THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
S02:E07
C H A P T E R T H R E E
Masked

Anastasiya Nilsson walked into the Lockwood home, adjusting her white, lace mask and smiling at Mrs. Lockwood. The platinum blonde weaved her way through the crowd, looking for Caroline. She froze suddenly, seeing the infamous doppelgänger watching her through the crowd. Anastasiya felt like a cat's prey. She allowed Katherine to near her.

"Ana," Katherine smirked as if she were hiding a secret, "it's so good to see you alive and well again." The platinum blonde crossed her fair arms and rolled her eyes at the vampire's bad attempt at becoming Elena. At least she got the hair right, she concluded.

"Why wouldn't I be? Have you set a trap for me?" Anastasiya dared, the mischievous look in her eyes causing Katherine's smirk to deepen.

"Maybe," she replied teasingly, "but that's not what I was referring to. How're your dreams? Filled with a certain wolf?" The vampire winked and then walked around the blonde and back through the crowd. Anastasiya didn't wait to watch where Katherine went before heading out back toward the Salvatores, her mission to find Caroline never crossing her mind.

Meeting halfway with Damon, who had just entered the house from the backyard, Anastasiya smiled falsely and informed, "I just saw Katherine." Damon nodded curtly and walked further into the house.

~

"and she just... snap and Aimee was dead?" Stefan nodded at Anastasiya's question, causing her to continue "and no one noticed?-" Stefan nodded again "-you're sure?"

"I'm positive. I put the body in the trunk for now," Stefan assured, crossing his arms and looking to Damon as he responded.

"We'll dump her when we get back," Damon added, gaining a nod from Stefan and a steel look from Anastasiya.

"This is exactly what I didn't want, Damon," Stefan sighed out, glaring at his brother for the stupid plan they had created together.

Damon scoffed, "Stefan, it's collateral damage."

"Think about the bigger picture; killing Katherine," Anastasiya pointed out, causing Stefan to gain a mixed expression.

"No," Stefan shook his head, "we need to call it off."

Appalled, Damon pushed, "What? Who's hesitating now? Hey! Don't do this to me! This woman ruined our lives, she destroyed us! Tonight it ends. We can do it together. I got your back. All right?"

Stefan paused for a moment before agreeing, "All right." Shortly after, Stefan started to prepare for battle on the opposite side of the room as Damon started a conversation with Anastasiya:

"Why are you so okay with people being killed? You're human, it's in your blood to care." Damon couldn't comprehend how nonchalant Anastasiya was about the whole idea when all of her friends got spooked very time someone died.

"She's already dead, why's it matter now?" Anastasiya replied, her truthful eyes looking into Damon's confused ones. "I barley knew Aimee anyways. Actually, I can't even recall her face. I think I'm just used to it by now, vampires equals dead humans. Simple math." Damon nodded suspiciously, watching the girl as she looked off and leaned against the table behind her.

"You need to go, Ana," Stefan insisted, watching as the girl frowned at his words and crossed her arms.

"Why? I could help, be a distraction. Katherine seems oddly interested in my life," the platinum blonde reasoned, watching as Damon gave a 'yes' look to Stefan's 'really?' look.

"Fine."

~

"Where is she?" Katherine growled, turning and glaring viciously at Caroline on the other side of the open doors.

Caroline stops sobbing and begins chuckling, cheering, "I did it! I really didn't think I'd be able to fool you, but I did it!" Katherine tries to vampire speed at her, but is stopped at the doors by an invisible barrier.

"What the...? Stefan?" Katherine questions, watching as the Salvatore made his way from a closet with a stake in hand.

"Hello Katherine," he greets deviously, a small smirk at play on his face.

"Goodbye Katherine," Caroline adds in the same tone as Stefan, and then leaves.

"You don't really think you can kill me with that, do you?" Katherine asks, amused with Stefan's attempt at her death.

"No, but he can."

"Nice to see you alive and well," a voice says from behind, causing Katherine to turn and face Anastasiya, who was on the other side of the doors. At the same time, Damon exited the closet and shot Katherine with a stake in one of Alaric's air-compressed gadgets. Katherine cries in pain and turns toward the Salvatores just as Stefan stakes her shoulder.

Anastasiya watches as Damon and Stefan fight to kill Katherine, who attempts at staking the older Salvatore. Stefan grabs her from behind and chokes her while falling to the ground. Katherine is stiff. She smirks remembering that Elena is connected to her.

Damon rushes over and goes to stake Katherine when Jeremy runs up beside Anastasiya and protests, "Stop! You're hurting Elena! Everything you're doing is hurting Elena!" Damon stops, a wide-eyed look on his face as he stands straight. Katherine smiles as Stefan lets go and they both stand.

"You think you two are the only ones with a witch on your side? Wrong and something tells me that my witch is better than your witch," the doppelgänger admits, a teasing tone in her voice as she grabs the stake from Damon's loose hands.

"Jeremy, go check on Elena. Make sure she's okay. Go!" Stefan commands, watching as Jeremy bolted back down the stairway. "You, too, Ana!"

"Stasi," Anastasiya turned back around in surprise at the nickname she'd only heard in a dream, "make sure you tell that dream boy I said, 'Go to hell'" The platinum blonde blinked, frozen and unable to process what the Petrova vampire had said. She looked between the questioning faces of Stefan and Damon and then back at Katherine. Her face was all knowing while Anastasiya's was clueless. She ran after Jeremy.

~

"No, Jeremy. What I need is for you to be safe," Elena persists, pushing the Gilbert ring back toward her brother just as Anastasiya stopped beside them.

"It wouldn't work, Jer," she explained, pointing toward the ring, "Elena is a doppelgänger, she's supernatural."

Later, Jeremy had left to find Bonnie and gave the job of keeping Elena safe to Anastasiya. The two stayed together as Elena slowly healed and was ready to go home.

"I'm sorry for tonight, Elena, we didn't-"

"It's fine, Ana, you didn't know," Elena admitted, walking with the girl to her car. Elena's phone begins to ring and she answers it, seeing the caller ID. She mouthed, 'Jeremy' to clueless Anastasiya.

"Yeah Jeremy, I've got my car. Tell Bonnie that whatever she did, I'm starting to feel better-" she paused as Jeremy replied "-Yeah, you can drive her home. I'm just gonna go straight to bed-" a pause "-Okay," Elena finalized, ending the call with her brother and smiling small at Anastasiya.

"It's been one craz-" Anastasiya looked over to her friend as she was being grabbed by a masked man, "Elena!" The brunette passed out just as she saw her blonde friend get captured, too. Both girls were knocked out.