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"But can you not make peace? For me, Damon… Stefan? Please."<br />
Part of Stefan wanted to melt at Katherine's desperate look, at her tears. But wounded pride and<br />
jealousy were too strong, and he knew his face was as hard, as unyielding, as Damon's.<br />
"No," he said. "We cannot. It must be one or the other, Katherine. I will never share you with him."<br />
Katherine's hand fell away from his arm, and the tears fell from her eyes, great droplets that<br />
splashed onto the white gown. She caught her breath in a wrenching sob. Then, still weeping, she<br />
picked up her skirts and ran.<br />
"And then Damon took the ring she had given him and put it on," Stefan said, his voice hoarse with<br />
use and emotion. "And he said to me, 'I'll have her yet, brother.' And then he walked away." He<br />
turned, blinking as if he'd come into a bright light from the dark, and looked at Elena.<br />
She was sitting quite still on the bed, watching him with those eyes that were so much like<br />
Katherine's. Especially now, when they were filled with sorrow and dread. But Elena did not run.<br />
She spoke to him.<br />
"And… what happened then?"<br />
Stefan's hands clenched violently, reflexively, and he jerked away from the window. Not that<br />
memory. He could not endure that memory himself, much less try to speak it. How could he do that?<br />
How could he take Elena down into that darkness and show her the terrible things lurking there?<br />
"No," he said. "I can't. I can't."<br />
"You have to tell me," she said softly. "Stefan, it's the end of the story, isn't it? That's what's behind<br />
all your walls, that's what you're afraid to let me see. But you must let me see it. Oh, Stefan, you can't<br />
stop now."<br />
He could feel the horror reaching for him, the yawning pit he had seen so clearly, felt so clearly that<br />
day long ago. The day when it had all ended – when it had all begun.<br />
He felt his hand taken, and when he looked he saw Elena's fingers closed about it, giving him<br />
warmth, giving him strength. Her eyes were on his. "Tell me."<br />
"You want to know what happened next, what became of Katherine?" he whispered. She nodded,<br />
her eyes nearly blind but still steady. "I'll tell you, then. She died the next day. My brother Damon and<br />
I, we killed her."
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