The night air was heavy with magic in the woods of Mystic Falls, Virginia. Trees whispered ancient secrets as the moonlight pierced through the thick canopy. It was 1993, and Katherine Pierce—clever, ruthless, eternal—stood in a sacred clearing with trembling hands and a pounding heart. This was not a night of conquest. It was a night of creation.
At her feet lay a velvet pouch, centuries old, filled with a spell prepared by her once-loyal witch, Emily Bennett. A spell sealed in blood and silence, woven together in 1864 before the horrors of betrayal and fire. A spell meant for only one purpose—to give Katherine something no vampire was meant to have: a child of her own.
Damon Salvatore didn't know. He wouldn't understand. But he had loved her once, deeply, maddeningly, and that love had left a mark—something Katherine tucked away for this very moment. A few drops of his blood. A lock of hair. And the moon's full glow.
The ritual was intense, painful, and glorious. Magic rippled through the ground as Katherine cried out—her body torn between life and death. And then... silence.
Wrapped in moss and shadow, a cry broke into the night.
A baby girl.
Taylor Salvatore.
Katherine didn't keep her. She couldn't.
Something in her—whether guilt or strategy—told her the child wouldn't be safe. Taylor wasn't a normal baby. Born half human, half vampire, her body pulsed with duality. Her heartbeat was strong, but her veins shimmered faintly with dormant power. She was light and shadow, innocence and danger.
With heavy eyes and a guarded heart, Katherine left her at the edge of Mystic Falls, wrapped in a crimson shawl. A woman named Marjorie Harper, a childless herbalist on the outskirts of town, found her and raised her with quiet love and whispered suspicions.
But Katherine never forgot.
And Damon… never knew.