•.•.•.•.•

Paris, France - 1743

"KATERINA! Katerina, where are you-" Grace stumbled forward suddenly, into the arms of a dashing, eye-catching man.

She could not tell much, though, as they were at a masquerade ball. Her date had abandoned her, and so had Katerina. Grace was frustrated, surrounded by drunk French nobles.

Until this man. He was sober, or as far as Grace could tell. She raised an eyebrow, surprised at how quickly he had caught her without any fuss.

"Oh, excuse me sir. I'm terribly sorry, I'm such a klutz-" "You speak English?" he interrupted, giving an amused smile.

Grace smiled back kindly, nodding.

"Something tells me you're not a Frenchman. Might I ask why you're here, then?"

The stranger offered his hand, gesturing for a dance. The first of many.

Without hesitation, Grace felt compelled to follow the man.

They easily fell into each other comfortably, so much that Grace nearly forgot where she was. "May I ask your name, miss?" he started with an English accent.

"Gracielle. I'm here with a friend who fancied the son of the man hosting this ball. They've taken a liking to each other."

Grace felt like this was such a boring conversation, but the man seemed interested.

"And your name?" she added brightly.

He paused for a moment, narrowing his eyes.

"You can call me Niklaus, or Nik. I'm very pleased to meet you."

Grace nodded curtly, saying, "And the same to you. My date has left me, likely for the wine or the women. I can't say I am upset, though."

She laughed breathlessly. Nik stared into her eyes, wishing they could take off these masks and actually meet. So he suggested it.

"Would you like to move our conversing elsewhere, love? I feel a bit overwhelmed surround by all these drunkards."

Grace shrugged, replying, "Sure. Although, you don't seem like the type to be overwhelmed by much."

Nik shrugged back, leading the girl away from the crowd.

"This is going to be fun."

Mystic Falls, present day

JEREMY had played his part well. He lured the girl away from everyone, even though she believed he was going to be a late night snack.

Now the others had to be waiting, so Jeremy would not die.

Grace mindlessly dragged Jeremy to the nearest bathroom, shoving him into the wall with brute force.

He grunted, trying to remain calm. There was no way he could fight off someone this strong. Stefan had better hurry, he thought.

And although Jeremy was loaded on vervain, it did not seem to stop Grace. The witch in her could prevent that.

She had charmed his bracelet away.

Grace gazed up into Jeremy's eyes, her hands travelling up his chest. In a different situation, he would not have half minded this. If he knew he was not probably going to die.

"You're awfully quiet," she said, inching closer to his face.

"Uh, you seem like you want to be in charge."

Grace threw her head back, baring fangs before Jeremy could say anything else. Gripping his shoulders tightly, she sank her fangs in slowly and painfully, listening to Jeremy's frustrated growls.

Jeremy panicked, struggling to push her away. The vervain had no affect, it seemed, which was a mild concern.

Grace stood back, glaring at Jeremy.

"What's wrong with you? Am I going to have to make you be st- UGH!" Grace was on the floor, squirming underneath Stefan Salvatore's grip.

"Bonnie!" Jeremy yelled, and the Bennett witch came running in. She chanted furiously, thrusting her hands to Grace.

Meanwhile, Stefan put up a fight. Grace summoned fire to her hands, searing his neck and upper arm.

Stefan would not back down, however. He took her wrists tighter, slamming the rampaging vamp-witch into the wall. The tile behind her cracked and gave way, the sign of a hard blow.

She was hurt, at least. Her skull had to have been dented, and a few broken ribs from the impact of Stefan's tackle.

Grace suddenly calmed, thinking of a different way out of this.

"I suppose your witch has weakened me, hasn't she?" Grace spat, glaring to the rather tired girl.

"We're not here to kill you. We just need you to come with us," Stefan explained.

With an eyebrow raised, Grace cocked her head and laughed.

"Oh of course, absolutely. Great going, you all. Plan of a lifetime. You have one chance to let me go or I'll make hell rain backwards into your body."

Stefan did not budge. "Bonnie, where's Katherine?" he asked, staring into Grace's unchanging eyes.

Grace blinked. "Am I supposed to be scared? Maybe the old me. New me couldn't care less about stupid Katherine Pier-" "Looking for me?" entered a smooth, honey voice.

In stepped the embodiment of pure evil, in all her demon-like glory.

"Grace, you've gotten yourself into quite the predicament, haven't you?"

Nothing. Grace simply stared, unmoved and annoyed.

"Put it how you will; but I've got help coming."

"Oh, you mean Klaus? Yeah, no. Klaus left you to look for Elena. How does that feel?"

"Good question. I don't know," Grace droned.

"Just face it. You have to come with us and there's no escaping."

She really was stuck. And in this stupid twenties costume, too. Grace looked back to Stefan, eyes rolling. "Do what you want, I suppose. I have no choice, do I?"

"I'll take her, Stefan. We can catch up," Katherine smirked, walking over to Grace and then snapping her neck.

"When you're conscious again."

.    .    .    .

GRACE could not tell how long she had been out for. But when she came to, she discovered that she had been relocated to the Salvatore Boarding House.

They had weakened her, by trying to pile in as many supernatural beings in one room with her. Not that it took any of her power away, but she physically felt like she was dying.

She sat up, staring awkwardly around the room at every pair of eyes watching her. This was not the nice part of the Salvatores' house, either; it was the creepy ass basement with cells.

Counting, she recognized Bonnie Bennett, Katherine (or Elena?), Stefan, Caroline, and Rebekah.

"So, who figured it out? How'd you know what weakens me?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

"Caroline and Bonnie connected the dots."

"That's great. Awesome, guys. What do you want?"

Stefan pulled up a chair, sitting directly in front of Grace. He was trying to play the intimidation game.

"If Klaus had Elena, where would he take her?"

Grace paused, then realized that she had nothing to lose either way.

"His house. Duh."

Stefan clenched his jaw.

"Why are you helping him?"

"We have a pact. If I help him, he let's me kill Katherine."

From behind Stefan, Katherine snorted and rolled her eyes. "I don't think you're killing anybody in this situation, darling."

Grace stared at Katherine, slowly turning her mind to mush until Katherine cried out in pain.

"Just because you take my strength away doesn't mean you take my power," Grace stated in a monotone, bored voice, watching Katherine writhe in agony.

"Grace, stop! You are better than this!" Caroline yelped. So annoying, God.

Rebekah was the first to interrupt, flashing over to Grace and grabbing her by the throat. Katherine suddenly ceased her groans of pain. regaining herself on the ground.

Grace clawed at Rebekah's hands around her neck. She summoned a strong will of fire energy, searing Rebekah's hands until she let go.

Landing on her feet, Grace standed threateningly, daring anyone to step forward. She could, however, tell that she was getting drained physically. Mentally, she could have kept going for days.

The door was wide open, and no one dared move forward.

Grace paused, a slow smile spreading across her face.

"You all had better be lucky I don't care enough to kill you."

With that, she snapped her fingers and every vampire dropped, leaving only Bonnie standing.

"I'll spare you."

And she flashed away.

My, she thought, these people have no idea how much damage I can do.

NOTES
i updated AGAIN can y'all believe this