Who: Elena & Katherine What: Twins reuniting after not speaking for years, but Katherine still doesn't play nice When: Backdated to when Elena returned Where: The Gilbert House Rating/Warnings: Language, sass, some subtle feels Status: Complete!
Home sweet home thought Katherine never.
Here she was anyway, at the steps of a house she would have been satisfied to never see again - and itâs not like their childhood was awful. God, no. It wasnât. Parents (adopted, but not like sheâd known then) that could provide above and beyond their means, a baby brother, a twin (that was a blood bond like no other, she couldnât forget it even if she wanted to).
Then, Katherine had brought discord into the home with her indiscretion. It all unraveled for her there. Tensions in the family pulled them all apart, from the feuds with her parents, Jeremyâs rebellion, the distance sheâd put between herself and Elena from all the pressure of not being her. They were the spitting image of one another but they couldnât be anymore different, could they - fire and ice, oil and water, a devil and an angel.
Itâd been years since theyâve talked or even seen one another, yet there were nights where Katherine dreamt of her. Of Elena as a descendant instead of sister, five hundred years after her own birth, born with her face - born as a doppelgänger. Oh, did Katherine despise her there. Petty jealousy, bitterness, rage, all because the snowflake double had everything that should have been hers.
A life. Family. Love.
In truth, Katherine Pierce (the last name had been chosen for the runway, to keep her separate from the Gilbert family) didnât hate her sister. Plenty of other negative emotions existed in association to the golden twin, but no, not hate. Which was why she even acknowledged her return, why she even agreed to come today and, as promised, with a bottle.
Whiskey had been her first thought. Red wine was what she decided on instead. Less harsh by drastic levels, more likely to get Elena to partake. Sharing implied there was a little bit of caring, hm? The vampiress dressed for the reunion, too - skin-tight jeans, a tight top for a generous peak of glamorous cleavage, chocolate curls of silk miles long. All prettied up as always, ready for any photo opportunity that could come her way. Came with the package of having an image to uphold.
There was a knock on the Gilbert house door. âInvite a sister in, nerd.â
~~~ Since her arrival back in California, Elena busied herself with unpacking and cleaning up the house. Having been gone all summer, there was certainly a decent amount of dust on everything and more than one room that was in desperate need of some sunshine. It provided a decent distraction, simple mind-numbing activity, and Elena had taken to the task with a bit of glee. It was never easy for her to be in this house despite having been the âsupposedâ better half of twinship. The walls, every inch of carpet, tile, and wood leaked with memories and despite it being many years since then, some things did not ever truly leave you.
For instance, her sisterâs teenage pregnancy which ended in a closed adoption and guaranteed her twin would never be herself again. Elena could not blame Katherine at all. Their parents did not make it a secret that they saw Elena as the âgoldenâ child of the bunch.Between Katherineâs unplanned pregnancy, the cold shoulder she didnât hesitate to give to everyone in the vicinity aside from Jeremy, and Jeremyâs somewhat rebellious nature, her parents probably did very well see Elena as that light at the end of a very long, tumultuous tunnel. And Elena being Elena did try to fix it, to fix the family anyway she could despite Katherineâs impenetrable, incredibly high walls and Jeremyâs tough teenage years. In the end, it didnât matter at all. She couldnât keep them together. Katherine left, pursuing a modeling career and ended up being exactly what she wanted: glorified, beautiful, and loved, if not obsessed over. Jeremy and Elena remained with their parents, but the household did not reclaim a sense of peace like before all the darkness had swept in.
Their parents died, leaving the house to the three siblings, but Katherine never came back to claim her side. Again, considering how everything was, how it seemed Katherine could tolerate Jeremy at most, she couldnât blame her sister. This place had not been much like a home for her, for anyone really, in a long time. Sheâd hoped at least her sister would attend their funerals, but Katherine remained a no show there as well. Elena was a bit hurt by it, but again, being Elena and riddled with the ability to simply âcare too muchâ, sheâd worked to look past it. To keep an open mind and open heart to her sister for whenever the other woman wanted to come back into their lives. She was grateful, at least, that it seemed Katherine was keeping in contact with someone: Jeremy. Where once theyâd been so close, they were now so incredibly far and that notion, something cropped up in their teenage years, always bothered Elena. She wished she would have tried harder with her sister, but she knew in those years, it would not have mattered if Elena had screwed up on purpose to reclaim her sisterâs love. Katherine was stone cold.
All in all, cleaning was a good distraction until her network post was responded or acknowledged. She fully expected Jer to be somewhat upset with her because, well, she had come home without telling him, but she was trying to surprise him. Katherine responding was the most shocking. Why would she know her sister came back though? She wouldnât and the fact that she actually responded to Elena was shocking to her the most. She figured even if her sister came back, sheâd avoid Elena. Now, somehow, sheâd gotten her sister to come over, to actually converse with her, and even if Elena could do without the booze, it was a compromise she was willing to make to see Katherine and talk to her again. Another good reason to straighten up even if Elena knew her sister loathed the house regardless of the physical condition it was in.
Then there was the knock and Elena had to pause before answering to take a deep breath and center herself. She was about to see her twin sister, a woman she had not seen in years and when she did see her last, despised Elena with very good reason. The entire situation was bound to be tense as hell, but Elena wanted this to work. She needed this to work and not just for her, but for her siblings too. They needed to be a family. Unlike her sister, Elena was not all styled out. She was more simple, chic, but more simple and a bit plainer. A simple pair of jean shorts, a light tank, and straight hair, Elena put on her best smile and opened the door. It was almost comforting that her sister made fun of her. At least that sounded like her sister, a sister who might be willing to reconcile after all these years. âHey yourself,â Elena replied, stepping inside to invite her sister in before shutting the door behind her. As expected, Katherine was the epitome of fashion sense and style. She was stunning, beautiful, and Elena was well still just...Elena Gilbert, Med student, and yes, a nerd. âTake a seat wherever. Iâll get two glasses,â Elena added, slipping into the kitchen. The statement âmake yourself comfortableâ was seriously not fitting and she was already on eggshells. At least Kat had chosen red wine and not like whiskey. Returning to the living room, she took a seat on the couch and the set the glasses on the table. âThanks for coming,â Elena said truthfully.
It was like looking in a mirror - sort of. Their genetics were every bit identical (except for the part of one of them being of the undead variety, while the other was fully human, magic blood coursing through her veins) but their personalities, mannerisms, way they dressed and walked? Polar opposites. Completely. It was a comforting fact for Katherine.
She could almost hear her parents disagree with her, bless their corpses.
There was a hesitant step inside the house she took, unsure if Elenaâs informal invitation inside would work but it did. Either that or the house was under all their names, but she hadnât dug too deep in the details to uncover that piece of information. Last thing she wanted their official conversation after all this time to be, hi, I got murdered and turned into a vampire, howâs school going?
It might horrify her sister - the older of the twins might take a sick, sadistic glee from it - but she was trying to not be a total cunt, either. Elena, Jeremy. They were family here. The only family blood ties that counted, and she knew what it was like to lose family in another life five hundred years prior to now. Baby steps, though. Katherine wasnât prepared for gossipy texts and late night calls about their days.
âHouse looks the same,â she mused, taking the sight of the interior in with a sweeping gaze. Nostalgia helped place where the Christmas tree used to go, their school backpacks, favorite spots on the sofa when they stayed up past their curfew for a movie. It was a pang of melancholy she hadnât felt in years, and walking in was like taking a knife and slowly cutting open an old wound.
She didnât let it show, though. Katherine chose to look disinterested - neutral ground between her usual coy smugness and outright annoyance - and sat, long legs crossed. âI canât remember the last time you and I were under this very roof.â First she peeled the foil around the bottleâs neck, then plunged the wine opener into the corker to twist, pull, and pop. Bottle opened, let the pouring begin. âItâs a cabernet. Vintage.â
~~~ And it was as if nothing had really changed at all. Oh, Elena gathered that sister might feel something about the place where they grew up, spent their spoiled childhood, but she, like normal, was choosing to play it off as if it meant nothing. Then again, it very well could have thanks to all the turmoil Katherine faced in her final years here, but Elena liked to believe that her sister not as cold-hearted or uncaring as she made everyone around her believe. They may have been polar opposites in the personality and mannerisms as night and day, but Elena knew something about her sister. She knew there was much more to Katherine than the cool, composed, and bitchy persona she wanted the rest of the world to believe was actually her. How could she not? After all, Elena had been there as Katherineâs child was pretty much ripped from her arms, as she was forced to give up the most precious thing that had come into her life by their parents, and how it had destroyed her. They had been distant even then, but that didnât mean Elena didnât care when her sister started to cry and weep...when she screamed. In a way, Elena should have disliked her parents just as much because they had set fire to almost any possibility that Elena could rekindle some sort of relationship with their parents.
âI havenât really changed anything about it,â Elena replied with a small shrug. Part of her felt like she be betraying her parents somehow if sheâd suddenly started changing everything about the place they lived and the place their children were raised. With them being dead, any chance of seeing them again left up to a higher power, the layout of the house, their things, were really all Elena had to remember them by and really, it was not all bad and even Katherine could admit to that. Their childhood had been wonderful and even some of their teenage years were not horrible, but things changed as they tended on doing in life and it wasnât always a good one. The past was difficult to let go of, especially for her sister, but the fact that she was here, sitting in their old living room gave Elena hope that maybe they could move past this. No she didnât expect immediate friendship because something like that was impossible. She merely hoped for maybe companionship and the capability of getting along to a degree. She understood there was too much hurt in their pasts to completely erase it all. Their parents were dead, yes, but what they did remained stagnant in the very air around them. Elena felt a wave of guilt wash over her.
â4 or 5 years maybe?â Elena offered, watching Katherine pop open the top on the wine and immediately fill both their glasses quite generously. âIt wasnât the best timeâŚâ Elena trailed off and folded a piece of long brown hair behind her ear. It remained a habit from high school, something that happened when she was a tad on the nervous side as she was right now. How could she not be? Katherine was here, but she was like a rare exotic animal and Elena knew that saying the wrong thing could set her off and sheâd leave this place, probably never to return again. She reached for her glass of wine, but didnât take a sip of it. She was not surprised at the wineâs calibur: Katherine always went for the fancier, finer things in life. She liked the extraordinary, the glamorous while Elena tended to lean towards more simple, basic things. She didnât care about fashion really or what designer she wore. âVintage. Iâm not surprised,â she added.
It was that infamous line between love and hate for Katherine - from loving her parents when things were good, hating them when things became sour, appreciating the house for reminding her of the happier times. Despising their home for housing all the memories she wanted to run away from, the fights and the eruption that her pregnancy caused. It was a cocktail of complications that never resolved themselves even after all this time, and now she was face to face with the sister she knew she loved.
And the sister she also knew she resented. Misplaced anger, maybe. A therapist would have a field day deciphering all of what this huntress felt for her family.
âItâs never the best time,â she groused with a roll of her eyes, swirling the wine in the glass before taking a sip - itsâ color was of blood but what a shame that it wasnât. Itâd be much more tasty, but this would do. âDonât know what your tastes are, little sister, but I figured youâd like this better than hard liquor.â
What a shame. A twin to be so distanced from whom she was born with that she didnât even know what she liked anymore. But Elena was always the vanilla sister - she was sweet tea, the epitome of âgirl next door,â nothing like the class-act savage oozing sex sitting across from her. âHow long are you planning to stay?â
God, donât let it be long. Not long enough to get her sucked into the supernatural drama that was this life now, and while she and Damon were on amicable terms Katherine would make his head roll if he tried to pull the same shit with her he did in Mystic Falls. Jeremy already filled her in on their past issues. Elena had to be smarter than to get stuck in his bad boy honey trap.
~~~ No, for their family there was never a âgoodâ time for a family reunion of sorts, especially of the impromptu variety, but Elena had allowed the distance between them to grow long enough. Though both sisters were close to Jeremy, there would probably always remain a certain breachable gap between Elena and Katherine. The animosity was too strong, had too long to breed and fester, in this life and Elena was not foolish enough to believe everything would be okay between them after a few glasses of wine and idle chatter Yet, at the same time, she held that unyielding, impenetrable hope that things could be okay between them again someday. She wanted her sister in her life even if Katherine would alway would hold a degree of resentment against her twin. It was understandable resentment and Elena could not be upset or hurt by any of it. Katherineâs life, while intertwined with Elenaâs, was vastly different than her own and Elena respected that. She respected the fact that the slightly older sister had seen more, done more, and had more experience life-wise than herself. You couldnât come from a past like hers and not know a thing or two about the good things and the horrible things life brought. Unfortunately, for her sister, it leaned on the horrible things in life.
âNo, it never is for our family,â Elena replied, lifting the edge of her glass to her lips to take a small sip. It was good, definitely of the finer quality, and Elena nodded. âItâs very good,â she added. Unfortunately, Elena was not much of the hard liquor type...at least not yet. Being of the vampire variety tended to change the caliber of liquor your body could handle, but Elena had no idea about any of that now. She knew nothing of the supernatural or that it had taken root within her own family in two capacities. Both Jeremy and Katherine were touched by it: Katherine was a vampire and Jeremy of Hunter ancestory, but no, Elena remained perfectly unaware of all of this right now. Her only knowledge of such things remained within the realm of fiction, like books and sappy televisions shows. Mostly, Elena dealt in the realistic anyway. She was going to be a doctor and her future livelihood resided on facts and proven theory to save lives. It was a far cry from fantasy: vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness or whatever. Right now, her concern rested with attempted to make some amends with Katherine, renew her relationship with Jeremy, and hang out with her friends along with the obvious, going to school.
At the question, Elena considered her answer. Of course, Katherine would want to know how long the twin sister she despised on a level was leaving the vicinity. It hurt, but again, Elena knew to expect it. Katherine wasnât much for tact; she could be blunt and hurtful without a single thought while Elena found it difficult to be rude at all. Elena took a deep breath before answering. âIâm enrolled in medical school here. I donât see me going before I graduated,â she replied quietly. Her dream was to become a doctor like their father, to save lives, and give hope to those that simply had none left to give. She always wanted to help people and she wasnât going to walk away from all the hard work just yet. It only made sense for Elena to come back here: she could stay at the house, go to school, find a job, and all within the vicinity. Besides, her family was here even if Katherine would have picked a different term to describe their particular relationship. âIt made the most sense to come back here. Besides, more importantly, Jer and you are here,â she added.
Katherine had less of a reason to return herself, other than Jeremy - guilt for shunning a brother who didnât do anything to deserve it had eaten her conscience enough, and at first it was only going to be a stream of constant visits. Then this area became a permanent residence once she sold her home in Los Angeles, and instead kept the one bedroom beachfront condo she lived in.
There was always a part of her that knew Elena would return, and she had told herself she would deal with it when the time came and lo and behold, it came earlier than expected. All she could do now was tread carefully and deal, then, as running wasnât an option. Katherine wouldnât repeat the same mistakes in a second life.
Or sheâd try not to, anyway.
It was obvious the answer didnât please her, either. Golden Twin wanted to stay, but Golden Twin had no idea what she was really getting herself into, did she? âLife hereâs different than what we remember it being, cupcake,â alluded the vampire, eyes narrowed - her lashes were plump and long, and the makeup she had applied made the vampireâs stare that much sharper. A hint of danger, maybe, and plenty of secrets. âAnd so many people you used to know have changed. Not exactly for the best.â
Vague warnings issued in the name of kindness. Itâd be rude to drop the âVâ bomb on her so early, but she also knew Elena had a shit time adjusting to what sheâd been turned into. Thatâs why the hunt for the cure was so vital to the groupies of Mystic Falls. She wasnât cut out to be one of them - she wasnât cut out to hunt, feed, kill, which was what vampires did. It was their literal fucking curse.
~~~ Katherineâs reply surprised Elena very much. She knew her sister wanted her as far away from her as possible, but she never thought of Katherine to dance around the subject. Her twin was curt, cruel, and most times straight to the point about her feelings and lack of them for the person on the other side of the table. Hearing her talk about how life was different here then she remembered was definitely no the response Elena was expecting from the model. It was almost ad if Kat was trying to warn her away from home, but then, why would she do that? Since when did her sister actually care about anyone besides herself? Especially if that person was her twin? It did not make any sense to Elena and that bothered her a lot, mostly because Elena believed she was pretty good at reading people, particularly her family no matter how distance. This somewhat potential protective side didnât come out often, if at all, and Elena was puzzled as to why it was rearing its head now.
âEverything is different, Katherine,â Elena replied quietly. Her sisterâs gaze was pointed, like a sharp dagger, and Elena felt as if it had literally pierced her heart. She sensed her sister was hiding something from her, a potentially dangerous something, but Elena had no idea what that could be. Why hide it from Elena? If it was anything big and with Kat it usually was, it would not stay a secret for long and she knew that. Again, the protection issue came to mind, but Elena was unsure why her sister was attempting such an emotion now. âNo one is like how they were. People change. I know this. Itâs not something new,â she added. As it was Damon said he was doing better and was in a good place. For Elena, that was a positive change and that made her happy. Despite their troubled past and relationship, Elena wanted the best for her former boyfriend. Everyone deserved a chance at happiness and that included her sister across the table.
Elena took a sip of wine and watched her sister with curious brown eyes. The same brown eyes, aside from being colder, seemingly darker, stared back at her. Not for the better? What did she mean by that? âDamon asked me to ask you if you were bored yet. I donât know why, but he said you would understand,â she said, attempting to potentially change the subject. The last one seemed to be doing the opposite for the intentions of this conversation. Frankly, it made her feel a tad on the uncomfortable side, if not wary and bit fearful.
Damon asked--
âDid he now,â she deadpanned, unamused with a sharply quirked brow. The fuck was he doing sending her snide messages through her sister is what Katherine wanted to know but, well, that was Damon Salvatore for you. The maturity was always astounding. âMaybe thatâs not something thatâs too different, then - heâs trying to be a smartass, implying that my goody-goody scientist of a boyfriend is bound to bore me. Heâs not.â
Oh, on the contrary. Having a relationship with someone outside the dreamscape of the Mystic Falls Basket was refreshing - and while Damon was someone she had fun withâŚ
It was never him. It was never going to be him, like destiny on a loop. Bad boys werenât her type; she always favored the ones that made her feel human, like she wasnât such a monster. Stefan, Elijah. Now Hank. Her dance with Damon was just that - a dance.
Speaking of? Honesty might be cruel, but best in this scenario. âI had a good time with your ex by the way, briefly. I could see the appeal. Heâs pretty, but I think thatâs where it ends.â
And Elena had no idea what her sister was talking about. Obviously, there was something going on between Damon and Katherine, but Elena was leaning on the side of not wanting to know. Katherineâs track record with men was wide ranging to put it mildly and if something had happened between them, it would not surprise Elena. It would potentially hurt Elena, but it would not shock or surprise her. Katherine slept with a lot of different guys, but that was not Elenaâs style now and it never would be. If she loved, it would be for only one person and sheâd only give herself to one person. Anything else seemed wrong and rather disgusting. Still, that was why they were so different: Katherine was without rules and Elena had boundaries. It was something that they both knew would probably never change even if their relationship ended up on a somewhat stable level.
âThat does sound like Damon, doesnât it?â Elena replied, taking a small sip from her glass. Damon was not exactly known for being callous about peopleâs feelings or making his own well known. It was one of the things sheâd loved about him: his absolute boldness in sharing opinion. âObviously, I wouldnât know you had a boyfriend. How is that going?â And yes, Elena, in the end of it all wanted her sister to be happy and from the sound of it, Damon was jealous or something. Strange, but then again, this was her sister and she couldnât put anything past the other woman to do. Sleeping with her ex? Yes, somewhere along the line Elena was sensing she was about to get the answer she did not want, but then when did Katherine ever pass up a chance to hurt her golden twin? Never. Sleeping with Damon would definitely be the equivalent of a slap in the face for Elena Gilbert and Katherine knew it.
There you go. Cue the sister envy and loathing, the lashing out in obvious jealousy for all the love Elena had received from their parents and pretty much everyone else. Maybe she had loved Damon, but then again, with Katherine, love was difficult to come by. If she loved, it was after a long and tedious process of jumping walls and attempting to get under her skin and infiltrate her heart. Hank, lucky him, had somehow managed to do that and Elena was happy to hear her sister had found someone outside of their circle of friends, but much of it was lost in her sisterâs latest cut of cruelty. The brunette swallowed and nodded, setting down her glass of wine, and in nasty high school fashion, folded a piece of long, straight hair behind her ear. âI guess it was only a matter of time,â Elena replied quietly, simply. âTill you got around to Damon.â
Hank was everything she wasnât, and yet they were the same - both of them beasts with teeth, a bloodlust they couldnât curb, and they struggled with a constant tug oâ war between humanity and animal. Fucking around with him had been her initial plan but he sucked her in, loved her, and seeing the ways she had sabotaged her love life and ran from anything good? Oh, she wasnât letting him go. Katherine wouldnât repeat those mistakes again, cross her dead heart and hope a bitch dies.
But fooling around with Damon early in when she returned had been a slight towards her sister, yes - except they werenât together. Bad kitty could scratch but she wasnât going to slash the twin that deep despite her attitude.
âItâs going well, really well. And serious,â she explained, watching Elena from across the rim of the glass closely. âMeaning Iâve no interest to get around to Damon again. I was bored, he was there.â Eyeroll. Cruel and oh so true. âDonât tell me youâre still hung up on him, Elena - the guy bites you once, shame oh shaaame on him. You get wrapped around his finger and he bites you twice, well. You know how the saying goes.â
They did not need to be subjected to the emotionally draining trainwreck that was the Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert romance a second time around. Unknown to Elena, Katherine would be ready to separate his fucking head from his body if he tried to repeat history the same way.
In a lot of ways, it had been what originally attracted Elena to Damon. In a sense, he was everything she was not. She was pure, innocent, kind, and caring with an open heart, but Damon was, to put it simply, none of those things. He made her feel alive in a way that no one else in the entire world ever could. Oh, falling in love was the furthest from important on her list. It would only serve as a distraction, but the minor bits of romance sheâd had since Damon, along her summer trip, had been on the boring side. They were lackluster and could be categorized as a distraction at best. No, so far, no one had come close to Damon in the ability to consume Elena completely. It was not a healthy love, but it was the truest, most real feeling sheâd ever experienced and when he cheated on her, it crushed her heart. It was not as if she had not dealt with a break-up, but it was just that she never saw herself with anyone else, but Damon Salvatore. Hell, it was hard for Elena to see anything really past the older brother.
When it all came crumbling down around her, she was at a loss of how to pick herself back up again. She was shattered into a million tiny pieces and there did not seem to be a way to put herself back together again. Sheâd fallen hard when their parents died; she was not sure if sheâd ever be able to come back from it, but she survived. She put the smile on and did her best to make everyone believe she was okay. After a long while, she had been. Losing Damon? The smile was wobbly if it ever appeared and her mind was never stable, never in one place, and the only constant was that she would spend the night crying. Sitting here, across from her sister now, she still did not know completely how she managed to get over him. Her best guess? What healed everything eventually: time. âIâm happy for you, Kat. Really,â Elena replied and offered her sister a sincere smile. âYou deserve it. You do.â Elena had her issues, problems, but Katherine would always have her beat in that department. How could she not? Giving up your child and never knowing them or where they were was the tip of the iceberg. âMaybe I can meet him sometime,â she added. Yes, Elena was aware that was a huge âmaybeâ, but she had to try.
Her sisterâs words, while cruel, did spark a bit of relief in Elena. She did not know if she could handle her sister dating her ex-boyfriend right now. It had been years, but sometimes, when she thought about it, she could still feel the wound as if it happened only yesterday. She wasnât caught up on Damon Salvatore. No, she liked to think that was a part of her past that was staying put, but reaching for her glass of wine, she could not fully be sure. âIâm not hung up on Damon Salvatore,â she replied strongly. âIâm not going to just fall back into his arms just because I came home. Iâm not going to be a girl whose world stops turning because of a guy.â And she wouldnât be. She hoped.
Aw, donât give her cavities, twinsy. Katherine could almost gag with how sweet she was being - saying all those comforting words like âIâm happy for youâ and âyou deserve it.â It was so very cheerleader of her (how typical), but it took more than words to soften up the cold, dead heart of the infamous Katerina Petrova.
But maybe theyâd meet, Elena and Hank - he was so invested in meeting Jeremy that she was sure he would try to be in the good graces of her sister, too. Thatâs just who he was. And sometimes he was there to smooth those sharp edges of hers.
âPatheticâs not a good look on you anyway,â she remarked, finishing her glass quickly and then making sure they got refills, yes - she topped Elenaâs glass off too. Wasnât she nice? âI always did like his brother better anyway, but Stefanâs all snatched up and not for public consumption.â Katherine and Stefan had a history, but it didnât end on a sour note like theirs did in the dreams. It was a mutual split, and heâd been there to help her through her post-partum phase before she decided to venture off on her own and make a name for herself. One she didnât have to share with anyone.
There was a gentle swirl of her glass to slosh the wine around a bit before she drank, a little quickly. âAnyway, Iâll finish this and leave you be - Iâm sure you have oodles of home things to wax nostalgic over.â
âIâll take it as a compliment,â Elena replied with a shrug. Anything within the realm of potentially kind was a rarity for Katherine and Elena took this as being somewhat of her being kind. She did have a weird way of showing it, didnât she? Oh, Elena knew she should be use to it by now even if it had been some time since sheâd been in the presence of her sister. Not looking pathetic was pretty much all she could ask her sister to give her at this point and maybe for the rest of their lives. âStefanâs a good friend. Itâs good to see him happy.â Elena watched her sister top of her glass and eagerly refill her own. She wondered if there would ever be a time they didnât need alcohol to have a decent conversation. She was leaning on never at this point and probably so was Katherine. It was sad, but at this point, what parts of their lives were not somewhat sad and depressing?
At her sisterâs words, Elena actually gave an eyeroll. Maybe she was starting to feel the effects of the wine a bit because sober Elena would never have done that. Sober Elena would have been what Elena Gilbert was known for: nice. âYes, exactly. Thatâs what Iâm going to do as soon as you leave,â she replied somewhat sarcastically. âIâm dying in anticipation.â Okay, so maybe sarcasm and snark was not just a gift blessed to her slightly older sister. Well, at least in times when Elena managed to be a bit buzzed it could come somewhat naturally. She was not exactly a fan of herself this way and she took a sip of wine, reminding herself mentally of that.
âOr touch yourself,â Katherine added nonchalantly, lips pursed and shoulders shrugging without a damn shame. âWhatever it is you do on your downtime - you do you, sister.â Literally, if she wanted to. But sheâd be kind enough to leave that bottle of wine for her twin here. Not like she could get drunk at the same pace as a human anymore anyway.
Legs uncrossed, glass set down, the vampiress stood and fluffed her flawless curls. âJust be careful of who you invite into the house, buttercup. For your own sake. If Iâm lucky I wonât see you around too much.â
Harsh words, werenât they? It was unclear whether or not she actually meant them, though - she knew she didnât want to completely alienate her sister (it took some time to finally come to that conclusion), but she wasnât prepared for a drastic step towards a resolution. Part of her hoped she wouldnât stay. Part of her hoped she wouldnât dream of all the things theyâve dreamt.
But something told her Elena wasnât planning to leave. Oh, darn.
And the Katherine was always going to be more crass than Elena ever could be, but she owed this little miracle or curse to the fact that she potentially had a bigger conscience than her sister. Maybe. Sheâd seen that Katherine could be a kind person, but she doubted that was a side she would ever get to experience again. Her supposed âperfectâ sister was only meant to be subjected to some form of a âcruel to be kindâ sort of nature and Elena was not a fan of it. Considering she didnât think she would ever get to talk to her sister again, well, she would take what she could get at the moment with the hopes that in time things may change for the better. With their family though, it was difficult to see the potential at a light at the end of the tunnel, but Elena had never lacked in hope and in faith. âProbably study and do homework,â she replied honestly. There was more cleaning to do too.
When Katherine stood, a statuesque, flawlessly, Elena followed after and folded her arms upon her chest. What? Since when did Katherine care who came into this house? She hated this house about as much as she probably hated the woman standing across from her. Another thing her sister said that made no sense and Elena didnât like cryptic because cryptic always felt like a touch of lying. Part of her wanted to tell Katherine just spit it out, but then again, her sister wouldnât tell her anyway. No, sheâd rather keep Elena in the dark or clueless. âIâll invite who ever I want over, Kat. Donât worry, I think I can tell a serial killer from a friend,â she added. The last statement hurt a bit more than she wanted to admit, but Elena knew she should have expected it. It was Katherine after all and she was Elena, the âgolden twinâ. The bitterness and cruelty was easily explained and Elena could only do what she could to understand it and her sister.
âWell, I hope I see you again soon. Do you want me to walk you to the door?â she asked quietly. Oh she was tempted to say something more on the snarky side, but someone had to not be completely emotionally screwed up right now. Someone had to try and move on from their past and if it had to be Elena than so be it.
Ooh lala, someone was getting sassy. It did nothing to bother Katherine - it actually tickled her fucking amused, brows flared and mouth upturned into that iconic smug little smile. Had she been pressing some buttons? Seeing if Elena could burst out of her mold of perfection and ready those claws?
If there was something she was utterly superb at was getting under peopleâs skins. Case in point.
âYouâd be surprise whoâs a killer now a days,â she wagged a finger, tsk-tsking. âBut I remember where the door is, cupcake, Iâll walk myself out.â
The sooner the better - there was something stifling about this house, anyway.