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For the first time in 200 years, Katherine Pierce was completely and utterly disoriented. That’s not to say she’d never been thrown off before. Sure she’d accidentally taken vervain or gotten stuck in the sun without her ring, but she’d always managed to get out of those situations fairly quickly. She’d managed to evade Klaus Mikaelson for 200 years; she isn’t one to get caught off guard. And yet when she opened her eyes she could not for the life of her, or death, really, figure out how she got there. Then she heard shoes on wood and a dark panel roof over her head. The chatter of men and the cry of birds. Boats, it appears, do not agree with her. It would be a long time before she got on one again. The feelings of helplessness always took her back to Bulgaria. She didn’t need to be thinking of them now. The bustle and noise seemed to get exponentially louder as she made her way to the top deck. The clang of rigging and clash of the waves were loud as the boat pulled into the harbor. Salem, Massachusetts. The shore looked rocky with a vast collection of trees in the distance. Even the air smelled different here in the colonies. Maybe that was just because she could see the land for the first time in two long months of meager meals and inhaling the smells of salt and confinement. When the boat was finally attached well enough to the dock for passengers to get off, Katherine knew she would have collapsed after her first step if not for her vampire strength. The feeling of solid land after the time at sea was dizzying. Katherine examined those working on the docks, thinking of who could help her blend in. There, a young girl, maybe 15, buying fish at the market.
“Hello, who might you be?” she asked lacing her voice with sweet innocence. The girl’s head shot up from the stand.
“Oh, hello,” she responded. “I’m Mary. Mary Warren. Have you come from England?” she inquired.
“Yes, that’s where I sailed from,” Katherine looked into her eyes and added compulsion to the next part, “Why don’t you take me home? Get me settled?” Marry Warren’s eyes dilated.
“I’ll take you home with me. Get you settled.” Her eyes adjusted to normal levels and she was back to the way she was before. “I’ve recently started working for the Proctor family, a lovely husband, wife, with three young boys. Husband is a farmer. I’m sure you’ll find a place here soon. Just have to attend church, follow your commandments, nothing strange here. Did you come with any family?” Katherine narrowed her eyes. The less she gave away about herself the better.
“Stop asking questions. Tell me what else you're doing today.” Mary’s eye warped again before she answered.
“When I’m finished buying fish, I’m to go back to the Proctor’s and help Goody Proctor with dinner, the children, and the needlework. Then tonight we...” Mary stopped nearly bitting her tongue and swayed on her feet.
“What? What are you doing tonight?” Katherine bent her head in close to Mary’s as if conspiring with an old friend.
“I’m not supposed to say. Not to anyone.” Mary looked shaken now, her heart was racing. After meager meals on the sea and those constant smells, Mary’s pulse-point nearly had Katherine losing her composure. After she settled herself, Katherine added more force.
“Tell me!”
“I’m meeting with the girls. Abby’s set it up. Tituba is going to summon spirits in the woods. We’re going to commune with Ruth’s brothers and sister. Abby wants to do a spell to get John Proctor.” Mary gasped suddenly as if shocked by her own words. Katherine smirked, wide and slow in her typical fashion.
“Sounds like fun.” Now in the days following, not many people can really remember how the whole thing started. They were dancing in the woods, that was for sure. And then suddenly they were causing massive carnage and hysteria. Most people overlooked the new Bulgarian girl whispering in people’s ears.
“Accuse her of witchcraft.”
“Plant a doll.”
“Fear for the court.”
“Rip up your confession.”
Katherine Pierce is a great many things. Overlooked is not usually one of them. It was in Salem, Massachusetts, with the power of life and death at her fingertips, that she realized just how fun playing with humans could be. And play with them she would. She would toy, plot, and scheme for the next three hundred some-odd years until someone finally got the best of Katherine Pierce. But through all her fun and manipulation games in Salem, she only ever found one real witch, a young Bennet girl. She’d take with her and whose family she’d be in league with for centuries. Katherine Pierce came and left Salem the same way she always does, with bodies in her wake and history to remember what she’d done.
“Can I come with you?” the girl had asked. The girl who’d needed no compulsion to be responsible for the murder. The girl who’d stolen all her uncle's money and used all her friends.
“Sure, I might even turn you,” and Katherine kept her word. Abigail Williams was assumed dead in 1697, but Katherine could assure you one thing. She last saw Miss Williams in Mystic Falls, Virginia in 1864 with 25 other vampires Katherine had managed to use throughout her many manipulative years.