CHAPTER TWELVE | INTO THE WILD
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ELENA AND JEREMY HAD SUCCEEDED IN KILLING KOL, WHICH CAUSED THE HUNTERS MARK TO GROW. Once it had grown, it had become clear that they had everything they needed and were ready to find the cure to vampirism. However, the journey to an Island off Nova Scotia was long and gruelling, though they knew it would be worth it in the end. Once their boats hit the shore of the island, the group all began to gather their belongings.
"Couldn't they have hidden this cure in Hawaii?" Damon glanced up toward Professor Shane, who wandered over whilst the Salvatore was busy sharpening some knives against a few rocks. "Where the hell did you take us?"
"Two-hundred miles off the Nova Scotia mainland. If you recall, the whole point was to hide the cure on the world's most obscure, desolate island." Shane glanced around, marvelling at the sheer sight of the island ahead of them.
"Huh. Well, I thought the whole point was so that big-bad Silas was never found." Riley spoke up, a short distance away from the pair whilst she flipped a page of her spell book.
"Yeah, that too." Shane commented with a bottle of sunscreen in his hand that he offered to Damon. "Sunscreen?"
Damon's eyes lingered on the bottle before him, then he glanced back up to Shane with an irritated look. "Is that a joke?"
"Right."
Shane twirled on his heels and wandered away from Damon, which left him in the company of Riley. He turned his attention to the strawberry-blonde witch, who didn't bother to look up from her book. "You, little witch, should've stayed at home."
"What? And miss this epic treasure hunt? No way." Riley chuckled softly once the group started their hike further into the island's forest.
Shane led the group of supernatural creatures up the mountain range, where Riley couldn't help but take in the beautiful views on the quarry beside them. Most weren't too happy about being led by someone they barely even knew, or trusted for that matter, but they knew they didn't really have a choice since he was the only person that knew anything about what they were facing.
A exasperated sigh left the human's lips as he held his phone up toward the sky. "Satellite phone lost its signal." He rolled his eyes and shoved the useless device back into his jacket pocket.
"Well, that's a good sign." Damon deadpanned sarcastically whilst took it upon himself to wander in front of the group, causing Riley to roll her eyes.
"Is anyone else a little creeped out?" Elena's voice echoed right from the back of the group. Her eyes darted around them warily whilst she gripped the straps of her backpack tightly.
"So, leave then." Rebekah hummed out tiredly. "Out of everyone, your presence is the least necessary."
"Please, don't start." The youngest Salvatore groaned out.
"I'm merely stating the facts." Rebekah shrugged with a smirk. "Jeremy has the spell on his body. Bonnie's the witch that unseals the cure. Riley is the less annoying, back-up witch in case something happens to Bonnie. Shane is the human compass. You and I have the tombstone which does God knows what. And Elena has no point."
Riley's eyes fell to Elena, who just scoffed silently to himself whilst Damon appeared to be hurt that he had been left off of Rebekah's list. "What about me?"
"You have a nice behind." She called out toward them, causing a few snickers to echo from the group.
"Can't argue with that." Riley softly mumbled underneath her breath, completely unaware that Damon could in fact hear her. He turned his head over his shoulder and swiftly made eye contact with her whilst a smirk appeared on his face. "Shut up."
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Night had swiftly fallen, and the supernatural group were still hiking through the forest. Riley was beginning to grow tired, as where the rest of the group, but Shane was intent on distracting them the only way he knew how— with stories of the island's history.
"Centuries after Qetsiyah died, there were these miners that were excavating a well on the island. They suddenly went mad. Bled themselves dry for no apparent reason. So, the legend spread that these miners, in exchange for a drop of their blood, saw visions of their lost loved ones in the well they were digging. So, word traveled and explorers sought out the well to see if the legend was true."
"So, the well was magic?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued by Shane's story.
"Well, you know, some people believe the voices of lost souls were just a wind vortex whipping through caves and the visions were caused by inhaling the islands poisonous plant-life."
"And what do you believe?" The skeptical, clearly freaked-out, doppelganger raised an eyebrow in the human's direction.
"I believe in magic." Shane nodded immediately, his eyes glancing between the two witches. "My wife and my son died within months of each other so I decided to try the well out for myself. I offered out my blood and I waited. I saw my wife; I saw her eyes, her smile. My blood let me see her again."
"Yeah, I got it." A scoff of disbelief left Damon's lips. "Don't eat the poisonous flowers."
"Wait! Stop. Stop!" Shane yelled out, completely alarming Damon, who had chosen to walk ahead. "Is anybody paying attention? First lesson in survival" He threw a stone in the path ahead resulting in a leaf covered net to spring up. "Stay together. Keep your eyes open."
They walked a little further to an open area, immediately causing a pointed look to appear on Stefan's face. "What is this place?"
"According to island lore, a group of college kids came here for spring break. A few weeks later, they were all found dead, completely drained of blood."
Riley swallowed thickly, fear vibrated through her body. "Wonderful."
"Well, tragic for them, brilliant for us." Rebekah nodded with a shrug. "Who sleeps where?"
"Well, that's lovely. There's a mystery man with a hatchet in the woods, and we're gonna camp." The eldest Salvatore sarcastically quipped.
"We're safer here than we are hiking in the dark."
"Let's just keep going. You know, get the cure, get in, get out." Damon continued to press, clearly desperate to get the cure without any distractions. "Where is it?"
"Damon." Riley warned quietly the moment she watched the Salvatore edge closer toward Shane. "Look. Come on, let's just— let's just get some rest, okay?"
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It was the morning after they had agreed to set up camp in the middle of the forest, and the strawberry-blonde let her eyes slowly flutter open to the sound of everyone yelling Jeremy's name. Riley let herself get her bearings before she finally unzipped the entrance of her tent.
"Did you find anything?!" Elena called out to Bonnie as she walked back to the group after she had clearly taken off to look for her younger brother.
The Bennett witch shot her best friend a defeated look. "He's not on the trial."
"And, his gear's still here." The only human pointed toward Jeremy's duffel bag that was placed beside a tent.
"He's not at the quarry, either." Stefan informed them as he and Rebekah strode back toward the camp.
"Well, this is all we need, isn't it?" Riley rolled her eyes out of sheer annoyance, but she knew better than to assume that Jeremy hadn't just taken himself off for a stroll, he was probably in real trouble.
"Split up." Damon ordered.
"I'm gonna stay and try a locator spell."
"Me, too. It'll be quicker if we channel each other." Riley suggested toward the fellow witch with a sure nod as she and Bonnie took off inside a tent.
"Okay, I'll stay here and make sure they're safe." Shane spoke to the rest of the group.
"I'll stay here and make sure you're not lying." Damon stated bitterly, he clearly still didn't trust the Professor, especially not with the lives Riley and Bonnie.
Riley took a deep breath to steady herself before she and Bonnie began the spell. It was a simple spell, but she had noticed Bonnie's control and lack of concentration shift recently, which concerned her. The two witches sat around the camp with Jeremy's shirt held between both of them while they held each others free hand.
"You ready, Bon?" Riley offered with a sympathetic look before the witch just nodded back to her and then let go of her hand. "Hang on, what are yo—"
When the fire instantly lit in the middle of the camp, Bonnie threw Jeremy's shirt into the blaze and watched it burn with an intense gaze. Worry began to cast a shadow across Riley's face, she had no idea what this kind of magic was but when she watched the fire suddenly create a path into the forest she started to panic.
"Bonnie! Bonnie, wait." She gripped the Bennett girls forearm before she had a chance of darting off to follow the trail of fire. She tugged Bonnie back around to look at her. "Bonnie, this magic isn't safe. You know that. Just stop it, okay? We can do this, together."
"It's the only way I can save them." She breathed finally in a monotone voice and used her magic to push Riley backwards into the camp at full force.
Riley finally managed to get to her feet but before she knew it, both the trail of fire and Bonnie had disappeared. She knew that she couldn't let the witch handle it alone, so she ran straight back to the farmhouse, where she knew Damon was.
But as soon as she entered, she saw Damon just about to kill Shane but before he could, she used her magic to pin him against the wall.
"What the hell are you doing?! We need him, dumb ass!" Riley yelled at him furiously when she noticed the state Shane was in after clearly being tortured by the Salvatore. After a few stern looks and glares she relented her spell and let Damon drop to the floor with a guilty look on his face until he finally left the barn. "What did you say to him?"
"Your boyfriend's a maniac, Riley." Shane told her while she managed to untie the ropes that bound him to the chair.
"Trust me, the only maniac around here is you. I get that you're trying to help and all, but how about you just stick to that instead of trying to screw with Damon. And if I find out this is a some big scheme to kill us, Damon will be the least of your concerns." Riley spat at him before she finally left the barn to follow Damon. "You were gonna kill Shane, are you kidding me? You haven't seen the state of her magic, she needs him, Damon."
"I don't care, Riley. The guys a dick, he pissed me off." Damon shrugged while he stared into the distance.
"That's the thing, you do care otherwise you wouldn't be here." Riley's stiff posture began to soften.
"The only reason I'm here is to make sure that damn sire bond gets broken and everything can go back to the way that it was!" Damon snapped again, a defeatist look on his face.
Riley's face softened once she saw the troubled look that had spread across his face like a wildfire. "What about you?" A soft scoff left Damon's lips. "I mean, You must've thought about it? You're a vampire. I'm not. Sure, I could probably slow down the ageing with a few spells, but in reality, you're gonna outlive me. And that scares you, doesn't it?"
"Yeah." Damon nodded suddenly, his eyes fixed on the strawberry-blonde that stood in front of him. "Losing you scares the crap outta' me. And, if I was to take the cure, that would be the only reason— for you.""
Riley took a step forward with a small smile on her face. She pressed her forehead against his, breathing softly until finally their lips met. She had forgotten exactly how it felt to kiss Damon, since it had been so long, but the feeling was ecstasy.
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