when the feelings creep in I let them. I know you look at me now and you will never again see the girl you fell in love with but she is still here. You loved me once and I know you can love me again.” With every word she got closer and closer to him and by the end their faces were only inches apart and her words were mere whispers.