"So this place is all yours? They just gave it to you?" Bonnie asked Elena. Elena signed the papers, becoming the official owner of the Salvatore house.
"For now. As the sole owner, I'm the only one who can invite a certain type of person in here, if you know what I mean."
"Your own personal safe house," Riley admired. "Nice."
Elena took one last look through the papers, before handing them back to the lawyer. "And you can come and go as you please," she said to Riley. "You have a key after all."
"Great," Riley smiled. "And does the owner of this house want to discuss the fact that her birth-mother killed herself last night, or is it too soon?"
Elena sighed, remembering her last encounter with Isobel. "Way too soon."
The lawyer left, and the three girls stood opposite the Salvatore brothers, the invisible barrier of the front door keeping them apart.
"Stefan. Would you like to come inside my house?" Elena asked her boyfriend with a flirtatious smile.
"I would love to," he replied, walking in.
Elena looked at Damon, frowning. "If I let you in, do you promise to obey the owner of this house?"
"No," Damon said incredulously.
"Seriously Damon, my way. You promised. I call the shots. No lies, no secret agendas. OK?"
Damon sighed, defeatedly. "Yes Elena, sure."
"Then please come in," she said, standing aside to let him in. Riley smirked and he glanced at her angrily.
"Shut up."
"We should get going," Bonnie reminded the girls, heading for the front door. Riley and Elena followed her.
"Wait, where are you going?" Stefan asked.
"Uh... school," Riley said in a 'duh' voice.
Damon spluttered in annoyance. "We didn't create a safe house for you to leave it!" he argued, taken aback.
"Yeah," Stefan added. "For all we know, Klaus could be out there."
Bonnie rolled her eyes. "If he shows his face, I can take him," she said determinedly. In fact, she was waiting for the mysterious Original to make himself known. There was no way he was gonna terrorize her friends and get away with it.
"The way I see it, the safest place we can possibly be is next to Bonnie," Elena said. "I'm not gonna be a prisoner."
The brothers couldn't think of a response, so the girls smiled at their triumph and left the house.
"Wait, I'm coming," Stefan said at the last moment, following them out of the door and towards Lexi Fletcher-Forbes, the love of Riley's life.
***
"She just, ripped off her daylight necklace and burned up in the sun," Elena told the girls at lunch. Caroline was busy planning the next decade dance.
"Wow," Riley said under her breath. "Why would she do that?"
"Guilt?" Elena suggested. "She betrayed her daughter and her husband for Klaus."
"Or Klaus compelled her?" Bonnie added. "I mean, it makes sense, doesn't it?"
Elena shrugged. "I don't want to think about that. In fact, I don't want to hear the name 'Klaus' again today."
"Hey Elena, there you are," a girl said, coming up to them. Her name was Dana and she was in some of their classes. "This totally hot guy just asked me to ask you if you're going to the dance tonight."
Bonnie raised an eyebrow. "Tell him she has a boyfriend," she frowned.
"There's a hot guy looking for a date to the dance tonight?" Riley cut in with a smirk. "Who is he?"
"He'll be at the dance," Dana said, mainly focusing on Elena. "Look for him. His name is Klaus."
The girls glanced at each other, trying not to show their true reaction to the name.
"Where is he?" Bonnie asked, looking around nonchalantly. "Is he here?"
Dana looked confused. "I don't know."
"She's been compelled," Riley said, immediately recognizing the signs.
"But he wants to know if you'll save him the last dance. How cute it that?" Dana said excitedly.
"Oh, she'll definitely save him a dance," Riley said angrily. "In fact, if he bothers to show his face tonight, let's throw him a damn parade."
***
Riley walked onto the school grounds later that day for the dance. She was wearing a black and white checked mini dress with thigh-high boots – one white, one black. With her hair straightened and tied into a high ponytail, she was the epitome of a 60s chick and was feeling amazing. That is, until she overheard a conversation between Bonnie and Jeremy.
"Just because a bunch of dead witches gave me a warning doesn't mean I'm going to die," Bonnie said.
"So you're saying there's a 50-50 shot you won't?" Jeremy responded, his eyes boring into those of his relatively-new girlfriend. "Look, I'm sorry but, you know I don't have the best luck in the girlfriend department."
"What's going on?" Riley asked, walking over to them.
Bonnie gave Jeremy a 'shut up' look. "Nothing," she said quickly.
"She's not strong enough," Jeremy jumped in. Bonnie shot him an angry look, her face growing hot. "If she tries to take out Klaus... it'll kill her."
Riley looked at Bonnie, grabbing her arm. "Are you insane?!"
"It's fine."
"You dying is not an option Bonnie, I don't care how much we want to take Klaus out."
"I can do it," Bonnie insisted. "Just... please don't tell Elena."
Against her better judgement, Riley nodded. Elena knowing this right now wouldn't be good for anyone. "If you die, she's not gonna want to live. Klaus may as well just take her."
"I can kill him," she insisted once again.
"And what if you don't?" Riley raged. "What if you wear yourself out and die, and Klaus is still walking free because we underestimated him by putting all of our hopes into Sabrina the Teenage Witch?!"
"Now you sound like Damon," Bonnie said, hurt by her words. She could do this, she knew she could.
"Should my ears be burning?" a smug voice asked. They both ignored him.
"Hey," Elena said, walking up behind him with Stefan. "You guys look nice."
"Thanks," Riley said. "I'm gonna... go inside."
Giving Bonnie one last look, she walked into the dance. Like all of the other dances, it was full of couples dancing and others standing on the sidelines, talking over the music. She made a beeline for Ric.
"Hey, has Klaus shown his face yet?"
"Nope," Ric said, looking down at her in confusion. Then, in an instant, his face cleared. "Riley."
It was her turn to look confused. "You OK, Ric?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "How much do you know about this guy anyway?"
"Klaus? Not much," she admitted. "I know he wants to kill Elena to complete some sicko ritual. And I know that Elijah wants him dead, though he wouldn't say why."
"You talked to Elijah?"
Together they watched the dancing students.
"Yeah. For an Original, Elijah seemed like a good guy... apart from the whole 'killing Elena' thing. Klaus must have really pissed him off."
"Or maybe Elijah was sensitive?" Ric suggested. "I mean, he didn't seem like the most stable guy to me."
"I know you hated him Ric, it's fine," Riley laughed, touching his arm lightly. She shivered, a weird chill going up her spine. She looked up at him for a second, before looking purposefully away. "By the way, how are things with you and your girlfriend?"
Ric frowned. "Jenna and I are... kinda on the outs."
Riley forced a fake laugh. "Jenna? You mean Isobel."
"What?" Ric asked, trying hard to keep a nonchalant smile on his face.
"Your girlfriend Isobel," she reminded him. "Ric, are you feeling alright?"
Ric chuckled. "Yeah, my head's all over the place. Isobel and I, we're not good right now. But we'll get back together... eventually."
"You will," Riley agreed, looking around, her heart rate picking up. "I'm gonna go find someone to dance with."
She walked towards the dance floor, leaving through one of the side doors the second his eyes were off of her. She ran as fast as she could through the hallways and finally found Stefan and Damon. Jeremy was on the floor, and three boys around them were knocked out.
"It's Ric!" she said, out of breath.
"What?" Damon asked.
"Ric," she said again. "Something's wrong."
Damon gave her a confused look.
"Calm down," Stefan said. "Something like what?"
"I just confused him into thinking that his dead wife Isobel is actually his current girlfriend. He's not himself. He could have been compelled, but he's always on vervain. What if Klaus is in his body somehow?"
"That's impossible," Damon dismissed.
"Think about it," Riley urged. "If he came here as himself, we'd immediately identify him as the only new guy here and take him out. The one person we wouldn't expect is the guy who's been in this with us all along."
Stefan and Damon looked at each other.
"I just... I don't know. I have a really bad feeling," she said, hoping that they believed her. She couldn't explain how she knew the truth about Ric, she just did.
"I'll go find out," Damon said, running back to the dance.
"Wait," Riley said, following him. "If I'm right, this isn't about taking Klaus out anymore. If he's been in Ric's body all this time, then he knows that Bonnie's ready for him. He's not trying to kill Elena, he's trying to kill Bonnie."
"So what do we do?" Damon wondered, whispering so that Stefan and Jeremy couldn't hear.
"I have a risky idea," she said. Then she told him her idea, and he immediately agreed. If it would work, they'd finally be one step ahead of Klaus. "Go find Bonnie."
When he left, she went back to Stefan and Jeremy.
"What's happening?" Jeremy asked.
Riley tilted her head sympathetically. "You should go home Jeremy. This will all be over soon."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Stefan asked.
"We should find Elena," she ignored him, turning and sprinting away.
"Riley, wait," Stefan said, easily keeping her pace. "What do you mean?"
Riley sighed, keeping her answer vague. "You should find Elena, you should be with her when it happens."
Stefan grabbed her arm to stop her from walking. "When what happens? Talk to me!"
"Bonnie has to die!" she accidentally blurted out loudly.
They were both silent, before Stefan spoke softly. "What?"
"If we're gonna have a chance against Klaus, Bonnie has to die. And Elena should be there."
Stefan shook his head. "This is Damon's idea, isn't it?" he asked. Riley shook her head, walking again.
"We're not prepared for this Stefan. Bonnie isn't strong enough."
The second they re-entered the dance, Elena ran to them. "What's going on?"
"We need to find Bonnie," Stefan said, grasping her hand and running. Riley followed, until they found Damon.
"Where's Bonnie?" Elena asked.
"She's doing what she has to do," he said, his voice taking on a sinister tone. Elena and Stefan looked through the windows of the cafeteria to see Bonnie trying to kill Ric/Klaus. She'd been right, Klaus was inhabiting the history teacher's body.
Riley couldn't look, so instead she looked at Damon, who sneakily passed her a note. Elena's screams and cries filled the hallway.
Then the doors opened and they got in. Bonnie was lying on the ground, dead, while Alaric/Klaus was nowhere to be seen.
"Stefan, she's not breathing!" Elena screamed.
"Know what you're doing?" Damon asked Riley softly.
"Yeah," Riley nodded, clutching the note. "We did the right thing, right?"
Damon nodded. "It was the only way."
***
Riley walked into the old witch house that night with a duffel bag under her arm. She was immediately filled with relief when she saw Bonnie alive and well, a computer on her lap, with Jeremy by her side.
"Bye," Bonnie said emotionally, closing it.
"Hey," Riley said, gesturing to the duffel bag. "I got your stuff. Your note was... extremely specific."
"Well I'm probably gonna be down here for a while," she said. "Hiding from Klaus requires a lot of clothes."
Riley laughed, before running to her and enveloping her in a hug. "I'm so glad you're OK!"
"Me too," Bonnie said, tears of joy filling her eyes. "But, how did you know? About Alaric?"
Riley shrugged. "I don't know. It was... a really weird feeling. I could just tell that something wasn't right."
"Thank God you did," Jeremy said. "Or Bonnie would be dead."
"Yeah," Riley agreed. "But as of right now, we're all alive. And when the time comes to kill the real Klaus, we'll do it without you dying," she addressed Bonnie.
"I hope so," Bonnie said sadly. "I really do."
--------------------
Finally the gang are one step ahead of Klaus. But will a returning ally help them defeat him once and for all?
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