Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

126. Sister, Sister

This wasn't what she expected, and Sybil frowned. "Then... what do you want?"

Riley looked back and forth down the hallway, even though she knew that they were completely alone. She pulled down the top of her shirt and showed Sybil the mark on her chest.

"For years, I've known that there's something dark about me," she admitted. "Ever since I first came into contact with the Phoenix Stone. But this mark," she pointed at it. "This mark makes me think that I'm connected to hell... and I want to know if that's true."

Sybil chuckled. "Why do you think that I know anything about this?"

"When you found out that you couldn't get into my mind, you said 'it's you.'" Riley reminded the Siren. "And this birthmark matches the symbol on the tuning fork – the only weapon that can hurt you. You're telling me this is all just coincidence?"

Sybil sighed, walking back to sit on her bed in the middle of the room. She was silent for so long that Riley wondered if she was ever going to speak.

"I shouldn't be telling you this," she said finally. "He wanted to tell you himself, when the time was right. But I guess he didn't count on you discovering Phoenix Stones and mysterious tuning forks."

Riley raised an eyebrow, deliberately choosing which of her million questions to ask first. "If you shouldn't be telling me anything, why are you?"

Sybil shrugged her shoulders. "Because, sooner or later, I'm gonna need your cooperation. Riley, we're all psychics. You and I are the same species. You may not be a Siren, but we're controlled by the same source."

Riley frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," she started. "That none of this is a coincidence. Everything that you've deciphered about yourself... you didn't discover it by chance. If you think that you're connected to hell, then that's probably because you are."

Riley released a long breath. Hearing that her theory was true scared her and filled her with relief in equal measure. She wasn't crazy. There was a reason that everyone in the Hell Stone had seen her. There was a reason for the birthmark on her chest. It was all connected.

"So what do I do?" she asked, leaning forward intently. "How do I break the connection?"

Sybil tilted her head in confusion.

"Riley, you've misunderstood," she told the girl. "Your connection isn't a tenuous link that can be broken. Hell is a real place, the devil is a real person. And all the darkness that comes with that... it's already inside you."

Riley blood turned to ice, freezing her on the spot. When she felt like she could move, she stood up abruptly, causing the chair she was sitting on to clatter to the ground.

"Enough with the cryptic answers!" she yelled. "Just tell me the truth. Tell me everything!"

Sybil smiled, shaking her head. "You're scared," she noted, a happy lilt in her tone. "I suggest you quit while you're ahead... because you're definitely not ready to hear the rest."

Despite herself, suddenly Riley didn't want to hear what else Sybil had to say. She couldn't imagine anything worse than being connected to the worst, most evil place in the world. So, instead of getting the rest of the answers, she ran from the room, down the hall and out of the Armory.

To her surprise, as soon as she exited the Armory, she ran into Seline.

"Hey," her friend said, raising an eyebrow at her terrified face. "You okay?"

Riley forced herself to nod. "I'm fine," she lied. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

Seline smiled. "Actually, I was looking for you. I heard you and your friends lost someone, and I wanted to see if you were okay."

Riley felt her body relax slightly, and she mirrored Seline's smile. "Yeah, it was a shock. He was a really good friend, you know?"

Seline nodded. "I understand. I've lost people too. In fact, my sister is the only family I have left. And even though we're estranged, I'd do practically anything for her."

"I know the feeling," Riley agreed.

"And she'd do anything for me," Seline continued. "She's been missing for the last... so many years that I can't even count. And now that she's free, I'm gonna save us both." Her smile turned slightly insidious, and even though she was her friend, Riley got the feeling that she had walked into a trap. "But you see, to save us, I had to find some things." She took a half-step towards Riley. "And you, Riley Fletcher, are the last piece of the puzzle."

She grabbed her head, causing a white-hot pain to go through the human girl's skull. Riley couldn't see straight, couldn't think straight. And when she felt like she couldn't go on because the pain was too much, her body gave up. She fell to the ground, unconscious.

Ric: It's Seline! Sybil's sister, the last Siren, it's her. We think she kidnapped Lizzie and Josie. Come home as soon as you can – we don't know what she's capable of.

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Riley's finally starting to find out the truth about herself, but why has Seline kidnapped her?

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