deercountry | out of the fire, into the frying pan

Katherine wipes the back of her bloodied hand against her lips, smearing blood across her chin and cheeks. Despite looking like a mess with her hair knotted with drying blood, she still looks as composed and put together as ever. Her sharp heels haven't broken—the right's bloodied after having stabbed a thin Slenderman-like monster right through the neck—and her black pants aren't torn. Bloodied and sweaty, Katherine still looks the picture of perfection.

The blood on her face belongs to the dead monster. Thick bodied and dark-haired, the monster's silent as it lies boneless and lifeless on the ground feet behind her with its heart thrown several arm lengths away from it. Her right hand's coated in deep red with flecks of black throughout it.

When she sees who they've thrown in next, her black eyes and veins disappear immediately. She no longer looks like the victorious monster who's tapped into her physical strength and the strange way she can now tug on more than just someone's mind.

She shakes her head. "I'm not fighting you."

Even though she says it, she wants to. There's an indecipherable urge to do so. Katherine wants it gone. Stefan's not a monster. She's killed enough and been one long enough to know a monster when she sees one.

"You think I want to fight you?"

But, he's been shoved into the ring and while he says he doesn't want to fight her, he can feel the urge running through his veins. He doesn't want to fight, he just doesn't want to fight her.

He swallows, hands curling into tight fists. He's not as bloodied as she is but he's clearly been through a fight or two, blood smeared on his lips to show how he's taken care of them. He'll have to deal with that later.

"Walk away."

Her brows furrow. "You walk away."

It's a small part of Katherine's fight or flight trigger that has her say it, but it's mostly the uncorked desire to fight. Ignoring the impulsive need to do something, she stands as still as she can and tries to relax the tight set of her jaw. Stefan needs to walk away. If she walks away, she's going to walk towards him and—

She doesn't let herself think on it. Katherine's imagined fighting Stefan before in an effort to outplay every single one of his moves. She has no desire to fight him… even though she really, really wants to.

"No."

He doesn't know why he doesn't walk away. He should. If he removes himself from the situation then neither of them has to fight the other. But there's something that's pressing him to stay right where he is. He's not going to let her drive him away.

He doesn't move forward but he doesn't move away either. He stays where he is, refusing to let her make him leave. She might be older, stronger, but he's not a coward and he's not going to let her kowtow him.

"I'm not leaving."

"If you don't leave, you know what has to happen next."

Every single fight she's had with one of the Trench's hideous, burly, and overly strong monsters has led to its death. Katherine's well-aware that not every fight needs to end with someone ending up six feet in the ground. Gladiators might have fought until they were dead, but she knows that the Trench is different. It has to be.

She cocks her brow. "You kill me and I will haunt you for the rest of eternity."

He doesn't really know how it ends if they don't kill each other but that's the last thing he wants to do. He blows out a breath and shakes his head before taking a few steps closer to her.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. A few years ago and I think you would have said I couldn't kill you."

She probably still thinks that and is just being nice. Or maybe she does think he has some ways of getting at her that others can't. Only one way to find out.

While he may approach, she stands still. With her hands on her hips, Katherine may appear like she's unguarded and not ready for a fight, but after five centuries of having to fight in so many different ways, she's come to learn how to not show her hand so openly. Stefan still has that lesson to learn. She's always been a little grateful and envious of the fact that Stefan's had a slightly easier life when it comes to running.

Katherine smirks. "I know that."

Even blindfolded, she knows she could still take him and Damon down. Stefan's more of a distraction than his brother will ever be, but survival is survival.

"You ruin my shoes and I will break your face."

Edited (have my first edit in deer country) 2021-09-12 00:46 (UTC)

"Are you just going to stand there and make threats or are you going to fight?"

That's what they're there for, isn't it? To fight? She won't walk away and he won't walk away so they're going to have to put the other down. He stops in front of her, wondering if she'll be patient and wait for him to take the first shot.

And he wonders if he can surprise her and get that first shot in to get something of an advantage.

Katherine smiles giving him an appreciative once-over. He's not going to strike her first. If that was a part of his plan, she knows that he would've charged at her in the only way that the Salvatores and their friends know how.

"All you had to say was 'ladies first', Stef."

She lifts her hand to press it gently against his chest, smiling while she does so. Katherine knows what she wants to do—encourage him to lower his guard before she even thinks of acting. Fanning her fingers out, she looks up at him with a smile.

And then gives him a very hard shove.

Stefan doesn't really know what he's expecting. His first guess is that she'll try and end it early which is why he's waiting for her to punch him hard enough to try and knock him out. But, she shoves him.

She's strong and he steps back but he doesn't go down. No, he just stares her down before he comes back towards her. This time, he doesn't stop and he gives her a shove of her own, trying to knock her off her feet.

She stumbles back and laughs. Carding her hand through her hair, she regards him with a devilish grin. It looks almost monstrous with the blood caked across her mouth.

"That wasn't very nice, Stefan."

But she's hardly offended. Wiping at the corner of her lip, she regards him with a hard glare. She's not going to kill him. A hand through the heart isn't a part of her plan. Pushing him had felt so good.

So, Katherine charges.

This is what they both wanted, isn't it? They had the both ended up here with the urge to fight and now that's what was going to happen. They were going to fight.

When she charges at him, he has just the barest of seconds to make a decision. He thinks about stepping aside but instead he just lets her barrel into him. He hits the ground but he hangs onto her and drags her with him.

As soon as he's stable, he lashes out, swinging the point of his elbow up at her face so she can't get too much of an advantage on him.

As soon as she's on top of him, Katherine's quick to react. Legs straddling him, she sits on him like a throne and dodges the elbow to the face. Really, Stefan? The face? This face?

Even though she knows she could easily hurt him—pull his arm from its socket, snap the bone right in half and tear his skin off—Katherine doesn't. She doesn't want to hurt Stefan. Maybe bruise him up a little so that she can feel satisfied and he can lie prone beneath her like he should.

She tries to grip his arm so she can press it back into the ground.

It was inevitable that she was going to come out on top both literally and metaphorically. She's a very old vampire which makes her very strong but he's not going to just lay there and let her win.

She grabs for one of his arms but he goes for the dirty move and uses his other to grab at her hair, giving it a sharp tug to try and knock her off balance and maybe cause enough of a sting that she gets off him.

He doesn't want to hurt her either but he doesn't want this to be over so soon, not when the urge to fight is still thrumming through him.

"Ow!"

Katherine grits her teeth and growls, jaw setting in anger. She doesn't move off of him, but it's enough to pull her hand from his arm to try and grip her hair to stop the pain. This isn't the first time someone's grabbed her hair to try and throw her off-kilter and she knows it won't be the last.

"Not exactly the way I like it."

With her other hand, she shoves it into his face.

Stefan reaches up and gives her another shove, trying to get her off of him. He scrambles up and then tries to do some pinning of his own, climbing on top of her and grabbing at her arms to keep them down.

"Stop struggling. Just let me...just let me so we can get this over with!"

Because that'll surely work.

"Let you?"

Katherine's brows shoot up into her hairline. While she allows him to pin her, she won't be giving him such lenience for long. Older, stronger, meaner—it all plays a role in how she's survived so long.

She frowns and glares at him.

"And who's to say you should win? The hero hair!?"

"You're the only one that calls it that!"

For that, he squeezes her wrists tighter, digging his nails into her skin like that's going to cause any pain for her. It probably feels like a gnat landing on her but he has to take his advantage while he can.

"And I wish you wouldn't. It's just hair!"

Yes, that's what they were going to argue about right now.

"Really, Stefan? I'm the only one who calls it hero hair?"

Katherine rolls her eyes and lets him squeeze her wrists. The more energy he exerts, the easier it's going to be to take him down... not that it's already so easy given that she's got two hundred years on him.

She glares up at him. While she doesn't buck him off or pull her hands easily out from his, she knows that she has another advantage up her sleeve. Stefan's a good person. The big striking and handsome hero who never wants to hurt anyone, even when he feels the impulse to do so.

"Let go."

"Why, so you can get me on my back and do the same?"

He squeezes harder and contemplates headbutting her to see if he can knock her off. But, everything about her is hard so he guesses that he'd jar her but he'd knock himself out possibly too.

So, saves that as a possibility to use if he really needs a last resort. He presses all his weight down on her and leans, putting all his strength into his hands and hips.

"You're down. Give up."

With the added pressure of his hands and body, Katherine knows that Stefan really thinks he has a chance at winning this. Even though she adores him, she's not going to let him win. She's thrown friends to the wolves to get ahead in her long-term play of chess. She'll do the same to Stefan. He has to know that she'll do the same to him if it means she gets to survive.

The veins beneath her eyes begin to protrude. Her eyes turn black.

Katherine snarls, "You give up."

Rolling forward, she uses what little momentum she has beneath her strength to shove him off of her.

His face doesn't change just yet but when she shoves him, he rolls off her and uses the momentum to get back to his feet. He's a few feet away from her now, standing still and waiting for her move.

"Are you going to bite me now, Katherine? Is that what you're going to do? Drain me?"

She wouldn't. He has to believe she wouldn't despite everything that was churning through them.

"And I thought you loved me."

Standing, she makes it a point to brush her forearms to stop herself from glaring at him. Does he really think that little of her? It says a lot about someone what they're willing to say in the heat of the moment. If Katherine wanted him dead, he would've been dead before he ever stepped foot in Deerington.

Instead of letting herself be upset, Katherine rolls her eyes. "You're so melodramatic."

But she doesn't attack him—to prove a point.

"You called me worse."

He takes a few deep breaths, watching her, trying to guess what she might try and do to him. He wants to rush at her, get the advantage again but he knows that she's probably planning her attack and creating several backup plans just in case.

"How is this going to end, Katherine?"

He doesn't know what they'll have to do to stop the urge to fight each other.

Her brow furrows in confusion. Since arriving in the arena, she's done as she's needed to get closer to being able to go back home—to him. With him being the next alleged monster she's meant to face, she's said nothing but for him to walk away.

If he was anyone else, she'd easily punch him until all the bones in his ribcage shattered. Katherine stays where she is, feeling that desire to fight ebb away at the hurt she feels.

Masking her expression, she looks at him rather tiredly. "However you want it to."

( everybody was bloodsport fighting )

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