"You've been... absent," Damon remarked when he and Riley entered the tomb. It had been two weeks since the masquerade ball and she'd put all of her energy into looking after her mom.
She reeled off the events that she'd missed, counting them on her fingers. "Well, between Elena's 'suicide' mission, that Rose girl, the new 'original' vampires Elijah and Klaus, and Stefan getting himself stuck in the tomb, I was happy to miss out on all the fun."
The biggest piece of news came in the form of Katherine's warning about Elena. Apparently, her being a doppelganger meant that she was on a lot of vampire's 'most wanted' lists.
They walked to the door of the tomb to see Stefan waiting for them. He'd become trapped in the tomb alongside Katherine.
"What the hell did you do?" Riley asked him, trying to sound sympathetic.
He shrugged, frowning. "It was this, or she'd kill Jeremy," he said. "I had no choice."
"I get it," she responded, knowing that she'd probably have done the same thing for the sibling of someone she loved. "But your timing sucks. I mean, Elena's trying to offer herself to some ancient vampire called Klaus – it's insanity!"
"Yeah, what are you doing about that, by the way?" Stefan asked Damon, concerned that he was stuck in the tomb while his girlfriend tried to sell her soul to the devil.
"She can't get out of the house," Damon said, before smirking. "Bennett witches and their spells."
"You trapped her in the house?" Stefan scolded.
"You three are surprisingly calm," Katherine said from further inside the tomb. She'd been starving for so long that her voice sounded like it was coated in gravel. "Considering Klaus will hunt you down and kill you if you mess with his little plan."
"I've been dead before," Damon shrugged. "I got over it."
"You two should leave," Stefan instructed. "Just... make sure Elena's safe."
Damon nodded, and they left him in the tomb.
"Think he'll be OK?" Riley asked curiously.
"Right now, yeah. If he finds out that Elijah, the 'original' douche, wants Elena... not so much."
***
"This is humiliating," Elena frowned with crossed arms. Riley chuckled and sat next to her on her couch.
"Stop trying to kill yourself," Riley demanded. "I mean, why Elena?"
Elena sighed. "According to Rose, and Katherine, Klaus will be more than willing to kill everyone I love to get to me. I don't want people to die."
Rose was an old vampire who'd had some experience dealing with the 'original' vampires that were so obsessed with Elena.
Riley nodded, immediately understanding. "But why does he want you? And what is an Original vampire anyway?"
"Where's Bonnie?" Jeremy interrupted, alerting them all to his presence.
"Moonstone duty," Damon answered. "And Vampire Barbie's on full moon duty with Tyler Lockwood."
Elena frowned. "Tonight's the full moon?" she asked.
"Tyler's a werewolf?" Riley asked at the same time, feeling guilty about how out-of-the-loop she was. "I thought he had to kill someone for that to happen?"
"One question at a time," Damon said, as Riley's phone began to ring. She answered immediately.
"Dad, what's up?"
"Sheriff Forbes has officially declared Mason Lockwood a missing person." Sheriff Forbes had conveniently 'forgotten' all about the fact that Caroline and her friends were vampires. Damon's compulsion was unparalleled.
"What?" Damon asked, listening in on the conversation, gaining confused looks from Elena and Jeremy. "Why?"
"Why?" Riley repeated into the phone.
"A girl from Florida showed up on the Lockwood's doorstep looking for Mason. According to your history teacher, she's in the Grill, so Damon - aka the guy that killed him - might want to deal with that," her dad suggested.
"He will," Riley promised, hanging up the phone.
Damon stood up. "Fletch, you're on babysitting duties."
Riley nodded with a smile, settling into the couch. Hanging out with one of your best friends to stop her from giving herself over to an Original vampire wasn't the worst thing in the world.
They stayed that way for a few hours, watching movies and, for once, not talking about anything supernatural.
"Hey girls, can you give me a hand?" Elena's aunt Jenna called to them from the hallway. They followed her voice and each got handed a box of unidentified stuff. While Elena was having trouble seeing over her box, Riley noticed the hot guy standing with Jenna. He smiled at her.
"Hey, I'm Elijah," he said. The name startled Riley, who jumped, as Elena dropped the box that she was holding. It fell to the ground with a loud 'thump'.
"What's wrong?" Jenna asked, looking up in concern.
"Nothing," the girls said in unison, neither of them taking their eyes off the Original vampire standing in Elena's home.
Jenna looked at them suspiciously, before turning back to Elijah. "Do you want the girls and I to help you load this stuff into your car?"
"It's fine," Elijah said. "I can get someone to pick it up tomorrow. Thank you so much for inviting me into your home, Jenna."
Riley and Elena looked at each other in alarm. He'd been invited in – now he could come in whenever he wanted and they couldn't stop him.
"We'll be upstairs," Elena said, grabbing Riley and heading for Jeremy's room. However, Elijah was waiting for them when they got to the top of the stairs. He put a finger to his lips, and ushered them into Elena's bedroom.
"Please excuse the intrusion," he said politely, shutting the door. "I mean your family no harm."
"Then what do you want?" Elena asked.
Elijah walked into the middle of the room, seeming to almost revel in the control he had over them. "If word gets out that a doppelganger exists, there will be a line of vampires eager to take you to Klaus so that he can break the 'Sun and Moon' curse. I can't have that," he told them.
The mention of the name 'Klaus' sent a shiver down Riley's spine and she knew practically nothing about him, other than the fact that he was an Original vampire who made Elijah look like the 'Easter bunny'.
"So... what are you doing here?" Riley asked. "Aren't you trying to break the curse too?"
"No," he said. "My goal is not to break the curse. Elena, I'd like to offer you a deal."
"What kind of deal?" Elena asked warily. She was completely terrified of Elijah, while Riley was more intrigued. Not only about Original vampires, but about this curse that Klaus was trying to break. What was it? Why did he care so much?
"Do nothing," Elijah told her. "Live your life, stop fighting. And when the time is right, you and I shall draw Klaus out together and I shall make sure that your friends remain unharmed."
"And then what?" Riley asked, crossing her arms.
Elijah glanced at her with an amused look. "Then I kill him."
"Just like that?" Elena asked, wondering if this 'deal' was too good to be true.
"I'm a man of my word."
Elena looked at Riley, who shrugged. "Stefan's stuck in the tomb with Katherine. Can you get him out?"
He thought for a second. "Consider it done."
Elena seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "Then, OK. We have a deal." They shook hands.
"Excellent," he said, before then taking Riley's hand in his. "It was nice to meet you, Riley Fletcher."
He was gone before she could ask how he knew her name.
***
Riley let herself into her home, to see both of her parents sitting at the kitchen table. Her mom had been out of the hospital for just over a week and her recovery was going extremely well.
"Hey," her mom greeted. "Everything OK?"
Riley shrugged. "I think so... It was weird. I found myself wanting to trust an Original vampire."
"You can't trust vampires," Ciara said sternly. Both Riley and her dad rolled their eyes. They'd heard her warnings time and time again – they both saw something in the vampires that she couldn't. Particularly Caroline.
Glancing into the living room, she noticed a collection of cardboard boxes.
"What's going on?" she asked, her heart-rate picking up. "Are we moving?"
"Sit down honey," her dad said softly. She sat down.
"We can't leave!" Riley insisted, her tone full of anxiety. "You know that, right? I can't just leave them to deal with everything alone."
Her parents looked at each other, before both looking at her.
"Riles," her father said gently. "Your mom and I... it's not working."
Riley frowned, trying to comprehend his vague words. "What's not working?" she asked. Could he really be saying what she thought he was saying?
"We're getting a divorce," her mom said, straight to the point. A habit she'd learned from medical school. "I'm moving out."
"What do you mean you're moving out?" Riley asked loudly, being deliberately naïve. "You were the one that made us move here in the first place."
"Calm down," Ciara reprimanded her daughter.
"Calm down?!" Riley asked. "How can I calm down? What the hell happened? Is this because of the vampires?"
Chris sighed. "There were a lot of factors involved in making this decision," he told her honestly, trying to make it as easy for her as possible.
"What am I supposed to do?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"Well, you could go with your mom, or you could stay here with me," Chris said. "There's absolutely no pressure from either of us."
"You want me to... choose?" she asked incredulously, her eyes filling with tears. How could she choose between her parents? "OK, I choose. I'm choosing to stay somewhere else tonight."
She stood up and walked towards the door.
"Where are you going?" her mom asked.
She didn't answer, slamming the door on her way out. She got into her father's car and drove until she got to Caroline's house.
"Hey," Caroline said tiredly, before getting a good look at her best friend's face. "What's wrong?"
"Can I stay here?" Riley asked, her face tear-stained. "Please?"
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I'm experimenting with twice-a-week uploads rather than once, let me know what you'd prefer!
So Elijah's been introduced, and Riley's parents are splitting up - could things get worse for her right now?
Please vote and comment if you like the story so far!