1865 Flashback

It had been 10 months since the Salvatore brothers were killed and Katherine was taken from me. To say I was doing badly would be an understatement.

My mother's state was deteriorating, and I had no one to talk to about it. My caretaker was the only person I saw all day, and she was as mean as a crone. Always telling me to act like a lady, and stop behaving like a child.

I missed the days where I would play with Katherine in the gardens, or spy on the Salvatore brothers with her and fawn over them.

I missed her so much, that sometimes I couldn't breathe.

I didn't know why she had been taken. No one would tell me why. They said that if I didn't already know, then there was no point in telling me.

What had she done? Had she broken the law? Had the bad man found her? Why did she leave me?

"Ms Paige, your mother wants to see you," a nurse came up to me, looking worried.

"Is my mother okay?" I asked frantically, following the nurse who was leading me to her room.

"I do not want to deceive you, Ms Paige. Which is why I tell you that I don't think your mother has much time left."

It felt as if someone had just stepped onto my throat.

"What?" I choked out, as the nurse opened the door.

"I would say whatever you have wanted to say to your mother right now," the nurse informed me before she shut the door and left me alone.

She was lying on her bed, the bed she had not left in several months. Her skin was pale, paler than usual, and there was a sheen of sweat on her face. Her cracked lips were parted and laboured breaths came from them, as she struggled for air.

"Mommy?" I whispered in fear, walking towards her.

It was scary to see your parent in this situation. She was supposed to be healthy. She was the one who was supposed to be taking care of me, not the other way around.

"My sweet Lyn," she rattled through her sore throat. "My beautiful angel."

I smiled a little at the nickname. She always called me her angel, a name which I found unfitting since in my opinion, I was anything but pure.

"Mother, why aren't you getting better?" I fretted, kneeling down next to the bed, and grasping her limp hand.

"Kaitlyn, I must tell you something. This sickness that I have, it's not what you think," my mother began, before breaking out into a coughing fit.

Startled, I got up and gave her a paper napkin to cough into. When she pulled it away from her mouth, it was stained with a deep red.

I swallowed down the bile which had risen up in my throat, and took the tissue from her hands, throwing it on the floor.

"What are you telling me?" I asked desperately, while she regained her breath.

"I don't have influenza, my dear," she whispered hoarsely. "If I had, I would have died months ago."

"What?" I gasped. "Then why are you sick?"

"I am not sick, someone is sucking the life out of me," she groaned, and a chill went through me.

"What do you mean?" I inquired in confusion.

"I'm not human Lyn," she croaked.

That's when I realised what the problem was.

She was delirious. She was having her hallucinations again. I can't believe I was stupid enough to fall for them.

"Okay," I said getting up. "Let's get you more comfortable. I'll get some pillows."

"No! I need to tell you this! When I die, the power will go to you and your brother!" she tried to yell, but it came out as a wheeze.

"Calm down mother, just try to go to sleep. I shall be right back," I reassured her dishevelled state, but she wasn't listening.

"Kaitlyn Paige! Listen to me!" she uttered throatily. "You need to know what to do when you get it! It will be passed down to you in a code. You must access it! I don't know how it will transfer to you. It could be in a mole, a tattoo, a scar, anything!"

I barely listened to her prattling. I just walked over to her and began smoothening her hair.

"Mother, don't excite yourself like this," I pleaded. "Please just rest."

Suddenly her body began seizing uncontrollably, and I jumped away in fright.

"Mother?!"

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her back arched. She let out a blood-curdling scream, before going still.

"Mommy?" I sobbed, walking over to her.

Then, I almost had a heart attack, as her eyes opened. But there were no pupils in them, they were shining a bright white, blinding me.

I shielded my eyes in pain and turned around. I didn't see as her body exploded in light, striking me on my back and throwing me to the floor.

When I had woken up, the bed was destroyed, and I had two identical burning scars on my back.

End of Flashback.

I shot out of my bed, a hand over my heart and breathing heavily.

Why had I dreamt about that? It happened over 100 years ago.

And why was it so vivid?

I got out of bed, wringing my sweaty hands as I went into the bathroom. Splashing my face with cold water, I looked into the mirror and almost screamed.

My eyes were glowing a silvery-white.

I blinked rapidly, and rubbed them with my wet hands, before looking into the mirror again.

Nothing.

I must have been really sleep-deprived to be hallucinating.

My phone rang, snapping me out of my dream-like state, and I answered it to see it was Damon.

"Hey, come by my house today. We need to start researching about you. Be here in a few hours, okay?" he informed me.

"Alright," I told him, before hanging up.

∆ ∆ ∆

I ran a few errands and cleaned up my messy apartment before I decided I would go a little early.

When I arrived at the house, Damon and Stefan were listening to a troubled Caroline, who was sitting in the living room.

"Tell him the message," Damon told Caroline.

"She said she wants the moonstone, or she'll rip the town apart. And she wants it at the masquerade tonight," she whimpered, looking up at Stefan.

"She wants to do it in public, killing Mason threw her off guard," Stefan sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"What? Mason's dead?" I asked in shock, startling them.

"Kaitlyn, you're here early!" Damon said in alarm, while Stefan just avoided my gaze guiltily.

I didn't look at Stefan either. What he said to me the other day still hurt, and I needed more time before talking to him.

"Who killed him!" I demanded, eyeing everyone in the room.

"He died of natural causes," Damon shrugged, obviously lying.

"You killed him didn't you? Unbelievable," I yelled angrily. "You ended his life!"

"Kaitlyn, why do you care?!" he shouted. "He was a bad guy. He almost snapped your neck yesterday!"

"He wasn't actually going to kill me! And is murdering people your solution for everything?!" I shrieked.

"Kate! I know Damon shouldn't have killed Mason, but he was going to tell everyone that we were vampires! And he was working with Katherine!" Caroline defended Damon, to my surprise.

"Katherine was working with him? And you killed him? How are you guys not dead?!" I asked indignantly, and they looked down guiltily.

"Well, Jenna almost died last night," Caroline murmured, and my eyes widened.

"Oh my god! Is she okay? Is Elena okay?" I asked, and they nodded.

"Why can't we just give Katherine the moonstone?" Caroline asked Stefan. "So she can finally leave."

"No! Katherine's not getting dick! I've had it!" Damon snarled. "I'm gonna go to the masquerade ball, and I'm going to kill her!"

"You're not going to kill her," Stefan interrupted.

"Yes! For once I agree with Stefan!" I added.

But then Stefan said. "Because I am."

∆ ∆ ∆

"You can't kill Katherine!" I begged, but no one would listen to me. "Please!"

"Kaitlyn, I know you think of her as your friend, but she's not the same Katherine that you knew. In fact, she was probably just putting on the nice facade in 1864!" Damon protested. "Can we please just start researching about you now?"

"But–" I started, but Stefan glared at me.

"Kaitlyn, if we don't kill her first, she will kill us. Your emotions are clouding your judgement!"

"Don't talk down to me!" I yelled. "In fact, don't talk to me at all! Damon, let's go in the other room!"

Damon gave his brother a questioning glance but nonetheless followed me out of the living room.

"So the only immortals I can think of, are vampires, demons, fairies, angels, or gods. And I really don't think you're any of them," Damon was telling me as we had settled on the couch.

"Okay, why don't we look up my scars then?" I suggested and watched him type up: what do identical twin scars on the back mean.

"Seriously? That is like the vaguest search ever," I drawled, and grabbed the computer.

"Hey! Don't touch my computer!" Damon protested, but I ignored him.

"Lift the back of my shirt up," I ordered, turning my back to him.

"Lyn! That's a bit inappropriate don't you think? I mean, we should at least go on a date first."

"Be quiet and do it!" I demanded, and I felt his hands brush my spine as he lifted the shirt up.

"What do my scars look like to you?" I asked, and waited for his answer.

"Well, they either look like strange caterpillars, squiggly lines, or wings?" Damon guessed the last part.

"Wings?" I repeated.

"Wow, maybe you are an angel," Damon joked, and I laughed at the absurdity.

"Right," I said sarcastically.

"Humour me," Damon suddenly said. "Search up: angel wing scars on back."

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Yes, seriously. You're beginning to sound like Caroline you know."

I rolled my eyes and typed it into the search engine.

"It says here, that the scars are either given at birth, or after a traumatic event. It also says that it happens as soon as the generation above you dies," I read out.

"Well, when do you remember getting the scars?" Damon asked curiously, and I thought of the dream I had that morning.

"After my mother died," I breathed, the pieces of the puzzle slowly forming. "That's also when I stopped ageing."

"Wow," Damon said.

"Wait. No. This is crazy! I'm not an angel okay? I mean, wouldn't I have wings or other supernatural abilities?" I suddenly snapped.

Quickly, I searched up Angel superpowers and came up with a variety of different sources. The gist of all of them said super strength, healing abilities, faster, more stamina, able to fly, being immortal, being able to telepathically speak to other angels and to talk to someone through dreams.

"The only ability I have out of all of these is healing abilities and immortality," I pointed out. "Why wouldn't I have been able to access my angel side?"

Damon shrugged. "Maybe because you haven't tried? Try now."

"How am I supposed to do that?" I questioned.

"I don't know! Strain yourself I guess?"

I shut my eyes and tried to envision wings coming out of my back.

"Okay, stop. You look constipated," Damon laughed, and I opened one eye, frowning.

"This was so stupid," I groaned. "We're never going to be able to figure out what I am!"

"Lighten up Lyn!" Damon assured. "You want some bourbon?"

I politely declined.

∆ ∆ ∆

Kaitlyn had gone home an hour ago and Bonnie, Alaric, Elena and Jeremy had come over to help with the Katherine plan.

"Elena, you know you're not going to the masquerade right?" Stefan reminded her, and the brunette rolled her eyes.

"I know, but I can still help you with the plan."

"Who's going to lure Katherine into the room?" Bonnie asked.

"What about Caroline?" Damon suggested. "Katherine's been seeing her for the past few days."

"Yeah," Jeremy agreed helpfully.

"What about Kaitlyn?" Elena spoke up, and Damon looked at her uneasily.

"Kaitlyn won't help us kill Katherine, and I want to keep her out of it," Damon explained.

"She doesn't have to know. We can trick her into leading Katherine to the room," Elena protested.

"That's a good idea," Stefan agreed.

"Guys no!" Bonnie declared. "We shouldn't do that to her."

"Why Bonnie? And why do you care so much? We don't even know this girl that well," Elena reminded her.

"As long as Kaitlyn doesn't get hurt, I'm game," Caroline said unsurely.

"I can't believe you guys are actually going to do this!" Bonnie said angrily, before walking out of the room.

"I actually agree with Bon-bon," Damon said after the witch had left the room. "That's not cool guys. We need to come up with another plan."

"Sure, whatever," Elena said impatiently.

Damon left the room shortly after, claiming to get some bourbon.

The rest of the group huddled up.

"We're not actually thinking of another plan are we?" Caroline asked, and Stefan shook his head.

"Of course not. Kaitlyn's our best chance to deceiving Katherine," Elena said. "Katherine has a weak spot for her."

"We can't tell Damon or Bonnie though. For some reason, they care a lot about her," Stefan reminded them.

"Okay, let's do this," Jeremy said in determination.

∆ ∆ ∆

Do you know that feeling that no matter what you do, you feel stupid and useless?

You try and be helpful, but just come across as annoying?

Like I mentioned before, I wasn't a good people person. I usually ended up ordering them around, or not committing to them.

I wasn't good at forming a healthy relationship.

Today was one of those days. I felt as if everyone was irritated with me for wanting to keep Katherine alive.

But they didn't know her as I did. She wasn't evil. Her life messed that up for her.

I had to find out a way to warn her before tonight.

I sat down on my desk chair, and closed my eyes, thinking of how I could tell my friend about their plan.

I guess deep down, I cared for her more than I'd like to admit, even after I had thrown her out of my apartment.

I didn't want her to die.

Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

I was walking through the hallways of an old house. There were bloody handprints smeared on the walls, and I could hear someone roughly sobbing in a bedroom.

I followed the sound and came into the room to see a girl facing away from me, holding a woman's body in her arms as she cried.

At the sound of my footsteps, the girl turned around, her red eyes taking in the sight of me.

"Kaitlyn? How are you here right now?" she asked before I realised it was Katherine.

"Kat, what is this place?" I gasped, taking in the other dead family members.

"Do you remember the man I was running from?" she asked sadly.

At my nod, she continued to say, "I defied him. And in retaliation, he killed them. He killed my entire family. And it's all my fault."

She choked up on her tears and angrily wiped them away with her sleeve.

"But how would I be able to see this, if I don't know about it?" I asked in confusion.

"I think you're in my dream," she whispered. "But how?"

"Why are you asleep right now?" I asked her.

"Needed my beauty rest before the ball," was her response.

At the mention of the ball, my eyes widened as I remembered the warning I came to tell her.

"They're planning on killing you at the masquerade ball Kat! You can't come!" I pleaded.

"Really?" she asked in surprise. "But I picked a public place on purpose."

"I don't know how, but they're certain you'll be dead by the end of the night," I warned her. "You have to abandon this plan of yours."

"Oh, I'm still coming. I'll just be coming with back up now. I already have the perfect witch in mind," she smiled slowly as she got out of the bloody bed.

"Thank you Lyn. But why would you tell me this? Wouldn't you be happier if I were dead?" she asked vulnerably.

"At first I thought it would help me," I said selfishly. "But then I reminded myself that I shouldn't wish death upon anyone. Especially not on you. You're my friend, and I care about you. No matter how much pain you put me through, I don't want you to die."

She grinned and ran over to me, hugging me fiercely.

"I love you Lynie," she whispered.

"I love you too."

I opened my eyes blearily and checked my watch in alarm.

"Shoot!" I yelled as I saw it was 18:00.

The ball would start in 1 hour, and I needed to go to make sure Katherine wasn't hurt. I needed to warn her.

Then I remembered the odd dream I had. I had seen a picture of Katherine's childhood, which my subconscious wouldn't have even known about.

What other explanation would there be, except that I had travelled into her dream?

Somehow, and I could explain the gut feeling I had. But somehow, I knew she got my warning.

∆ ∆ ∆