[𝐈] 𝕽𝖊𝖘𝖘𝖚𝖗𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 | 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕰𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓: 𝗠𝗮 𝗣𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗲

Chapter Eighteen
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Ma Petite Colombe

  "The Lockwoods have a lot more lands than they used to. Possessions of all the tomb vampires built them quite a fortune." Katherine notes as we walk beside one another by the Lockwoods' gargantuan lake at the back of their mansion.
  "Why did you want them dead? You are the one who turned the large majority of them." I commented, following her on the path across the perimeter of the lake as we chat, for the first time in one-hundred-and-forty-five years.
  "There's nothing more annoying than a vengeful vampire, Marie. Just ask John Gilbert." she snarks, stopping us by an antiquated stone bench which has adorned by tall metal candle holders which held almost wickless candles, they most likely wouldn't have been used since the last Lockwood Mansion party, meaning the Founders Ball.
  "You haven't changed at all, have you?" I observed, stopping by the bench as we turned to face another for the first time since our departure from the house.
  "No. But you have. You're stronger. Meaner. Sexy." she coquetted, walnut eyes looking me up and down as we stand only a meter apart, no onlookers in sight as they fakely morn a putrid man with a distaste for actual manners.
  "Don't flirt with me, Katherine. I'm not Damon. I haven't spent almost a-century-and-a-half irremediably obsessed with you." I riposte, no longer interested in the game we had coerced one another into, it was beginning to get dangerous.
  "Based on your choice of women to confide in, I'd say otherwise. It's just that Stefan got there first. Though I'll admit, it does bother me that you're falling in love with someone else, especially when she's a blonde." she conceded, almost blowing out a sigh as she backtracks away from me, as to edge me on to follow her moves, but I'm tired of this dance, the life of no rules was an outlaw's life and I was no outlaw, not to the world of monsters and abominations.
  "I was never in love with you, Katherine. You manipulated the three of us, especially me, none of my feelings for you were real." I lie through the skin of my teeth, however, my many lifetimes have taught me how to act, this one certainly pushed that agenda. I wouldn't let Katherine Pierce, the devil incarnate, grasp hold of us again.
  "Believe what you want, Ma Petite Colombe. But I know the truth. And deep down, so do you." she proclaimed, trailing her fingers through loose strands of air.
  "The truth? Well, the truth is you're the same lying, selfish, duplicitous bitch that you've always been. So, whatever it is that brought you here, why don't you just get on with it and leave town?" I taunt, finishing the once lightly toned conversation to a dark night with a frigid breeze, this bred catastrophe, her features morphing to something unreadable before shapeshifting into something else.
  "Because if you don't, I will hunt you down and I'll force your heart out of your chest," I add, growling lowly at her as my eyes capture her own, a scorning fury overtaking me at the very temerity of her appearance, the audacity she had to show up again after all these years.
  "You wanna know why I'm here, Marielle? I came back for you." She clarified, affirming her decision to keep playing games, nonetheless, her mouse was uninterested, bored of the games the cat was venturing to play.
  "Well, there's a problem there Katherine, because we all hate you." I jeered, finishing the game before things got out of hand, I didn't want to alert Damon or Stefan to my prolonged whereabouts with our newly arrived enemy. Provoking Katherine Pierce was a bad move looking back on it, a straight-up moronic one, comparable to something Damon would do as she snatched a candle holder, impaling me with the steel rod before mentioning some crap line about a love story, whisking away as I reach into my pocket to call either of my vampire brothers for help.