A/N: Happy at least a few people are reading my latest obsession. Thanks for the reviews!
Katta sat in the kitchen drinking coffee and staring off into space in a daze. She hadn't slept a wink last night. It wasn't the cold, dank room that had kept her up; it was the nightmares. She thought a new atmosphere would keep the terrifying dreams away, it hadn't…
Damon walked into the kitchen glancing at her before he pulled out what look like a second coffee pot and poured himself a mug. He sat on the stool next to her at the counter and grinned. "Morning, beautiful."
Katta rolled her eyes and continue to sip from her cup. She suddenly began to smell something metallic and quickly turned to Damon. "What is that scent?"
Damon glanced down at his mug. "Nothing like fresh brewed blood in the morning to wake a cold dead body up," he winked at her and took a long drink of hot steaming blood.
Katta nearly gagged. "Damon, must you gross me out first thing in the morning?"
"Would you prefer I drink from your cup?" He grabbed her mug and took a swallow then spit the stuff out. "Now that's gross! I see you make your coffee the same as yourself, bitter and Black..."
"Damon, I'm warning you, I am not a morning person, do not start with me right now."
"Well, lucky for you, I could care less," he pulled her stool close to him and trapped her between his legs. "Now where did we leave off last night?"
"I believe it was with you standing outside my bedroom," Katta smirked.
Damon grabbed her chin examining the dark rings under her eyes. "Nice to know I wasn't the only one who didn't get much sleep last night."
Katta jerked away from him. "Don't touch me like you own me."
Damon moved his face closer to hers. "Take me to your bed and I'll show you how wrong you are…" he whispered wickedly.
Katta swallowed ignoring the sexual chemistry whipping between them. There was no doubt that he would definitely own her if she gave in to him. "I could skin you alive, you know that," she threatened him.
"It will grow back, you know that," Damon replied with a smirk, "but keep talking; you're turning me on…"
"Didn't know you were such a masochist," Katta replied, "then again, I should have figured it out sooner, no matter how much damage I do to this body of yours, you keep coming back for more."
"What can I say? I like it rough…" Damon grinned.
"You are one sick, twisted, vampire…" Katta told him shaking her head.
Stefan cleared his throat loudly as he entered the room with Elena. "Sorry, are we interrupting something?" He stared at both of them with a smug smile on his face.
Katta knew what she and Damon must have looked like to them and quickly pulled away from him. "No, you're not interrupting anything."
"Actually…" Damon started to say but stopped and smirked when Katta shot him a death threat look.
"I'm going into town later; would you like to come with me, Elena?" Katta asked her.
"Sure," Elena said. She watched Katta leave the room before turning to Damon. "I hope you don't plan on giving her a hard time while she's staying here. She just returned to us, we don't need you chasing her away again."
"Oh, you blame moi for her disappearance? How "Elena" of you," Damon took another sip out of his mug.
"Believe me, if Stefan was not here, I'd run from you too," Elena taunted him and walked to the refrigerator.
"Isn't anybody the least bit curious as to where she's been?" Damon looked at Stefan and Elena. "She suddenly returns and everyone just accepts it, no questions asked?"
"We are concerned," Elena told him, "but we're trying to give her time to open up to us…"
"I don't think time is on her side," Damon mumbled.
Stefan frowned. "Do you know something?"
"Yeah, Damon, if you know something then tell us," Elena urged.
"She hasn't told me anything really, I just get the feeling this is not an ordinary visit for her."
"Speaking of disappearing, where were you for the past two years, Damon?" Elena asked.
"Were you worried about me?" Damon grinned.
"Just curious, you left a month after Katta disappeared. Was it a coincidence?" Elena took out a bagel and cream cheese.
"Why is everyone asking me that?" Damon threw his hands up in the air. "Can't a man decide to go on vacation to get away from all the drama that happened trying to save you?" He stared at Elena pointedly.
"Watch it, Damon," Stefan warned him.
"So you didn't look for her? Cause you know, I could have sworn I heard Alaric talking on the phone to you about her," Elena smiled at him sweetly.
"You little…were you eavesdropping on the other line? How much did you hear?"
"Give it up, Damon, stop pretending like you don't care for Katta and tell us what you found out."
"I don't care for her," Damon snapped at him. "I was bored and needed something to keep me occupied, that's all."
Stefan and Elena glanced at each other.
"Fine," Damon yelled at them. "Believe what you want, I don't care! And now that you've pissed me off, I'm not telling you anything!" He left the room.
"Must he act so childish," Elena said with a sigh.
"What did you hear, Elena? Why are you just not saying anything about this?" Stefan wanted to know.
"I wasn't really on the other line listening, I just heard bits and pieces when I was on my way out. Alaric mentioned something about a strange supernatural pattern that started happening in different parts of the world since Katta's disappearance. When I asked him about it later, he said he didn't have anything to go on except that and it could have been caused by anything. He didn't want me to tell Bonnie and get her hopes up over nothing. He wanted to be sure, first, but then Katta returned…"
"I think Alaric and Damon know a lot more than they're letting on," Stefan concluded.
"Thanks again for throwing the party for me, Bonnie. It really meant a lot to me," Katta said as she sat at The Mystic Grill for lunch with Bonnie, Elena, and Caroline.
"Well, you mean a lot to us," Bonnie told her. "You don't know how happy I was to hear that you'd returned and you were okay. I was so afraid that something bad had happened to you. I've already lost grams, I couldn't bare it if I lost you too."
A look of guilt and regret came over Katta's face at hearing Bonnie's word. Perhaps, coming to Mystic Falls had been a bad idea. She turned her head away, not able to look Bonnie in the face and ended up staring into beautiful azure eyes watching her intensely. Damon. He was sitting at the bar facing her and probably listening in on her conversation with that keen hearing of his. She frowned when he raised a glass to her and grinned.
"Hey Katta!" Jeremy said and leaned down to give her a hug. "Bonnie told me you were back. Sorry, I wasn't able to make it to the party last night."
"That's okay, Jeremy, look at you…you've grown into quite a man since I last saw you, Bonnie is one lucky girl."
Jeremy blushed at the compliment and gave Bonnie a kiss on the cheek. "No, I'm the lucky one," he said staring down at Bonnie adoringly.
"Aww, so cute," Katta sighed. "Young love, there's nothing like it."
"Once again will you stop acting like you're an old woman, you're only five years older than us," Bonnie laughed.
"Matt, look who's here," Jeremy called to his friend who also worked at the Mystic Grill. Matt walked over and smiled brightly when he saw Katta.
"I can't believe you're back," he said walking over to her quickly and giving her a hug.
Katta smiled at the blonde haired, blue eyes, heart throb. "And I can't believe how built you've gotten. Have you been working out?"
Matt grinned. "I have to keep in shape in order to survive in this town, apparently I'm the only normal one among my friends without any special powers."
"Hey," Elena said. "What about me?"
"Hello? Doppelganger? Nothing normal about that…" Matt teased.
Elena threw a fry at him.
"We better get back to work, it's good seeing you again," Matt told Katta.
"See you later tonight?" Jeremy asked Bonnie who nodded and smiled at him.
She waited until both he and Matt left before turning to Katta. "So..cuz…are you going to tell us why you left? Where did you go?"
Katta took a long sip from her Coke. "I don't really want to talk about that right now…"
Bonnie frowned. "Why? We spent two years looking for you. Do you know how scared I was that you were dead somewhere? Look, the least you can do is tell us where you been."
"I took a long vacation, things were getting rather hectic for me and I needed some…me time..." Katta said.
"And where exactly was "me time" at?" Bonnie grilled her.
"Oh here and there, I traveled around the world for two years, there are you happy?"
"Did you bring any pictures?" Caroline asked excitedly.
Bonnie rolled her eyes at her. "Katta, I don't believe you'd just run off for no reason and not let anyone know just because you wanted a vacation." She grabbed her hand. "If something is wrong, you know you can tell us." Bonnie suddenly gasped as strong, powerful energy zapped through their joined hands.
Katta yanked her hand away. "Excuse me, little girl rooms," she told them and quickly left the table.
Elena stared at her best friend sitting beside her and watched her face turn pale. "Bonnie, what's wrong?"
Katta didn't go to the restroom, instead she went outside behind the restaurant to get some fresh air, that was close, a little too close. She took in a deep breath and stared down at her hands which had gotten so hot, steam began to rise off of them in the cold air. So, it was happening just as they said, she was gradually beginning to lose control.
Damon suddenly appeared in front of her staring down at her hands. "What was that back there?"
She stared at him in disbelief. "You just love stalking me, don't you?"
"Don't flatter yourself, it's not my fault you happen to be at all my hang out spots as well as my home. Who's stalking who?"
Katta turned to leave. He grabbed her smoking hand. "What is this? What did you do to Bonnie?"
Katta pulled it away. "Nothing! Do you really think I'd hurt my cousin, she's like a little sister to me! Sometimes when two witches touch their powers cancel each other out."
"True, but it didn't seem like you had control over it, you looked just as surprised as she did," Damon looked at her suspiciously.
"Will you please, Damon, stop harassing me and just leave me alone?" Katta begged him and turned around to leave.
"China, India, Russia…sounds familiar to you?" Damon asked causing her to freeze. She slowly turned around to face him again.
"Kat! Is that you?" a male's voice asked.
Katta turned to see the guy that had broken her heart during her last visit in Mystic Falls. "Augusto…" Apparently, no matter how badly he'd treated her, he could still make her heart beat faster every time she saw him. She watched as the handsome Italian walked up to her with a cocky grin on his face.
"Where have you been? I've missed seeing your beautiful face in this dull town," he said totally ignoring Damon who stared at him in annoyance. He took her hand which had recently stopped smoking and kissed it.
Katta looked momentarily dazed in his presence which pissed off Damon for some reason. This was the guy she had dated for a month, slept with, and dumped her the very next day. And yet, here she was smiling up at him as if he was still the love of her life. What exactly did she see in the pathetic piece of human being? And the fact that he so obnoxiously got between him and Katta interrupting their conversation and ignoring Damon, didn't sit too well with him.
"You're asking me out again, are you serious? After the way you treated me like trash before?" Katta was saying to him. "I mean sure you're…good looking and charming and oh so…sexy…seriously the Italian thing is working for you…I find you irresistible…but you're bad news for me Augusto..."
"What's wrong with having a little badness in your life?" Augusto asked and pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her. "What I did to you was wrong, I admit. I was young and stupid back then, I didn't see the error of my ways until you left and I realized how much I missed you. Katta, I love you…"
"Really?" Katta asked batting her eyes at him. She knew he was probably lying, but damn she wanted him to kiss her. How long had it been since she'd felt another man's lips against hers? Two years exactly…she watched as his lips came closer, closer to hers, her heart beating crazily with anticipation. She closed her eyes and waited. Nothing happened…She opened them and nearly screamed at what she saw. Her hands covered her mouth in shock and horror as she watched Damon pull his fangs from the neck of her future lover and drop his limp body to the ground.
Damon looked at her innocently as he wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his arm. "What? I was hungry…"
"Did..you..KILL.. him?" Katta's voice shook.
"Sorry, I couldn't help myself…Italian food is my favorite."
"Damon! How could you?"
"Oh stop being so dramatic, I did you a favor! You should be thanking me."
"Oh my god, you psychotic vampire! You haven't changed a bit since I left. I am not staying here to be a witness for your mess!" Katta disappeared in front of him.
Damon blinked in surprised. "Well…that's new…"