You have the Petrova-fire.

If there are two words that describe Katherine Pierce to a t, it would be self preservation. First and foremost, Katherine looks after herself more than anything. This is shown through her sheer will to live with Klaus after her. From day one, she’s run, fending for herself. She tricks everyone into thinking she’s entombed. Katherine’s priority is Katherine.

Somebody that she doesn’t expect getting under her skin does however and that is Stefan Salvatore. She tells him time and again she never compelled him to love her and what she fails to tell him is that she loves him. She has for a very long time. She even admits this to Damon. Stefan is a huge part of who she is as well. If she was asked, point blank, she wouldn’t lie. She did love both brothers but she loves Stefan Salvatore and she always will. If only he could see that.

Unfortunately, her need to run and be three steps ahead of Klaus cancels that out.

She’s manipulative – to a destructive degree. She’s ruthless and she doesn’t let people stand in her way. She’s vindictive. She returns to Mystic Falls for Stefan and terrorizes Elena’s family and friends to a degree that causes Elena and Stefan to fake-break-up. Then, she plants Jenna [compelling her that is] as a mole without them knowing. She’s extremely intelligent and very cunning. She’s border-line sociopathic but I say borderline because she is shown having actual feelings – earlier in her life and at the end of choice episodes. She is shown holding an old book with illustrations of her family and a tear falls down her cheek. Also, when Stefan repeatedly tells her he doesn’t love her and never actually did she shows signs of emotion. She’s hurt these brothers. She abandoned them. Abandoned the man she loved. But, what she keeps close to the vest is her leaving saved the Salvatore brothers as well. She saved their lives.

All that said, extra bodies don’t matter to her. She will kill. She’ll kill without blinking an eye.

She has quite the entitled and spoiled personality as well. This stems from growing up in a wealthy family and then finding herself above everyone else. She truly believes she is above everyone else. She gets and deserves anything. She can be quite the brat.

Katherine is a contradiction. In a lot of ways, she’s still a stubborn, entitled seventeen year old girl and in others, she’s extremely smart and wise beyond her years. And she has great, great pain whether it be from losing her baby as soon as she’s given birth to her family being slaughtered by Klaus. She’s lost everyone she’s ever loved.

She does not hate Elena. She hated that Elena had Stefan but she doesn’t actually have anything against the girl. What she would hate is if Elena were immortal as well. That would grate on her. But, Katherine was a doppelganger once. She’s been there. And because of that, she sympathizes and she wouldn’t wish that lot in anyone’s life.

Katherine has one best friend, Isobel Flemming, ex-wife of Alaric Saltzman. At first she tracked Isobel down because of genetic curiosity but the two became very good friends. She trusts her with her life - or did before Isobel betrayed her and everyone else while compelled by Klaus. They have true affection for one another.

Speaking of Klaus, other than Mikhael (who is now ash), Klaus is the one person Katherine is afraid of. In his presence, everything tightens. She gets nervous. She's genuinely scared for her life. But, she also knows he'll never kill her outright and that in itself is scarier than dying. Being kept for thousands of years. Not something she looks forward to.

When it comes to John Gilbert, she doesn't trust him. She agrees with Isobel. He was a teenage waste of space and she only meets him directly when she cuts off his fingers at the beginning of Season 1. To her, that's tying up loose ends. But, when it looks like something will end in her favor, she buddies up with him -- off screen.

Katherine also believes she makes her look work better than Elena does. And, now that Klaus isn’t a threat, Katherine’s going to think of this as a vacation.
Katherine Pierce isn’t a bad person. She’s just made bad choices. And she’s selfish. And she’s turned off a lot of what made her human. But, a part of her remembers being human just like a part of her will always love Stefan Salvatore.

Because she is a vampire, Katherine (in this vampire incarnation) has:

∞ enhanced speed
∞ the ability to jump really high
∞ enhanced strength
∞ the ability to compel – erases a human’s memory or controls their mind
∞ the need for blood, requires it to live
∞ enhances sight, smell, taste, and especially hearing. They’re shown overhearing conversations across a room
∞ when she vamps out, his eyes go black with reddish black veins protruding
∞ and the ability to be standing behind you. Unnoticed – they’re super quiet.
∞ she’s old enough that vervain, an herb that harms vampires in this lore, has little to no effect on her, the same can be said with weak magic

Because she is Katherine, she has:

∞ a necklace that lets her walk in the sunlight
∞ the power to manipulate dreams

Weaknesses include:

∞without his necklace, sunlight
∞wood of any kind, bullets, sharpened – wood hurts
∞she has to be invited into private residences and residences with humans on the deed
∞Klaus might as well be a weakness

I liked it better when I was outside of Small Town, America. Hello, Sweven. Interesting name for a town, if you ask me. Look, there’s a reason I don’t stay long in one place. I get bored. Easily. So, what is there to do around here?

And, by any chance, has anyone found an abandoned white truck? I seem to have misplaced mine before ending up here. In Montana. [ She sounds oh so pleased she’s in Montana at all. ] If you see it, do let me know. My name is Katherine.

“I wasn’t just trying to save Damon’s life, Stefan. I was trying to save yours. Your humanity. Let’s just say I like the old you better.”

She tilts her head, propping her elbow on the car door. He needs to get it through his thick skull and his gelled hair. Can’t he see that she’s finally doing something for him? For Damon? This isn’t about what Katherine wants. Okay, it’s a little about what Katherine wants because that’s never going to be a part of her that she can turn off. But, she needs Stefan to understand. And if he’s not leaving her car then she’s going to set him straight.

“Come on, Katherine. You don’t care about anybody but yourself. You never have.”

That twists like a knife.

“You and I both know that that is not true. I loved you.”

She shouldn’t be using past tense but she’s proving a point. From day one, she never compelled him to love her. She’s made that clear. How clearer does she have to be? She needs to justify her actions regarding his brother. She knows that. And there’s only one way to put it.

“I love Damon, too.”

She may not look it but deep down, Katherine Pierce is vulnerable. Sitting here in this seat, feet away from a man she loves who has just gotten his humanity back? It isn’t exactly on the schedule, her pouring her heart out. And, she’s not a sap. So, this won’t turn into a romantic comedy and there will not be tears. There will be honestly. There will be raw emotion and Stefan better appreciate it because it’s not happening again, any time soon.

She has to acknowledge it. She feels things. She feels them deeply. Passionately.

“Humanity is a vampire’s greatest weakness. No matter how easy it is to turn it off, it just keeps trying to fight its way back in. Sometimes, I let it.”

Two steps forward.

Stefan takes a step back. He wants to shove all that feeling aside. How can he deal with it all. Thanks to Klaus, he’s made a mess of everything, of Elena, Damon, everything and Katherine feels for him, she does. And that is precisely why she makes it clear that it’s imperative he let that feeling in. Because, he needs to get bad. He needs to get back at Klaus. Stefan needs to get revenge and if he closes himself off, that won’t happen. Klaus just assumes he’s in the clear. How is that fair? It’s not. And Katherine, while not always one to play fair, believes that Klaus has a lot coming to him and Stefan’s the perfect vampire for the job. So, she had share-time. Whatever. If she can’t have Stefan, at least she can have revenge on Klaus.

Deep down, Katherine is a very lonely, broken woman. Katerina Petrova is a woman who had her baby taken away from her, her family slaughtered, and her life turned into a game of cat and mouse. She’s a girl who really couldn’t get to know herself beyond what her parents thought was best for her. After having an illegitimate child, she’s disowned and banished. Right away, she’s disgraced her family. She’s rejected. She never asked for any of this. In England, she learns what she is, a doppelganger and what that means.

Katerina has always had a level of charm about her. Even back then, Trevor falls in love with her and that is how she’s able to escape Klaus the first time thus beginning her life on the run. What’s only apparent in hindsight, is that Katerina manipulates Trevor from the get-go. From there, Katerina – now Katherine Pierce has one priority. Katherine. Her life is what matters. She would like to stay alive. Being in the company of the Originals helped mold Katherine into the entitled woman who arrived in Mystic Falls. She’s accustomed to luxury. She loves attention. She encourages and instigates it.

If it will help her in the long-run, she’ll also save someone’s life. She loves having a witch in her back pocket that could owe her. So, she will go out of her way to help – if there’s something in it for her. Katherine is far from selfless.

She plays people against each other. When I say she’s manipulative, I mean that she completely manipulates a situation in her favor for the outcome she wants. She has contingency plans. She ensures the outcome that helps her most comes to pass. When the tomb vampires escape, she concocts a plan to get rid of them because if they’re out, they’ll know she’s alive, be able to track her and Klaus will find her. Katherine doesn’t want to be found.

She plays games with men’s hearts. She leads them on. She also zeroes in on just what can help her get ahead. She saves a witch, Emily, who is forever indebted to her from then on. And she gains a true friend in Pearl.

The Salvatore brothers are the most important men in her life. She legitimately loves both of them. She not only says this numerous times, but she also shows this. She delivers the cure to Damon when he’s dying of a werewolf bite. She wanted the three of them to go through life together but Stefan made that impossible. And Katherine also remembered her main goal: staying alive. That didn’t mean she didn’t keep track of them. She makes several references to stalking Stefan throughout his life. She followed him and Lexi to a concert. In this current season, she follows him and Klaus.

She purposefully pushes her humanity down and because of this, people mean nothing to her. She will compel a person without thinking twice. She uses people and disposes of them as she wishes – even people who are quite possibly friends. I think she had affection for Emily Bennett but she still used her. And she uses Mason. She changes Caroline. Her main goal in Mystic Falls the second time is to bring about ingredients for Klaus’ ritual without being involved. When her plans are foiled she immediately switches sides, playing at Damon’s love for Elena.

Elena is in the same boat Katherine is in. And she wouldn’t wish that fate on anyone. If she allowed herself, she could feel bad for her. But, she also sees herself in Elena – something Elena tries not to be.

Katherine helps the winning side. She will switch on a dime as long as she comes out on top. She’s been known to impersonate Elena when needed. At this point, she’s past the impersonation to fool everyone route. She only does it when asked. She feels she’s good at this. It’s not that difficult to give her voice a gravelly quality, to sadden her doe-eyes.

She gets bored easily. She’s always on the move and Klaus is to thank for that. But, lately, her new goal has been finding a way to get rid of Klaus.

Katherine does horrible things – but she feels they’re acceptable and she doesn’t care. Yes, she kidnaps Jeremy Gilbert. But in her eyes, he has the connection to a ghost she needs access to. It makes sense in her mind. She does the morally questionable thing without question. She’s ruthless.

Because she is a vampire, she’s amused when inflicting pain. She can be a sadistic person, revel in the movements of her chess pieces. She sends threats – and won’t hesitate to retaliate when she doesn’t get her way or when she’s wronged – see, Jenna’s stabbing.

A lot of what she does is with the eventual goal of being with Stefan Salvatore. I think a part of her could really see herself with him when all the running is done and Klaus isn’t a problem anymore. He’s blown it with Elena. She understands him. But, she also knows they may never be together. The stars may never “align.” She saves Damon’s life and Stefan’s in the process in “Homecoming” but she doesn’t miss a beat before turning Stefan around in Klaus’ direction.

Katherine has a lot of anger inside her. A lot of hate. She legitimately hates Klaus and will stop at nothing to ensure that he is gone forever, now. Even though she goes back on the run, she wants Klaus to feel all the pain she feels. She pushes this pain down and has for years. But, she has loss. She lost her family. Twice. Once when they disowned her and once when she discovered Klaus had slaughtered them. She lost her friend, Pearl to the tomb. She lost Stefan and Damon. She has great pain inside. And deep down, Katherine is a lonely person. Because, the life she leads is a very lonely one.

But, hell if she will ever show that side of her. She tears away her layers to eschew vulnerability only when it helps her and never for long periods of time. There’s a chance, Katherine Pierce will never be happy. It could be argued that she was happiest when with the Salvatore’s back in the late 1800’s. But, she may never be again. She always has one foot out the door, always looking around her shoulder.

But, none of this changes that Katherine is just a girl who lost her family young, had to grow up quickly and had to run for her life. Literally.

Perhaps now, Katherine could go on with her life. She glanced back at the old abandoned house in her rear view mirror before turning onto the dirt road. It would take fifteen minutes to hit highway and a few hours to make it out of the state. She knew she had to be as far away from Mystic Falls as possible. When the bomb went off, so-to-speak, she couldn't be there. In a way, this was perfect. Stefan was exactly where she wanted him. All she had to do was nudge him towards rage. It would make sense. Katherine had her own pent up rage. But, Klaus hadn't taken away her humanity, her choices - not like he had for Stefan. Klaus had taken everything from him - like her. Weren't they a pair?

Katherine pulled up to a traffic light and stopped, resting her arm against the window.

If Klaus couldn't be killed - and she believed if anyone could find out how to, it would be the Mystic Falls brigade - but if he couldn't be then he had to suffer. His family had to be taken away from him like he had done to Katherine - and now, Stefan.

Maybe she should've felt bad for Elena. She'd lost the supposed love of her life. But, Elena never wanted this life. Elena was a doppelganger and that would never change. She was envious in a way. Of course it had turned out that Elena's blood was the key to making hybrids. And of course she hadn't died. Yes, yes, she'd 'died.' But, not really. She had had John Gilbert - a useless, useless man who she probably should've killed when she had the chance. Hell, she thought she had. But, no, he had survived. Ring and all.

She rolled her eyes, remembering that.

But, Elena had had John and that -- spell. Elena had survived. Had Katherine been drained back in England... nobody would have been there to save her, to bring her back to life. No, Elena hadn't asked for any of this. She knew that. But, she couldn't help but hate Elena. Elena managed to have friends. A family. A brother. And a father - no matter how illegitimate - who gave his life for her. Katherine's father had disagreed with her lifestyle choice and she'd been banished.

Well, if there was one thing that was true, it was that she would never be Elena Gilbert. And maybe that was a good thing.

A tear escaped as she pulled onto the on-ramp but she wiped it away, one hand on the wheel. She didn't have to take the same advice she had given Stefan. No. She wasn't going to do this. She wasn't going to allow herself to feel this. She wasn't going to allow herself to acknowledge that maybe Stefan could never love her like he loved Elena. The pain subsided as she shifted in her seat, glanced back and switched lanes.

Perhaps, she would go to New York. New York was nice this time of year.