𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐲 | 𝐭𝐯𝐝

-29-

I put my glass down and sighed happily. Charlotte was basically waiting at the door the whole time. We met them back at the corner. "The witch is lying. Doesn't practice magic, my ass." Damon scoffed. "What happened in there?" I asked, looking at Stefan. "The spell requires a human sacrifice. 12 people. The witch there said she doesn't practice magic." He told me, then turned to Damon. "Human sacrifice? Did you really think I would go for this?" He asked. "Extreme circumstances call for extreme measures," Damon replied.

"Did you kill those 12 people in 1942?" I asked. "Absolutely, I did, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat if it meant a clean slate with Elena." He told me quickly. "You should have came to get drinks with us," I muttered. "Are you gonna help me good cop/bad cop this witch or not?" Damon asked me. I stretched and nodded. "Stefan can stay here with the psycho."

-

We walked to the small shop and I waited in the back and waited in case anything bad happened. When I heard Damon groan, I sped in. "Wait, wait, wait, wait. We don't want any trouble okay? Damon is just a dick. We just - we just need your help. That's all." I said to the lady. "I told you there's no one here who can help you. The kind of magic my mother practiced, it's unnatural. Witches don't even call it magic. We call it expression." She said, stopping her spell on Damon. "Oh my god," I whispered. Expression is about the worst dark magic there is. It's worse than dark magic, in fact.

"Channeling the power of human sacrifices calls on the darkness that can't exist on this plane without swallowing it whole. She sold you a bill of goods about breaking the sire bond because she wanted access to that power and you gave it to her when you killed those twelve people. The bond can't be broken with magic. A vampire only bonds to her sire when she has feelings for him before she turns, human feelings. Vampirism only heightens those emotions. Do you want her free? You have to set her free. Tell her to live her life without you and never think of you again, to stop caring about you, and then leave her. That's the only way around the sire bond."

I looked at Damon. He walked out. "Thank you, ma'am. So much. And I'm sorry for any trouble my friends may have caused. Have a good night." I told her. "You too, sugar."

I walked out and joined Stefan and Damon at the corner. "He knows how to set her free," I said. He moved to reveal Charlotte, sitting on the steps. "Come on, let's let them talk."

We walked to a bench and watched as they went to a pub for this discussion. "I wish we didn't have to leave," I whispered. "But Mystic Falls is our home." He sat up straight. Was it home? Now that I've been here, I'm not sure. I got up and paced slowly. "I came here only once after I left you. I stayed in New Orleans for three days. There were dancers, musicians, songs, and unity. I despised the coupled who were walking around together. After realizing how pathetic that was, I finally loosened up. New Orleans was the closest thing I had to a home." I told Stefan.

"Are we ever going to be over this?" He sighed. "Over what? Over you pushing me away? I know it's stupid of me to still be annoyed after all of these years, but Stefan Salvatore, I grew up with you and you were my first everything. My humanity wasn't off so I still felt that spark and connection that you didn't feel. I stayed with you and you pushed me away. I loved you through everything." I croaked. He was in front of me after that. "You're right! It is pathetic of you because I have a girlfriend and you still act like we've been best friends this whole time like you haven't secretly had this anger built up inside of you that you just wanna explode about! I have someone worth fighting for, River!" He yelled. My body went cold. His face fell in realization of what he had said.

After the shock quickly wiped over, anger took over. I shoved him backward. "Someone worth fighting for?! You're telling me I wasn't worth anything?! Fine then! Fine! I get it. I understand that the times I held you after your father yelled at you meant absolutely nothing to you. I understand that the promises we made meant absolutely nothing! And I especially understand that after Elena stays with Damon, even after the sire bond is broken, you'll be lonely as hell because I'm not going to be there." I walked away. "So what, you're just gonna walk away again?!" He screamed.

"What else am I supposed to do?!"

Damon sped in between us. "Hey hey hey hey, why don't we all just calm down?" He looked at me. "Forget it, Damon. I don't know why I bothered going back to Mystic Falls anyway."