Origins

The face turned, and in the reflection on the water I saw a pale, pointed face. Katherine. She was escorting little Anna from the apothecary. All I could see were the dark vines of Anna’s curls, bouncing over her shoulders.

"Katherine!" I yelled from the horse, with a strength I did not know I possessed. Now, instead of wanting to hold her, I wanted to use my arms to restrain her, to make her stop carrying out the awful thing she was about to do. I felt bile rise in my throat as I imagined finding a jagged branch and ramming it into her chest. Katherine didn’t turn around. She held Anna’s shoulders tighter and led her into the forest. I kicked Mezzanotte hard on the flanks, the wind whipping against my face as I desperately tried to catch up with them.

Chapter 19

I galloped through the woods, kicking Mezzanotte to jump over logs, to dash through underbrush, anything to make sure I didn’t lose sight of Katherine and Anna. How could I have trusted Katherine? How could I have thought I loved her? I should have killed her when I had the chance. If I didn’t catch up to them, Anna’s blood would be on my hands, too. Just as Rosalyn’s was.

We reached an uprooted tree and Mezzanotte reared up, sending me tumbling backward onto the forest floor. I felt a sharp stab as my temple cracked against a stone. The wind was knocked out of me, and I fought for breath, knowing it was only a matter of time before Katherine would kill Anna and then finish me off.

I felt gentle, ice-cold hands lifting me up to a sitting position.

"No …," I gasped. The act of breathing hurt. My breeches were ripped, and I had a large gash on my knee. Blood flowed freely from my temple.

Katherine knelt beside me, using the sleeve of her dress to stave off the bleeding. I noticed her licking her lips, then mashing them firmly together. "Y ou’re hurt," she said softly, continuing to apply pressure to my wound. I pushed myself away from her, but Katherine clasped my shoulder, holding me in place.

"Don’t worry. Remember. Y have my heart,"

ou Katherine said, holding my gaze with hers. Wordlessly, I nodded. If death was to come, I hoped it would come quickly. Sure enough, Katherine bared her teeth, and I closed my eyes, waiting for the agonizing ecstasy of her teeth against my neck.

But nothing came. Instead, I felt her cold skin near my mouth.

"Drink," Katherine commanded, and I saw a thin gash in her delicate white skin. Blood was trickling from the cut as though through a brook after a rainstorm. I was repulsed and tried to turn my head away, but Katherine held on to the back of my neck. "Trust me. It will help."

Slowly, fearfully, I allowed my lips to touch the liquid. Immediately I felt warmth run down my throat. I continued to drink until Katherine pulled her arm away.

"That’s enough," she murmured, holding her palm over the wound. "Now, how do you feel?" She sat back on her heels and surveyed me.

How did I feel? I touched my leg, my temple. Everything felt smooth. Healed.

"Y did that," I said incredulously.

ou

"I did." Katherine stood up and brushed her hands together. I noticed her wound, too, was now completely healed. "Now tell me why I had to heal you. What are you doing in the forest? Y know

ou it’s not safe," she said, concern belying her chiding tone.

"Y …. Anna," I murmured, feeling sluggish

ou and sleepy, as one might feel after a long, wine- infused dinner. I blinked at my surroundings. Mezzanotte was hitched to a tree, and Anna was sitting on a branch, hugging her knees to her chest and watching us. Instead of terror, Anna’s face was full of confusion as she looked from me, to Katherine, then back to me.

"Stefan, Anna is one of my friends," Katherine said simply.

"Does Stefan … know?" Anna asked curiously, whispering as if I wasn’t standing three feet from her.

"We can trust him," Katherine said, nodding definitively.

I cleared my throat, and both girls looked at me.

"What are you doing?" I asked finally.

"Meeting," Katherine said, gesturing to the clearing.

"Stefan Salvatore," a throaty voice said. I whirled around and saw a third figure emerge from the shadows. Almost without thinking, I held up the vervain from my breast pocket, which looked as useless as a daisy clutched in my hand.

"Stefan Salvatore," I heard again. I glanced wildly between Anna and Katherine, but their facial expressions were impossible to read. An owl hooted, and I pressed my fist into my mouth to keep from screaming.

"It’s okay, Mama. He knows," Anna called to the shadows.

Mama. So that meant Pearl was also a vampire. But how could she be? She was the apothecary, the one who was supposed to heal the sick, not tear out human throats with her teeth. Then again, Katherine had healed me, and she hadn’t torn out my throat.

Pearl emerged from between the trees, her gaze tightening on me. "How do we know he’s safe?" she asked suspiciously, in a voice that was much more ominous than the polite tone she used at her apothecary.

"He is," Katherine said, smiling sweetly as she gently touched my arm. I shivered and clutched the vervain, Cordelia’s words echoing in my head. This herb could stop the devil. But what if we’d all gotten it wrong, and vampires like Katherine weren’t devils but angels? What then?

"Drop the vervain," Katherine said. I looked into her large, cat-like eyes and dropped the plant to the forest floor. Immediately, Katherine used the tip of her boot to cover it with pine needles and leaves.

"Stefan, you look as though you’ve seen a ghost," Katherine laughed, turning toward me. But her laughter wasn’t mean. Instead, it sounded melodic and musical and slightly sad. I collapsed onto a gnarled tree root. I noticed my leg was shaking and held my hands firmly against my knee, which was now completely smooth, as if the fall had never happened. Katherine took the motion as an invitation for her to perch on my knee. She sat and looked down on me, running her hands through my hair.