✔ | Allure, S. Salvatore

ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ ᴛᴡᴏ - 𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝑶𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈

[Episode 38 - Know Thy Enemy - 2]

Just as the first dark ray of night seeps in, a car pulls over by the cemetery. Out of the vehicle, Stefan and Jenna rush out, calling out to the eldest Gilbert.

"Kat!"

"Vivi?!"

"Honey, it's Jenna! Where are you!" she runs the torch over the whole ground, the light beam illuminating the bleak grounds. Until it lands on a figure.

"Stefan..." Jenna beckons the vampire over, pointing to the one they were looking.

"Vivi! Oh my God are you-" he stops when he takes in her whole state. Sitting beside freshly dug earth, Kat Gilbert, half of her exposed skin tenderly burnt, leans against a headstone, staring down. Cloth torn from her jacket is wrapped around her palms and hands. Her right hand rests on her raised knee, holding a blue necklace.

But all of this, is not what tells them what happened. It's her left hand and rests on something like a rod dug into the ground crookedly.

A shovel.

▹▹▹

Jenna applies cream over the burns on Kat's still cheeks as Stefan and Damon unwind the torn cloth from her hands. She sits there, staring off into space, not even bothering to flinch in pain.

Stefan reaches the fingers where Isobel's necklace hangs from. He tries to lift it off but Kat clutches onto it harder. "Was that Isobel's?" he asks gently, pulling off her fingers. She nods, diverting her eyes for the first time in all this while, looking at the daylight charm.

Elena enters with some papers, avoiding her sister's eyes "I never thought I would feel bad about her being dead, and yet..."

Stefan sees the slight tick in Kat's eyes and nudges her chin to look at him "It's not alright" he nods, he wasn't going to make it okay.

"Wh-" Kat clears her throat "Why did they let me go?"

"Well, anything John told Isobel, we have to assume that Klaus knows, right?" Elena starts, unaffected "So he knows that I'm not gonna turn myself into a vampire. He knows that I have protecting me" she addresses the Salvatores, casting a sorry look at her aunt.

"He knows that we're not gonna run. And h-he knows that I won't be able, able able to do magic anymore" Kat gets up, frantically putting on the first shirt she finds in Damon's drawers, murk, burns and all.

"Kat..." Jenna gets up, going over to her shocked niece.

Elena walks forward too "What do you mean you can't do magic anymore?"

She looks up, teary-eyed and her droops down immediately. She shakes her head, sniffling, "I-I can't... I don't, I don't have m-magic anymore... I'm just a Guardian" she slides down against the drawers with a hopeless sigh.

She can't kill Klaus without magic. She's useless.

Damon warily approaches the Guardian, bypassing a concerned Jenna "Hey... we all got hit, bad. So you both need as much protection as we can muster..." he puts the deed's papers in her clutches.

"What's...? what's this?"

"It's the deed to our house. It's in Stefan's name. As soon as you sign it, it'll be in your name"

"You're giving us your house?" Kat's eyes widen.

"You," Damon stresses "Elena refuses to sign it because she's afraid she can be compelled... You can't..."

"Isobel had the right idea with the safe house. You'll just stay here till it's all over. That way, you can control who gets invited and who doesn't" Stefan gently puts in.

"Although I'll be super pissed if you lock me out" Damon holds her cheeks gently, making her crack a small smile. Everyone will be safe. John suddenly gasps for air, in the land of the living, and sits up. Damon rushes over to him and lifts him up by his collar, sneering.

"I swear I had no idea what she was gonna do. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry"

"Damon, let him go. We need to talk..." Elena states, helping her sister up.

▹▹▹

" I always knew that she and Katherine were close, but I never realised that Isobel and her were working against me. Two of the world's most uncaring and selfish vampires, and yet they were genuinely friends" John accepts coffee from Jenna, who sits down in the middle of her nieces.

Damon pours some bourbon into Kat's cup with an encouraging smile.

"If that's what you thought of her, why did you ever put your trust in her at all?" Elena frowns.

"Because I was there when she gave birth to you... I saw how heartbroken she was to give her daughters up. And because she was the first girl I ever loved, and when she said she'd help keep you both safe...I believed her. At this point, I will do whatever you want me to do. If you feel safer with me not around, then I'll go" he gets up, only to be stopped by his elder daughter.

"Everything you touch just falls apart John..." she gets up "But you're here, and you're the last blood I have left...so maybe I can learn not to hate you..." she smiles sadly, giving him her own cup of coffee as a peace offering.