Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

47. Lethal Weapon

Riley stayed silent, accepting Caroline's theory and ignoring the fact that she was the only reason Elijah was still around. Without her, he'd be long gone.

"We all have one stake," Stefan said, passing them around. "We look out for any opportunity we have and take it."

"No last minute attacks of pity for any of them," Damon said, eyeing Riley, who rolled her eyes.

"I'm not making the same mistake twice."

"Don't worry about me," Elena cut in. "Not after what happened to Bonnie's mom."

Caroline nodded. "Plus, I'll do anything that frees Tyler from his sire bond to Klaus."

"Not that I really have a choice," Matt added. "But I liked this town a lot better before it was crawling with Originals."

"We have 12 stakes," Stefan reminded them. "Which means we have 12 shots to kill one Original. Let's do this."

***

"This place was impossible to find," Riley said with a grimace as Elijah let her into the cabin, closing the door firmly behind her.

"I wanted something secluded," he said. "As you know, I have too many siblings and you have too many friends that disapprove of our relationship."

"You've got that right," she said under her breath, trying to forget about the group's earlier conversation. But she couldn't ignore the fact that this would be the perfect time to put a stake through his heart.

"But here, other people's opinions are irrelevant," he continued, softly kissing her forehead before moving on to her lips. After a few seconds of lackluster kissing, he pulled away and looked at her face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she lied, not looking him in the eye.

Elijah frowned. "You know you can tell me anything."

Riley sighed. "Bonnie's mom abandoned her because of what you and your family did. I should want to... kill you. Why can't I see you as this awful person that deserves to die?" Part of her felt like maybe Elijah's death (and by extension the deaths of his siblings) would be the best thing for everyone. But the intense guilt that attached itself to her every time she looked at him prevented her from taking action.

Elijah took her hand and sat her down on the bed, sitting next to her.

"You know that I've done horrendous things," he reminded her once again. "I'd never hide that. If this is too hard for you, then I completely understand if you need to walk away."

"I don't want to walk away from you, Elijah," she replied. "Don't you see? That's the problem! I'm..." she trailed off when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, turning her body away from Elijah's.

Elena: We killed Finn, but Klaus forced Bonnie to do an unlinking spell. The other Originals are still alive. Be careful x

The content of the message should have filled everyone with disappointment. Instead, Riley felt elation build up inside of her. If the Originals could be killed individually, then that meant that Elijah didn't have to die.

"Good news?" he asked, seeing her face light up.

She grinned at him. "Something like that." Then she pulled him in for a kiss. The kiss became a heated make-out session. She took off his ever-present suit jacket and he reciprocated, taking off her own jacket, which fell to the floor with a defiant thud. A thud that shouldn't have come from a lightweight jacket.

"What was that?" Elijah asked against her lips.

"Nothing," she said quickly, hoping to distract him with her mouth. However, as her kisses became more urgent, he became more paranoid. Leaning down, while still kissing her, he picked up her jacket and felt the unusual weight. Venturing into the inside pocket, he pulled out a stake.

"What is this?" he asked.

She looked at the stake, unaware that her guilt was written all over her face. "It's a wooden stake."

"I can see that," he nodded, still staring at it. "What are you doing with it?"

"I..." she trailed off, struggling to think of an answer.

Elijah twirled the stake in his hand. He knew that, aside from his family, every vampire in town was her friend. Which meant that this stake was a weapon to use against an Original.

"Is it made of white oak?"

She looked down and nodded. "I wasn't gonna use it."

"Then why did you bring it?" he asked, looking at her carefully. "If you had no intention of using it, why did you even make it?"

"I didn't," she confessed. He looked at her, waiting for an explanation. "Stefan, Damon and Ric made them. There's 12. We made a plan to kill whichever Original we could get our hands on."

"Because we're all linked," Elijah nodded, showing on his face how betrayed he felt.

"I couldn't protest," she told him. "My friends think I hate you, I had to let them believe that I didn't care whether you lived or died."

He stood and walked to the other end of the room. Then he came back and handed her the stake.

"What are you doing?" she asked anxiously, also standing.

"If it means so much to you to have me and my siblings gone, then do it. Kill me."

Riley looked down at the stake in her hand, taking a deep breath. "Finn's dead. You're not linked to the others any more."

His resolve faltered.

"What?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"Klaus forced Bonnie to do a spell that unlinked you guys."

Elijah sighed and sat back down on the bed. "One of our mother's contingency plans when she turned us into vampires states that, if one of us die, every vampire turned from our bloodline dies too."

Riley froze. "So if you all die... the vampire species will die?"

"Correct," he confirmed.

They faced each other as Riley's phone began to ring. She answered it.

"Hey, where's your stake?" Stefan asked hurriedly.

"I have it. Why?"

"We need to give them to Klaus. It's a long story for another time, but I need it."

Riley looked down at the stake in her hand.

"Elijah has it." She held it out to him hanging up the phone before Stefan could ask any questions. "Take it."

"You don't have to give that to me," Elijah said.

"I do," she insisted. "Because I need you to know that I never wanted any of this. I didn't want to know about vampires, I didn't want to fall for you, and I sure as hell don't want to kill you. So take it."

He stood and took the stake, gently placing a hand on her cheek. "Thank you."

She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him. "If I have to make a choice between your siblings and my friends, I choose my friends. I always will."

"I understand."

He kissed her again, leaving her with a worrying suspicion. If her friends didn't know who sired their bloodline, then how could they kill Klaus?

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Should Riley have killed Elijah? 

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