𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 | 𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐄 [𝟐]

𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍

"Uh-uh. No way." Damon shook his head, disagreeing in an instant. "Even my biased brother knows I will kick his ass from here to Kentucky if he helps Katherine Pierce live one more day on this Earth." He then looked around toward his friends. "No volunteers."

"I figured as much, which is why I found that old safe your brother spent his summer drowning in and buried it on this property with your friend Matt inside of it." She then held up the Gilbert ring between her fingers. "Oh, without this."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Caroline, Bonnie and Jeremy had gone out to look for Matt around the estate while Stefan and Elena volunteered to help Nadia save Katherine. Which left Damon and Riley to watch over a dying Katherine Pierce.

Once the witch headed back upstairs to cheek on Katherine, she saw Damon stood over her body with a pillow in his hands. "Damon." Riley spoke in a warning tone, though he didn't seem phased by it. "Don't."

"She's right, Damon." Liz, Caroline's mother, rolled her eyes as she walked into the room. "If you kill her, it's murder. I'm gonna have to bring you in, lock you up. There's all that paperwork."

"Every awful thing I've ever done is linked to her." Damon lowered the pillow from Katherine, though his eyes remained fixed on her. "She taught me how to kill. How to enjoy it. She ruined me, and I can't take any of that back."

Riley slowly headed forward and took the pillow from her boyfriends hands. "And if you kill her, it'll prove that she still controls you. And, we both know that she doesn't. You've changed, Damon. You're better." The witch then tossed the pillow onto one of the nearby chairs.

Liz nodded in agreement, then she placed an array of syringes onto the table beside the bed. "Here's the sedatives from the hospital. It should help with the pain."

"I don't want them." Katherine groaned out in a low, raspy tone which caught every one by surprise. "They make me weak. And, when I'm weak, he can get in my head." The doppelgänger's eyes drifted over to Damon who just smirked back.

"Okay, suit yourself. They're right here if you want them." Liz turned her attention to Riley and Damon. "Still looking for Matt? Any word?"

"Nothing so far." Riley hummed hopelessly as she glanced up at Liz, and then placed her phone back on the table. "I hope they find him soon, I don't know how long he'll last."

"They've got no chance." Katherine spoke up again with a smirk on her lips. "Precious Matt is probably going to die."

As Katherine grinned toward them, Damon sped straight toward the sedatives and plunged the needle into her arm. "That'll shut her up for a while."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Matt had been rescued by none other than Rebekah, and Katherine's heart beat was slowing. It was only a matter of time before the doppelgänger's life would surely end. Riley was sat downstairs with the rest of the group, just as Caroline entered. "Hey, where have you been?" Matt asked toward the blonde.

She walked over to them as she tugged leaves and twigs from her hair. "In the woods. I got lost." The Forbes vampire shrugged, then dropped down beside Riley. "So, what are we doing?"

"Waiting for Katherine Pierce to kick the bucket. Sounds kinda depressing, but, you know." The Evans witch chuckled softly.

"So, this Anchor thing—" Matt turned his head over to Bonnie. "Does it mean that you'll, like, able able to feel Katherine's death or whatever?"

"I think so. I mean, she's human, but she's also a doppelgänger and Traveler, apparently."

"So, who else do you see over there?"

"Oh, yeah." Riley turned her head to Bonnie, intrigued by the topic of their fallen loved ones. "Anyone we know?"

"I see lots of people. My Grams. The other witches." The Bennett girl then looked at Matt with a smile. "Vicki. I just don't talk about it, you know, because—" Bonnie then turned around with a smile on her face, almost as if someone were speaking to her. "She's here. She says she loves you."

Bonnie kept looking back behind her and laughing, which caused Matt to scoff. "What am I missing? What's happening?"

"Me." A voice echoed from the front door which had everyone shocked.

"Tyler?" Caroline was startled by the Hybrid's sudden entrance.

"Rebekah says to tell you, I'm her parting gift." The Hybrid turned toward his best friend with a small grin on his face. "Hey, Care." He then turned to Caroline and smiled just before he pulled Matt into his embrace.

"Hi."

"Have we really gone through four bottles of Bourbon today?" Stefan and Damon entered the back inside the house after they were taking a moment outside together.

Riley got up from her seat and pulled Damon in for a hug, she knew that he would probably need one. His lips pressed against her forehead as he held her close. "You okay?"

"Aren't I always?" He whispered back, arms wrapped tightly around her body.

"Alaric?!" Jeremy's voice yelled out. The Gilbert boy turned around to look behind him, but nobody else could see a thing. "Where the hell you been? I thought you bailed on us to go find peace or something?"

Damon's arms remained wrapped around Riley while he turned to Bonnie and Jeremy who were giggling at something Alaric had said. "He's talking about me, isn't he?"

"He says you're a dick."

"Cheers, buddy." Damon smiled into the area where he assumed Alaric was stood. But, it wasn't long before Bonnie announced that she could see Katherine. "Ding-dong. Does that mean the witch is dead?"

"With any luck."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───