4 Masquerade

One fine morning, Nadja was brought back from her musings by Caroline Forbes' appearance. The hybrid had been staring outside the Salvatore's living room window, lost in thoughts.

"What's with you?" Damon frowned at the blonde baby vampire.

Caroline did indeed seem frazzled, her hands shaking.

"Call Stefan," Caroline's voice trembled. "I have something to tell you guys."

Nadja thought back on her meeting with three of the Original family — what felt like a few hours in her mind were actually a few days in the outside world. Thus, she'd missed quite a few things such as her sister playing with the group.

Damon had killed Mason, Katherine's werewolf sidekick and lover, making Katherine retaliate by compelling Elena's aunt, Jenna, to stab herself.

Today, Jenna would be getting out of the hospital and Nadja had spent the last three days at the Salvatore's, cultivating the trust between her and the brothers.

That way, Nadja thought with a hidden smirk, it would be much more fun when she stabbed them in the back.

***

"Here." Damon handed Caroline a glass of blood.

"I'm still shaking." The baby vampire whined.

Nadja glanced to the side, seeing Stefan walk inside the living room.

"What happened?" He asked.

Damon sent Caroline a look, which the blonde took as her cue to tell them about her meeting with Katherine at the Mystic Grill.

When Caroline stopped talking, Nadja arched a brow. "Katherine wants the moonstone?" She asked.

For Nadja, it was quite difficult to act like she didn't know much. And it was a miracle they were willing to trust her so.

Caroline nodded. "She wants it tonight, at the masquerade ball."

"She wants to do it in public," Stefan stated. "Killing Mason threw her off-guard."

"She's running scared," Damon countered. "What she did to Jenna was desperate. She's out of tricks."

Stefan shook his head. "We can't underestimate her. We have to play this smarter than her."

Nadja gave a small nod. "Stefan is right. My dear sister is very smart but with the right setting, we can get to her."

Inside, though, Nadja was making hurl motions at her own words.

Caroline sighed. "Can we just give her the moonstone so she'll leave?"

"Are you stupid?" Nadja immediately questioned before closing her mouth.

She'd momentarily forgotten she was on their side.

Fortunately, Damon ignored Caroline's hurt look by shaking his head. "No, Katherine's not getting dick. I've had it," he declared. "I'm gonna go to the masquerade ball and I'm gonna kill her, tonight."

While Nadja bit her lip to stop her smile, Stefan spoke up. "You're not gonna kill her."

The eldest Salvatore rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't give me that goody-goody crap."

"You're not gonna kill her." Stefan replied.

"Really?"

Stefan stood tall. "Because I am."

Marvelous, Nadja thought. Quite an interesting pair of brothers.

***

Nadja looked a picture.

With a long, elegant, figure-hugging silver dress that looked as if dipped in shiny rhinestones, her long, lustrous dark hair flowed in curls down to the small of her back. At her feet were heels similar to her dress and on her face was a beautiful mask hiding the top half. Her green eyes shined through the mask in an enchanting way.

She looked positively glowing. And that was what everyone that laid eyes on her thought.

"Who is that?" Tyler asked his best friend, Matt.

Matt shrugged. "I don't know ... but she kinda reminds me of someone." The blond couldn't think straight with Katherine's compulsion.

Nadja arrived at a buffet table, standing right next to someone she very much knew.

"What do we have here," Nadja gave a low chuckle. "Lucy Bennett."

Slightly choking on her drink, Lucy felt shivers at the sound of Nadja's voice — the younger witch felt as though her heart would beat out of her chest, which Nadja could hear.

Amused, Nadja smiled, bringing a champagne glass to her mouth. "What are you doing with Katherine?"

Lucy gulped and decided against lying to the other witch. "... I owe her a debt."

Lucy was a Bennett — she was pretty powerful. But she, no ... none of the witches she ever knew could compare to the woman before her. Nadja Pierce had a reputation and to this day ... many still used the spells she created centuries ago.

Nadja hummed and remained quiet, making Lucy break in a sweat.

A short while later, Nadja put her empty flute down when she noticed the Salvatore brothers.

"Make yourself useful to Bonnie Bennett, would you?" Nadja gently asked. "I have somewhere to be."

Lucy fearfully nodded. Nadja may have worded it as a question but the Bennett was very aware of the order.

***

An hour later, Stefan led Nadja and Damon inside an empty room. He told them of his encounter with Katherine and the girl she'd just killed.

"I put the body in the trunk for now." Stefan sighed.

Damon nodded. "We'll dump her when we get back."

Stefan skimmed a hand through his hair. "This is exactly what I didn't want."

Nadja inwardly rolled her eyes. "This is collateral damage, love. You can't help it."

"Right," the younger brother nodded. "Which is why we need to call it off."

Nadja sent a look Damon's way, quietly telling him he was handling this one alone.

Damon turned to his little brother. "What? Who's hesitating now? Hey!" He put his hands on Stefan's shoulders. "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?"

After taking a deep breath in, Stefan calmed down. "All right."

"Let's go then," Nadja clapped her hand. "We have a mouse to catch."

***

After a short wait and a change of room, Nadja, Stefan and Damon were now waiting for Katherine to take their bait.

Walking to the glass door, Nadja titled her head, testing for the exit. When her hand met a resistance, she smiled back at the brothers. "The Bennett's spell is up."

"Which room is it?" They heard Katherine question.

Quickly, Nadja vamp-sped behind the door, hiding her presence. Damon did the same thing.

Now, only Stefan could be seen inside the room.

"It's that one." Caroline cried.

Katherine walked into the room, looking around. "Where is she?"

Caroline's sobbing turned into delighted chuckles. "I did it! I really didn't think that I'd be able to fool you but I did it!"

Katherine rushed over to leave the room before realizing she couldn't. The room had been spelled to trap the vampires inside.

"What the ...?" Katherine turned around, noticing someone. "Stefan?"

"Hello, Katherine."

"Goodbye, Katherine," Caroline snarled before she rushed off.

Eyeing the stake in Stefan's hand, Katherine chuckled. "You don't really think that you can kill me with that now, do you?"

"No, but he can."

Immediately, Damon walked out of the closet holding a compressed weapon with which he shot Katherine. The stake went in her back and as Stefan took it out to fight her, Katherine was rushed back, hitting the wall.

Nadja walked out of her hiding, lifting her right hand as she chanted low. Her short spell stuck Katherine to the wall, with Nadja taking off her mask as she walked towards her sister.

Eyes wide, Katherine momentarily forgot the pain as she watched her sister walk forward.

"Nadedja ...?" Katherine whispered.

Eyes blank, Nadja gave a smirk when she stood before her twin. "Zdravei, Katerina," the hybrid put her hand on her sister's neck, choking her.

Katherine tried to talk, she tried to apologize — in vain. The spell and Nadja's strength were slowly killing her.

"Stop!" Jeremy yelled as he arrived to their door. "You're hurting Elena! Everything you're doing to her is hurting Elena!"

The Salvatore's turned to Nadja, alarmed, while the latter continued to press on Katherine's neck.

"And what of it?" Nadja couldn't care less for the human doppelgänger. "My dear sister needs to pay for what she did so many years ago."

"Nadja, please," Stefan begged. "Please, we can find another way but now Elena's hurting."

The girl wasn't listening as Katherine was nearly unconscious.

"Please," Damon pleaded. "I promise we'll find another way."

Taking in a deep breath, Nadja threw Katherine on the ground, giving her a harsh kick to the gut.

As she looked down at her sister, the anger that had been buried deep threatened to bubble its way up. "This is not over ... sister." Nadja promised.

Nadja pulled hair out of her face with a shaky hand. She then turned around and rushed out of the house. No amount of Bennett magic could keep her contained and she needed to calm down before she drenched the whole town in blood.

She still had use for some of them.

***

A couple of hours later, since Lucy did what Nadja ordered and helped Bonnie, the Salvatore brothers were now on their way to the tomb with an unconscious Katherine.

Nadja, on the other hand, was looking on in the parking lot as Elena was in grave danger.

"Yeah, Jeremy I've got my car." Elena was saying on the phone, "Tell Bonnie that whatever she did, I'm starting to feel better. Yeah, you can drive her home. I'm just gonna go straight to bed. Okay."

When Elena hung up, a masked man came up behind her, covering her nose and mouth as he kidnapped her.

Nadja watched on with a small smile.

"... This is getting more and more interesting."