Who: Jeremy Gilbert and Katherine Gilbert When: Backdated: End of September Where: The Gilbert Home What: Jeremy stops by to see his sisters and finds something he'd been dreading Rating/Warnings: Mostly Family Friendly: Mentions of Vampy stuff Status: Complete
At least once a week Jeremy went by the house to see how his sisters were doing. Sure, he could just text or call them and he did do those things, but now that he was living with Myrcella, he liked going over to the house in order to hang out for a little while.
He hadn't told them he was coming by, but he assumed that at least one of them would be there so when he reached the house, he walked up the steps of the porch and let himself in with his key, "Katherine! Elena! Are you guys home?"
The dreams were becoming worse and so was the bloodlust. It was bad enough that Katherine had to watch herself kill her own brother, but the transition coming with it was much, much worse. As the weeks past, Katherine found herself with impossible strength and breaking things all around the house. Worse, she couldn’t eat and when she did, it was a struggle to swallow a few bites. Katherine found most days she didn’t need much substance at all anymore. She could not longer leave the house without the sun burning her skin; the other day, Katherine forgot her bracelet and regretted it the moment she stepped outside. Smelling burning flesh, she did not have to look far to find the source: herself. Her arm caught fire. Katherine watched the limb sizzle and burn, the pungent odor making her dizzy, and then she ran for the house. No, she didn’t run...Katherine blurred to the house. One second she was outside and the next she was in her house, dousing herself in water and watching with wide, frightened eyes as the burns healed, closed up, and disappeared, leaving her skin as flawless as before.
Shocking, her senses were off the charts. Before Jeremy unlocked the door and called out, Katherine was aware he was there, his footsteps like loud drum beats in her head. She could hear his heart, the blood pulsing through his veins, and she swallowed. Katherine couldn’t stop herself from salivating at the thought her brother’s blood and it made her sick. For so long, she’d been refusing to believe she was going through the change. It was impossible. Plus, she’d promised Jeremy she wouldn’t become a vampire. Fate was twisted and as the days went on, Katherine knew she would not be able to keep her promise to Jeremy. Against every fiber of her being Katherine was transitioning. It was a slow, painful process, but it was one she could not stop or hide any longer. In the kitchen, attempting to swallow a bite of banana, Katherine never felt worse. A dream about graduation for her sister and her friends the night before left her wheeling. Elena had forced the cure upon her and she was human again in the dreams. It had to be a sign. A sign she wasn’t going to transition after all. No, the effects did not reverse. Instead, they became so much worse. Grabbing a paper towel from the rack, Katherine spit out the unchewed banana and threw it in the trash. Her body refused to play this game anymore. It wanted blood and her brother just walked into the door.
“Jer...this isn’t a good time!” Katherine took a deep breath. Catching herself in the reflection of a pot, Katherine could barely stop herself screaming. Oh my God. Oh my God. Her face. Skin cracked, splintered on her cheek bones, red flicks dazzled her brown eyes. Pain struck her mouth, radiating through her face as her fangs descended and fell into place. Katherine Gilbert was gone; a monster stood in her place. Panicked, Katherine tried to will herself to calm down, to turn off the sound of her brother’s heart in her head. The blood. He couldn’t see her like this. He couldn’t. “Jer..I’m not feeling well. I don’t want you to get it. You should go, okay? I’ll call you later…” Katherine trailed off, pleading.
Jeremy's first thought when he heard Katherine's voice was that she was in her underwear or had a guy over or something along those lines, which he really wouldn't have wanted to walk in on, but when she spoke again there was an edge to her voice that piqued his curiosity. He should have figured it out; what was really happening, but the fact that she was his sister and if she was in pain he wanted to help her son out over logic. He knew that her becoming a vampire was a probability, but at the moment it was the last thing on his mind.
At least it was until he stepped into the kitchen and his Hunter instincts suddenly kicked in at the sight of her. Why hadn't he turned around and left when she's told him to. "Shit. You turned, didn't you?" She may have promised that she wouldn't turn, but Jeremy wasn't naive enough to believe that any of them had a choice when it came to the dreams.
“No. I mean-” She broke off. What was the point of lying anymore? The proof was written all over her monstrous face. She had turned; she was a vampire. She couldn’t hide it from him anymore. She couldn’t hide it from anyone. Elena? What would her sister think? Oh, god. Her friends, if she had any left? Damon? He was the only one who wouldn’t see her as a monster. He was the only one who made turning seem far less horrible. And Care had a normal life...sort of. She could too. She could still be her. Just because she was a vampire did not mean she had to be herself from the dreams. Yet, she already was, wasn’t she? In trying so hard not to be Katerina Petrova, she’d become just like her. She forced herself to take a breath, then another, but the thought that they were useless now sent her spinning again. All the while Jeremy’s heart pounded in her head, the sound of his blood swirling through his veins hypnotic.
Mouth watering, she turned around, black eyes focused on her brother’s neck and the precious pulse beneath. She was so hungry. Suddenly, Katherine wasn’t Katherine at all. She was a feral being, a vampire, and she was starving. She blurred forward uncontrolled and flung herself upon her brother, fangs sinking into the soft skin of his neck.
A few months earlier, this likely would have been the end for Jeremy, but being a Hunter now, his strength and reflexes were heightened; not to the extent of a vampire’s, but he had a fighting chance now. The only reason Katherine was even able to get close to his neck was his momentary shock, but the moment he felt her teeth pierce his skin, he went straight into Hunter mode and grabbed a handful of her hair then yanked her head back, “I’m real sorry about this, Kat.” Had he not learned how to control his Hunter urges he likely would have reached for the stake he now kept on him at all times, but knowing how to handle the want to kill vampires meant that it was unlikely that he would kill his sister.
He felt the underlying disgust that his sister was now a vampire, but he’d known it was going to happen eventually and had been trying to prepare himself for it. Getting some leverage, he was able to roll them over so that he hovered above Katherine and slammed her head into the floor. He knew it would take more than that to actually stop her without killing her, but it might slow her down enough for him to figure out what to do.
The briefest taste of blood sparked Katherine into a frenzy, but she only managed just that. In an instant, Jeremy had a hand in her hair, gripping the brown curls tight, and yanked her head back from his neck. Vaguely through her blood lust fog, Katherine was aware of Jeremy apologizing, but she couldn’t focus on his voice. She couldn’t respond. She needed to feed, she needed blood. Every part of her hurt, her insides burned, scorched by the lack of that precious red ambrosia and she do anything, including kill her brother, to do it. Fortunately for both of them, Jeremy was stronger than the average human, but he also had control over the instinct to stake a vampire or Katherine, sister or not, would be finished. Before Katherine could retaliate, Jeremy turned, gaining the upper hand and slamming Katherine’ forehead into the kitchen floor.
A short-lived spark of pain radiated through her forehead and a skinny stream of blood trickled from the small cut. Katherine managed to grab Jeremy and push him off. With the little reprieve from her brother, the vampire pushed herself up. She scrambled to the back door, throwing it open and, in turn, ripping it off its hinges. The sound of it hitting tile distant, unreal despite Katherine’s enhanced hearing abilities. She blurred out the door, into the sun, but no longer could she feel the heat on her skin. Thankfully, she’d managed to clip on the bracelet earlier. Otherwise, she would have been extra crispy in second. Though she was weak, in seconds, the wound healed, skin sealing up perfectly. It was as if she had never been wounded at all. The only sign was that minimal blood quickly drying on her pale skin.
What had she done? She bit her brother! She bit Jeremy! Oh god, what was wrong with her? Monster. She was finally a monster. Run. Keep running. She didn’t know where she was going and at that moment, Katherine did not particularly care. As long as there was distance between her brother and her...between her sister and her. Between anyone and Katherine Gilbert.