A life in the shadows

14

"Hey, Elena. Today was pretty fun. I would like to hang out again, if you don't mind." Siobhan smiled sweetly.
"What was today, darling?" Matteo looked lovingly at Siobhan.
"Oh Elena, Bonnie and Caroline showed me around Mystic Falls, amongst other things." Siobhan winked at Katherine.
"Okay, so Siobhan knows it's Katherine." Caroline grinned. "She's messing with her head."
"Right, yeah." Katherine played along as Siobhan leaned into Matteo.
"Darling, do you want a drink?" Matteo asked.
"You know what I like." She smiled flirtatiously.
"That I do." Matteo planted a kiss on her lips before walking off.
"So Elena." Siobhan started. "What did Bonnie say about the necklace?"
"Um, necklace?" Matteo walked back to hear her ask.
"The necklace you were going to give to her?" Siobhan raised a brow.
"Oh, the necklace." Katherine tried to save face. Matteo and Siobhan let out smiles.
"Okay, you can cut the crap now, Katherine. We knew it was you the moment we walked in." Damon looked at her in shock.
"Wait, Katherine?"
"Okay, we can go in now. Damon knows it's Katherine." Caroline said and the three walked to the booth.
"Hello, there." The girls smiled at the group.
"I'm impressed Damon. I didn't see this one coming." Katherine turned to him.
"I'd like to take credit, but it wasn't me."
"Unlike you, Katherine, we don't spend time plotting and planning traps or ambushes or whatever. Actually, this is all on you. No one told you to attempt to impersonate Elena." Matteo said.
"You're right." She replied simply. They all waited.
"That's it?" Damon asked. "Where's the Katherine Pierce we all know and hate?"
"Maybe I've changed." Siobhan hid her laugh with a cough. Matteo nudged her slightly, hiding a smile of his own. Matt walked over, a drink in hand and he set it in front of Matteo who passed it to his girlfriend.
"So why were you pretending to be me?" Elena asked as the girls got into the booth.
"I wanted information on Klaus. I figured Damon would know." She said.
"Why do you want to know about Klaus?"
"He himself has some kind of emotional connection to this town. I want to make sure he's not coming back."
"He's not. He's out looking for werewolves to turn into hybrids, remember?" Matteo told her.
"And how long is that going to take?"
"Knowing Klaus, probably a while."
"How exactly do you know Klaus? The two of you seemed close that day you came by. All that talk about how you were disappointed in him? He was a little upset over that." Katherine laughed, though there was no humour in her voice.
"What's with the twenty questions? It's not like I owe you an explanation, Katherine." Matteo told her. This managed to silence her.
"Okay. Well, this has been fun, but I should go." Katherine said. Damon held her gaze for a second before moving out of the way and letting her go. Siobhan looked at Matteo who moved out of her way and let her go after Katherine.
"Where's she going?" Damon asked.
"She wanted to have a chat with her."
"Uh oh." Damon said. "Your new girlfriend and your psycho ex girlfriend."
"You aren't worried for Siobhan are you?"
"I'm worried about you." Damon told his brother. "It never goes well."
"I have nothing to hide from Siobhan. She knows everything about Katherine. And I trust that she can handle herself, if necessary."
"Aww." Caroline cooed.
"Does she know you were ready to marry her?" Damon asked. The girls snapped their heads to Matteo.
"Yes, she does."
"You were going to marry Katherine?"
"Sort of. I proposed, but I didn't really get an answer, except for the whole killing me thing. Although I'm guessing that was probably a no. How did you find out?" Matteo asked his brother.
"When we turned, I went back home and I took your jacket, the one you always got mad at me for taking. Found your journal, so I read it."

"Here to tell me to stay away from your man?" Katherine drawled.
"More or less." Siobhan shrugged. "I had an interesting conversation with Killian today."
"Oh?" Katherine froze.
"Killian's a good guy, and he's a friend of ours. Okay more like family. We don't always get along, but we have each other's backs. We don't appreciate it when people try to mess with our family. He's an honourable guy, did you really think you could manipulate him?"
"Wishful thinking, I suppose. But I always get what I want so cherish what little time you have."
"You're delusional if you think Matteo will go for you. You're the one who cheated on him, with both of his brothers no less, compelled him not to realise, and then slowly drained the life out of him."
"I was protecting him."
"By killing him?"
"Klaus was coming to town. I couldn't leave behind any loose ends."
"I won't even touch on how messed up that is. You still messed with his head and went for his brothers."
"I'd be more than happy to explain myself to Matteo."
"Matteo is over you. Deal with it. Leave us alone, Katherine."
"Contrary to what you believe, I do truly love him. And I'm not letting go just yet."
"He doesn't love you anymore."
"Oh, honey. You can't stop loving someone so easily. He wanted to marry me." Katherine laughed. "You think some time with a whore at his bed is gonna erase that?"
"Pot, meet kettle." Siobhan replied.
"What?"
"You have seduced every man you've ever met, and you're calling me a whore? Matteo loved you, I know. But you were the one who put an end to that. It's been almost a century and a half, trust me, he's over you."
"It's not over. Enjoy the time you have with him." Katherine's lips curled into a smirk, before she walked away.

"Good morning." Matteo smiled at Siobhan the next day as she woke in his embrace.
"Morning. What's on the agenda today?" She put a perfectly manicured hand on his chest, smiling up at him.
"Well, the reason Kaia had to let me out was because I had a vision."
"What?" Siobhan gasped, sitting up. Once upon a time, visions were quite common amongst the fae. It warned them and guided them. But a thousand years ago, they stopped. It had only since happened a handful of times, so Matteo receiving a vision meant there had to be something huge going on.
"This town's in danger, Siobhan. And we have to stop it." Matteo stood up and started putting on his clothes.
"So what kind of danger?"
"I've never even seen anything like it before." Siobhan stood up and pulled on her own clothes. "But we start work today. It's going to attack Caroline by noon, so we have to find her and shadow her for the next three hours. If we find it, we can get Olly and Jessamine to check the archives."
"Yeah, of course. We stopping for breakfast?" She asked him.
"We'll stop by this cafe I saw near the Grill."
"Bonnie's leaving with her father later today, so Caroline and Elena will probably be there." Siobhan said. "Hey, can't your brother hear us?"
"No, he left early this morning. But speaking of brothers, I should call my youngest."
"You do that, I am going to check in with Jessamine."

"Hey, Stef."
"Hello, Matteo. How are you?"
"I'm good, back in Mystic Falls."
"I thought you'd have to stay away for a while?"
"So did I. How goes the hunt for wolves?"
"We keep lucking out, and Klaus won't let go."
"Yeah, he has issues like that."
"I met your friend, Vivi. She's quite a character."
"That she is. Anyways, she'll look out for you, but stay safe? I have to go now."
"Is that Matteo?" Klaus's voice sounded from the background.
"Yeah." Stefan replied.
"Matteo, how are you doing?" Klaus took the phone from Stefan who scoffed and looked at him incredulously.
"I'm fine, Klaus. How are you?"
"I'm alright."
"Hey, don't be rash with my brother, don't treat him like-"
"You don't have to give me this speech every time."
"Just to make sure you remember."
"How's Siobhan doing? I imagine Katherine's arrival in your life is unsettling?"
"Katherine isn't in my life, and stop being pathetic. I will not break up with Siobhan, so get over whatever you have against her."
"Do you even truly know her?"
"Of course I do, stop it Klaus. Anyways, I really have to go now."
"Bye, Matteo." Klaus hung up.
"God, what do the originals have against you?" Matteo asked Siobhan as she hung up her own phone. "I don't know why they don't see the same talented, beautiful creature I do."
"What do you want, Matteo?" She giggled.
"Nothing, darling. I just don't understand how they could both have such hatred for you."
"There's a reason I don't get along with them. I will tell you all about it later tonight, Deal?"
"Deal." He gave her a smile, "come on let's go."

"And he was walking down the road and I froze and I think he saw me but then I vamp sped away and I was so pathetic and a mess and he looked totally fine and I bumped into Tyler and I dragged him away." Caroline was talking animatedly to Elena back from Bonnie's house.
"I really don't like this part." Siobhan said to Matteo. "I mean we have to look out for her, but it's such an invasion of privacy."
"Do you wanna hang back a little more so that we can only see and not hear her?"
"Could we?"
"Yeah of course." Matteo said and the two slowed down until Caroline was in view but not too close. A flash out of the corner of his eye caught Matteo's attention. "Actually, no. I think I saw something."
"What?" Siobhan looked around as she and Matteo dove down to fly a little closer to Caroline and Elena. She peered closer until she saw the same grey blur. "I think I saw the same thing."
"You look out for Caroline while I go look for it." Matteo said before flying off. He was about to head back to Siobhan when he saw it. He didn't know what it was. With a shrivelled face and hollowed eyes. It didn't have substance to it, sort of like a ghost in a movie. It could fly too. Matteo slowly approached it. "Hello?"
The thing opened its mouth wide and left out a terrible screech that knocked Matteo out of the sky. He landed in front of Caroline and Elena with a thump followed by his "oof."
Caroline looked down at him. "Matteo?"
"Hi." He grinned sheepishly.