WHO: Alex & Katherine WHAT: Post-sparring revelations đ WHERE: The Training Grounds WHEN: Today, mid-morning bordering on lunchtime? WARNINGS: Talk of blood, murder, torture, abuse - typical vampy stuff STATUS: Complete
âAlright, alright! Time out! The lowly human needs a minute!â
Alex huffed out a laugh and took a few steps back out of punching distance, lifting her wrist to her mouth to peel open her boxing gloveâs velcro strap with her teeth. Sparring with someone with superior strength was fantastic exercise, and she liked the teaching aspect of it â showing Katherine how to add some finesse and practicality to her moves, how to defend instead of just attack. But she was starting to breathe too harshly to go on without taking a bit of recovery time. They had been training for well over an hour at this point, and unlike her vampiric friend, Alexâs human body eventually wore down.
âGod, you go hard. Iâm impressed.â She had gone up against her share of aliens and metahumans, but all of them had their breaking point. When she got Kara into a Kryptonite-infused training room, she was easy. She had improved over the years, but at least with Alex, she still wore her weaknesses, like her heart, on her sleeve. Whatever Katherineâs breaking point may be, Alex hadnât hit it yet.
She sank down onto the sturdy wooden bench on the border of the sparring field, dropping her gloves on the grass and picking up the icy water bottle sheâd brought along. She cracked open the top, tilted it to her lips, and took a long drink. It was a welcome reprieve, just what she needed to quench her dry throat.
She leaned onto the back of the bench and flashed Katherine an encouraging smile, running a hand through her loose, unstyled hair. She hadnât been working too hard to keep it up since getting to Vallo and it was starting to grow out again; she had to make a conscious effort to push off the strands sticking to her sweaty face. âYouâre a quick study. Youâll be an expert in no time.â
To say Katherine was proficient in the art of combat wasnât entirely an accurate assessment. Brute strength didnât equate to technique, after all - snapping necks was easy, and she could choke slam someone into the ground without breaking a sweat but everything else was usually improvised. Technique wasnât always required when dealing with something weaker than her.
But if she ever went up against an equal match or worse, something tougher - it could make all the difference in the world.
Alex had discipline that she could learn from with an arsenal of moves under her belt, whether it was a fatal blow or just a trick to incapacitate someone without causing irreversible damage. It had been a minute since she willingly exercised (she didnât really need to now) but it had been enjoyable. Gave her a chance to slip on some tight athletic wear, throw her hair up in a ponytail and wear actual sneakers (gasp) despite being able to rip someoneâs throat out in a pair of stilettos.
âA lowly human couldnât handle what you just did,â Katherine tsked with a teasing smile, joining her on that bench. There was no need for water her - it wasnât anything that would quench her thirst, that need for something primal and metallic on the tongue. That was the hardest part of being what she was, feeling as if she always needed to feed. Even at her fullest the need remained, a dull ache that wouldnât ever stop craving. âIâll have to bring Nadia next time. I wouldnât mind her learning a few tricks in self-defense even at her age.â
âDefinitely bring her, itâs never too early to start learning,â Alex agreed. It was a sad fact of life that, unfortunately, girls especially needed to be prepared to defend themselves in a split second. Here, at least, everyone was in the same boat â she had only experienced a bit of it, but bursts of weirdness seemed pretty common. Being able to fend for yourself and protect others was a necessity.
Nadia was a sweet, fierce little thing, too. Alex had spent a few nights looking after her for Katherine and Hank, entertained her when Katherine brought her by the lab after school, and sheâd come to adore her overall pretty quickly. She would absolutely thrive in training like this.
âHey, so - does Nadia know? About the vampire thing?â She was still wrapping her head around it a bit herself. There were vampire-esque aliens out there back home, she was aware of that. But the real thing was something that had only ever been fictional for her. She was still recovering from the intensity of the Twilight craze when she was in high school and college.
âNope,â was Katherineâs answer, the âpâ pronounced with an extra pop of her lips. âItâs a conversation weâre planning to have with her, eventually - Vallo introducing her to other types of beings is helping her acclimate.â Nadia had been exposed to a lot now, like pixies and dwarves, elves and orcs, oh my. Local vampires roamed around here too, more often at night due to their sun sensitivity. What kept her from going up in flames until she was nothing but dust was the enchanted lapis lazuli pendant dangling from her neck so she was spared there.
It was a good way to blend in, and it helped give them a more normal routine. She didnât want to be restricted in what times of the day she could go out with her own spawn, after all. âPart of me doesnât think sheâll take it badly?â Katherine winced, crossing her legs. âThe other part of me worries that sheâll want to be one too, one day. Thereâs a version of her I remember from those past life dream things, and she got herself turned into one so she could spend centuries looking for me.â
Very much what the Katherine of old did too, except she concocted an entire plan to turn herself into a vampire in order to survive and avoid herself being sacrificed in Klausâ grand scheme.
âI donât think sheâll take it badly. Kids are pretty open-minded and malleable. And being here is a big help.â This world was such a mish-mash of â well, frankly, insanity. Metahumans and aliens felt like nothing compared to the fantasy creatures she saw on a now-daily basis. Plus, half the characters from Harry Potter were here, in the flesh, just as real as she was. Just existing in Vallo made it pretty difficult to keep your mind from breaking wide open.
âAnd as long as youâre planning on sticking around, I donât see her feeling inspired to turn herself this time around. I mean, maybe, but.â Alex shrugged. âI donât think you have to worry.â From what little she knew (and it was little, just pieces of the story coming up in conversations before), circumstances had been very different in this past life Katherine dreamed about. Knowing Katherine here, she couldnât imagine her ever leaving her daughter.
Katherine hoped not. With her immortality and Hankâs mutant genes causing him to age slowly, they knew that it was entirely possible that theyâd outlive even their own daughter - but she hoped to give Nadia the closest thing to a normal childhood so she could have a good life. A mortal one.
âLiving foreverâs not all thatâs cracked up to be anyway,â she sighed, freeing her hair from that ponytail - she didnât often wear it up and she felt the need to rake her nails through those dark curls. âThis other version of me was obsessed with not dying, like survival was the grand goal in life. I got myself turned to avoid this psychopath named Klaus from bleeding me dry from my magical human blood, and eventually you just lose sight of the human you used to be after a while.â
Grimly, she knew she had zero plans on living forever - but it wasnât like she had a death for herself planned or anything. That was something future Katherine could worry about down the road, years and years from now.
Alex picked up her water bottle to take another drink while Katherine spoke. Honestly, she felt sad for her. Kara was very likely to face a similar issue â the yellow sun had an effect on Kryptoniansâ aging, too, and it was pretty likely sheâd outlive everyone she loved. Their Clark back home was in his forties and looked younger than Alex. Immortality was a possibility, and the concept seemed more lonely than anything. It was part of why sheâd never been too enticed by the vampire concept, personally.
She completely intended to sympathize, reaching out to drop her hand on Katherineâs knee for a comforting squeeze â then she heard the name Klaus, preceded by psychopath, and her eyes went a bit wide.
âKlaus?â she echoed, brows furrowing together. She didnât want to assume it was the same Klaus that her sister was dating, but there couldnât really be that many Klauses around, could there? It wasnât the most common name. âWas he a vampire, too?â
âHybrid, actually,â Katherine clarified with a dramatic roll of her eyes. She captured the ends of her hair between her fingers to examine - split ends did happen to vampires still, it was a very rough life. âBack then - and I mean way back, this is like five hundred years ago in Europe - there was a curse suppressing his werewolf side and he needed my blood to break it. Getting turned made my blood useless since I wasnât human, so enraged he decided to hunt my family down in Bulgaria, slaughter them, and then proceed to hunt me down for centuries in obsessive vengeance.â
If there was anyone who knew how to hold a grudge, give that sociopath an award because it was definitely Klaus. In turn, she had to become something of a monster too in order to survive.
But, anyway. âWhat he did to me doesnât even scratch the surface of what heâs done to others, the manâs about a thousand years old. Last I heard heâs here. The one I knew back home wasnât so bad but the one thatâs here is - well, heâs that Klaus. The same who tried chasing me to the ends of the earth to kill me. Weirdly I havenât heard a peep from him since Iâve been here? Heâs got a kid now, or something. Donât know, donât care as long as he stays the fuck away from me and mine.â
Oh god. Alex pressed a hand to her face and took a deep breath. She didnât know how to process all of that information. There was a lot of magical lore compounding everything, but it was the thousands of years of slaughtering not only Katherineâs family but probably millions of others that got to her. It would have been hard to hear and wrap her head around even if it wasnât the guy her sister was dating.
Why? Why would Kara choose this guy? She wished there was a plausible way to deny it, but hearing the mention that he had a kid now was all the confirmation she needed â sheâd heard a few anecdotes from Kara about Klausâs daughter, Hope. She hadnât met him, and she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but she couldnât think of a single positive thing that could cancel out a thousand years of literal bloodshed.
With a sigh, she lifted her eyes to Katherineâs, still rubbing her temple with two fingers. âKaraâs dating him,â she said quietly. âI mean, Iâm pretty sure itâs him. She hasnât told me much about him, but the kid - I think itâs him. Same guy.â
Katherine dropped the strands of hair she was holding. Oh.
That was - well, talk about a twist. She didnât personally know Kara but now having been chummy with Alex, she knew of Kara and how steely that sisterly bond between the two was (it even made her miss her own sister, sometimes).
A slow, impeccably manicured eyebrow was raised. âYour sisterâs all sunshine and goodness, isnât she?â Brought her back to the times where Klausâ obsession for Caroline shined through, and she was beginning to think he had a very distinct type. âKlaus is insanely charismatic - Iâd almost say his dimples were cute if he wasnât a walking case for daddy issues and insecurity. I donât know what his deal is here but itâs hard to undo a millennia of bloodshed overnight.â
Or however long heâd been around Vallo for. Katherine wasnât sure how much time had lapsed but she doubted it was enough for him to turn a new leaf.
âThereâs nothing that can undo that,â Alex replied with certainty. âNo wonder sheâs barely told me anything about him. She knows I wouldnâtââ She folded her hands together and pressed them against her mouth, shaking her head, too overwhelmed to continue.
Kara had to know this was wrong. She had to know Alex would be concerned and that was why sheâd kept details of this man so vague. She knew what she should do. She should ask to meet him, see for herself if he was worthy of her concern, deal with this. But she meant what she said: there was no undoing that kind of past and she didnât know how to look over it.
She tried to be all about forgiveness and second chances, but she wasnât so sure she could hold to those standards for someone who had murdered God-only-knew how many people over centuries. She hoped he was better now, that there was something redeeming in him that attracted Kara to him, but this was not the best first impression. She could handle vampires. She could understand doing what had to be done. But mass revenge slaughters, killing for what she could only assume was fun â that she couldnât understand.
But if she didnât try, this could drive a wedge between her and Kara. There was no way she could handle that. Being apart always broke them. In this place that wasnât home, where the strangest things could happen in a blink of an eye, she needed them not to be broken.
After a few moments of gathering herself, she turned back to Katherine with a heavy smile. âIâm sorry. I was just - taken aback, I guess. Iâm sorry he did that to you. I didnât know you then, but I doubt you deserved it. And I know you donât now. I hope you never have to deal with him again.â
Yep, Alex was definitely coming to terms with this and Katherine wasnât too sure what to do. She didnât have much more information about Klaus other than what Caroline told her, and so far the impression sheâd gotten was that he was behaving? She didnât pry much further into that topic but now she wished she did so she could provide more clarity on that.
âHe didnât do it to me in this life, but - the whole thingâs complicated, you know? My knee-jerk reaction to Klaus is always going to be fear,â she admitted reluctantly, flipping that let down hair over her shoulders. In that other life sheâd been nineteen when she turned, young and scared. Exiled from her family, a childless mother. Katherine wanted to live and not be a sacrificial lamb. Then he terrorized her for the next five hundred years and - that changed her for the absolute worst. âThereâs a chance your sister might not know about it? Itâs not something anyone would advertise if theyâre looking into a relationship.â
The last thing she wanted was for her to make assumptions about this, if Kara wasnât all that forthcoming with details. âAnd not to scare you but he can compel people,â she added cautiously. âItâs a vampire trick. Mind control. You can make someone do what you want them to, think what you want. Iâm not saying thatâs what he did but - just keep that in mind.â
Well, that was good to know. Not a concern, in Karaâs case, but good to be aware of if she came across any other vampires that wanted to use that trick to their advantage. âKryptoniansâ minds are pretty hard to penetrate. I doubt even a, uh, hybrid can get past that if a Martian canât.â The only person to have gotten into Karaâs head was Psi, and those were particularly special circumstances. Even if this Klaus guy had tried to mess with her sisterâs mind, she doubted heâd have been successful.
âItâs possible she doesnât know, though. Itâs also possible she does and just - sheâs tried to look past it. Sheâs pretty soft-hearted.â It was a trait she loved and admired about Kara but one that also made her even more crazily overprotective. Sheâd had her heart stomped on quite viciously in the last few years, first by the loss of Mon-El, then more recently during all this drama with Lena. She didnât want to see her get hurt again, but there might not be much she could do about it.
Possibilities were all they had. Katherine felt a tad bit of guilt there - if she knew what kind of issues bringing up Klaus would have caused, she would have⌠nah. She wouldnât have kept quiet. She would have gone to Alex if sheâd found out who her sister was dating and given her a heads up as a precaution. Klaus wasnât someone anyone should take a gamble with. She knew that more than most.
A hand went to sympathetically pat her back. âYou should talk this out with her and see whatâs really going on? Personally Iâd expect the worst.â Yes, people were capable of change and going down a new path - she had paved her own way instead of following Katherine Of Oldâs footsteps. Klaus, the actual Klaus, was a different story. If he wanted to nut up and be a better person, fine.
Show receipts of your attempts first.
That got a mirthless laugh and a fond roll of her eyes. Alex was expecting the worst, too, in this situation. It was hard not to when she heard that sort of history. She had no reason to believe Katherine was exaggerating â she had no reason or motive to do that. And if there was one thing she had learned about Katherine in the time sheâd known her, it was that she was unflinchingly honest. It was a good trait, one she appreciated, even if it led to her feeling nervous as hell about Klaus.
âIâll talk to her.â That was the smartest course of action at this point. She hadnât wanted to say anything until sheâd found out more and now sheâd gotten more. There was no point in avoiding this topic and acting like she wasnât concerned anymore. âAnd Iâll keep your name out of it, too, just in case. If he hated you that much, I donât want to risk lighting that fire again.â
If Klaus had it out for this version of her, Katherine would have heard by now - or would like to think that, anyway. Truth is she really didnât know. It also just wasnât worth risking, even if Hank had the strength to rip him in half with his bare hands in his Beast form.
âIf sheâs got questions she can always reach out. I appreciate the anonymity but if she didnât know,â Katherine worried her bottom lip with her teeth a bit. âIâll back you up and meet with her. Iâll follow your lead regardless - your sister, you know how to handle her best. I want all the updates and if you need me to get you plastered to the point that you forget your name, Iâve got you.â
âThank you. Iâll keep you in the loop.â Alex gave Katherineâs knee a brief squeeze and a sincerely thankful smile. Knowing Katherine had her back in this situation actually did help ease some of her worry. If Kara didnât know about Klausâs past (and it was a really big if at the moment), having someone who could tell her with certainty the sort of person he was would be a big help. Alex had never tried to sabotage any of Karaâs relationships, but it was hard to say how she would take any criticism of her boyfriend if she was really into him.
âWhat did he want your blood for, anyway?â she asked curiously. âIs it something - I mean, should I be afraid thatâs what he wants from Kara?â She doubted a vampire would be able to penetrate Karaâs skin, but sheâd taken some serious damage at times. She didnât want to rule any possibility out just yet â even the possibility he really was improving.
Oh, right. The blood thing. Katherineâs brows flared up when she exhaled a breath because - wow, that felt like eons ago. Kind of was. âYou donât need to worry about blood. He broke the curse, heâs full on hybrid. Iâm a doppelganger, technically - and doppelganger blood was specifically needed to break it. Unless Klaus is just looking to have a snack...â
That was really it. She wasnât sure what alien blood would even taste like, though Doctor Strange back at the clinic had hooked her up with some exotic bloods and they were divine. All from Vallo locals, and none were aliens (that she knew of).
Katherine squeezed her shoulder before getting up off the bench. âAnd speaking about snacks - let me treat you to something? You worked up an appetite and probably a thirst.â
Really, it was the least she could do after unleashing that kind of stress on Alex. Obviously she had the right to know, but also it had been a big fucking revelation and discussing Klaus had her thirst for booze too.
âSure, that sounds good.â Alex took one more swig from her water bottle before capping it, then getting to her feet. It was still early enough in the day, so she wasnât ready to go for heavy booze. But she wouldnât say no to a couple of beers with lunch. The heavier processing would come with a bottle of whiskey later on.