CHAPTER TWO | MEMORIAL
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SINCE RILEY'S STRAINED RELATIONSHIP WITH DAMON, THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE THOUGHT IT BEST IF SHE MOVED HER BELONGINGS INTO ONE OF THE SPARE ROOMS. She heard him leave the house and thought it would be the best time to move, whilst he was gone. The way that Riley felt about Damon would never change, and she knew that. But, she had to put herself first.
"Hey." Stefan knocked on the bedroom door with a sympathetic smile on his face. "You didn't need to do this, you know? I would've done it for you."
"No. I needed to do it." She vigorously shook her head instantly. "I needed this."
"This isn't about to be easy, you know that?" Stefan took a few steps into the room and placed himself on the bed beside her. His left hand gently rubbed her forearm. "Even a blind person could see how you two feel about each other—"
"—He tried to kill Matt, Stefan."
"Yes. I know. But, Riles, I think you're just looking for excuses not to get back with him. I mean, yeah, he hurt you and he tried to hurt Matt. But, I think you're doing this to avoid him hurting you further down the line." He nodded slowly when he saw her eyes turn into complete realization. "Trust me, I get it. But, just please make sure you're doing this for all the right reasons, not just out of fear."
Their conversation immediately came to an abrupt halt when they heard Caroline's voice screaming for Stefan throughout the house. The two rushed down the staircase and saw Tyler, who had several wounds on his chest, where he had been shot with what appeared to be wooden bullets.
Stefan rushed over and laid the Hybrid down while he tried to pry the bullets out of Tyler's torso with a pair of metal tongs. "Please tell me that's the last one," Caroline begged while she held onto Riley while the Salvatore pulled the bullets from her boyfriend's chest.
Stefan took out the final bullet and observed it in the hold of the tongs. "These were specifically carved; the length, the width. If you were a normal a normal vampire, you'd be dead." He placed the bullet in a glass of alcohol to clean the blood from it.
"Which means whoever did this quite clearly wanted to get the job done," Riley stated as she observed the bullet in the glass and furrowed her brows.
"This guy knew exactly what he was doing." Tyler nodded in agreement with Riley. "His gloves must have been steeped in vervain. He was looking for a vampire and he didn't hesitate for a second when he found one."
The Salvatore's eyes remained firmly on the bullet. "These etchings—" As he went to touch the bullet he was immediately burned when his skin collided with the wood.
"What the hell was that?"
"Are the bullets spelled?" Caroline's eyes flipped between Stefan and Riley's with a look of both confusion and horror spread across her face.
The witch continued to examine the bullets and shrugged. "I don't know what they are. But, they're definitely something."
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Riley couldn't shake the feeling of sudden anxiety as she and Stefan stepped into the church to attend the memorial. With the threat of a new hunter roaming around the town looking for vampires to kill, Riley was on edge. As they walked through, Stefan immediately paused the moment he saw Tyler sat beside Caroline.
"What are you doing here, Tyler?" Stefan spoke, though his attention remained on Carol Lockwood, who was at the front of the church. He didn't want to raise suspicion in case the hunter was lurking behind the scenes.
"Being sensitive to the community's loss." The Lockwood shrugged back nonchalantly.
"Uh, you realize there's a hunter running around and he knows exactly what you look like. Do you want to get yourself killed?" Riley scolded, though she tried to keep her voice low.
"I'm not letting a hunter stop me from where I'm supposed to be." Tyler gave a short nod to them and then turned his attention back to the front of the church.
"Also, if he shows his face, I'm gonna kick his ass." Caroline deviously smirked, then winked toward the strawberry-blonde.
"Get in line," Riley chuckled as she and Stefan finally wandered down and took their seats.
Mayor Lockwood stood boldly at the podium and prepared herself to start the service. Stefan and Riley sat just two rows behind Elena who was beginning to look rather pale and sick. "Before we begin the Mass, we'd like to open the floor to anyone who would like to share a memory about our late friends on the town council. I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her dad. April? April, are you still here, honey?" Carol spoke but there was absolutely no sign of the Young girl. "Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or a memory about Pastor Young?"
Riley's eyes turned to Elena whose hand was raised limply in the air. She could barely even stand but she offered herself to speak in front of the entire town. "What the hell is she doing?" Riley whispered softly to Stefan, who shrugged.
"Come on up, Elena."
Damon loudly entered the church and caused everyone's eyes to turn from the front of the room and toward him. He dipped his hand in a bowl of holy water and touched his forehead, chest, and then both shoulders in the formulation of a cross. He then found himself a seat next to Riley and Stefan. "She doesn't look so good." He pointed out quietly with his eyes firmly on Elena.
"Why? What's wrong with her?" Riley turned her eyes to both brothers with a concerned look on her face. "I thought she fed. She should be fine, right?"
"Not if she hasn't been keeping the blood down." Stefan viciously concluded then set his eyes on his older brother. "Maybe you should have told me she was rejecting all food sources."
"I, uh— when I talked to April earlier she was kind of nervous about coming up to speak. And now that I'm up here, I'm kind of nervous, too." She spoke with her hands gripped tightly onto the podium for support. "The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them."
Riley couldn't help but let her eyes drift over to Damon as Elena spoke and he did the same, their eyes met for a brief few seconds. Though Elena seemed to be losing control at the podium, and then she watched the rest of the vampires all stiffen up. "What's happening? What is it?"
"Do you smell that?" Caroline whispered awkwardly though she tried desperately not to draw attention to herself.
"Blood." The Lockwood confirmed with a nod.
"Nobody move," Damon ordered with his eyes fixed on the front. They all tried their best not to sniff the air and find out exactly where the blood was coming from. "Don't turn around. It's a trap."
"You think it's him?" Riley whispered to the two Salvatores beside her. "The hunter?"
"It's got to be."
"I, um—" Elena breathed in and out but the veins began to start crawling toward her eyes when she smelt the blood in the air. Stefan noticed that she was completely losing control, and ran up to the podium.
He wrapped his arms around the girl and escorted her off the stage. "It's okay, it's okay. I got you, I got you." Then, he led her into a row and beside Matt.
"Please, turn to page forty-two in your hymn book. Let us join together in a song." The Priest called out after he took his place at the podium.
As they all got up to their feet, Riley's eyes flickered to Elena. "The blood. Stefan. The blood. I can smell it. There's so much." Elena hungrily cried out from his hold.
"It's alright, just remember what we talked about. Focus, push back, come on you can do this."
"What's wrong with her?" Matt whispered out softly, though his eyes remained on the front of the chair.
"She's hungry, Matt. She hasn't fed." Riley tried her best to explain calmly with her eyes fixed on the floor. "Which is brilliant, considering what's happening."
"So, get her out of here." The human boy suggested out of ignorance.
"I can't, there's somebody watching us."
"I'm gonna go rip his head off now," Damon growled lowly while Riley's eyes drifted over to his.
"Don't be stupid. You do that and you'll expose everybody else." She cautiously explained while she kept her heavy breathing steady. "Be smart."
"I think the risk will be slightly diminished when I, you know, rip his head off." The eldest brother smirked again.
"Stefan, I'm losing it." Elena cried out from his hold while her hands gripped tighter onto his suit jacket.
"You have ten seconds before I go old-fashioned on the new guy."
"Don't do it, Damon. Please."
"Three, two, one, bye." He whispered smugly and went to stand but as soon as he did so Matt suddenly spoke up out of nowhere.
"Wait. Wait, wait. Elena, feed from me." Matt confidently spoke while Damon, Riley, Caroline, and Tyler all turned to look at him. "It's okay, everyone will think you're upset. Just feed from me." Elena looked up at Stefan to see if he agreed. He looked at Matt and then at Elena before he positioned Matt in Elena's arms. "It's okay, you'll be okay," Matt whispered down to Elena as she moved his collar and began to drink from his neck.
After a while, she pulled away and wiped the floor from her mouth while Matt tried his best to cover the wound. "The blood. I can still smell it. It's got to be April. We have to help her." Elena tried to leave but Riley immediately stopped her.
"No. Elena, we can't." Riley shook her head in protest.
"Then I'm gonna do it!" Elena tried to push past again, but she immediately halted the moment she saw Tyler take his place at the podium as a distraction.
Riley turned her head toward Damon as her breath hitched in her throat. "What are we going to do?"
"I know what I want to do." Damon huffed out gruffly. "But, you need to calm down. He's not after you. It's not your problem."
"No, but he's after you guys which makes it my problem." The witch protested again.
As she spoke, Tyler was shot at the podium which caused the audience to scream in panic and duck in their aisles. They soon ran run out of the church which gave Damon the perfect opportunity to disappear and find the hunter. Once Riley turned around and noticed the Salvatore had disappeared, she ran after him.
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The hunter crisis had been averted, and Stefan had gathered everyone at the Mystic Falls high school for some sort of private memorial of their own. They had all lost so many people and none of them had any chance to grieve or honor.
"Stefan, what're we doing?" Damon called out as soon as he and Bonnie wandered over to the rest of the group.
"We're finishing the memorial we didn't get to have earlier." The youngest Salvatore immediately shrugged with Chinese lanterns in his hands. He wandered around the group and handed everybody one. "We need to start healing, Damon. We've all lost so much, especially recently. We think we're numb to it. We push it away. We make a joke out of it. Ignore how we feel. Never just let ourselves grieve.
Damon stood with a skeptical look on his face as he glanced at the Chinese lanterns. "So, you're lighting lanterns?"
"Yeah." Stefan nodded. "Yeah, we need to do this."
"What we need to do is find out who this hunter is, and what he knows about the death of the Council. We've got more important things to be doing right now than this."
"Actually, I agree with Stefan," Riley spoke up suddenly as Damon's eyes fell on her. "I mean, he's right. Throughout this whole damn thing, we've lost so many people. This is right."
Another scoff left Damon's lips as soon as Stefan lit his lantern. "This is for my Uncle Zach. My friend Lexi. For Alaric."
Stefan then handed the lighter to Matt, who nodded slowly. "This is for Vicki." He breathed softly, lit his lantern, and then gave the lighter to Caroline.
"This is for my Dad, and Tyler's."
Jeremy jumped off of the table and walked over to the lighter. "This is for our parents. For Vicki. Anna. Jenna, and Alaric." Jeremy took a step forward and handed the lighter toward Riley.
"Uh— this is for my Mom, and my Dad." Damon's eyes were fixed on Riley as she blinked away her tears and lit her lantern. Then, she glanced up to him and extended the lighter out to him.
"No way. I'm not doing that." He shook his head and disappeared off back toward his car.
Bonnie took hold of the lighter from Riley and grabbed her lantern. "This is for my Grams."
Elena looked around to the rest of the group and knew that she had to say goodbye, too. "This, um— is for my Mom, my Dad and, Jenna. Everyone that we've all lost. Everyone that this town has lost. And for me, I guess."
They all took a deep breath and slowly let their lanterns lift up into the sky. Riley blinked away her tears and suddenly felt a flicker of peace wash over her as she watched the lanterns disappear out of view.
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