CHAPTER FIFTEEN | THE MURDER OF ONE

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THE EVANS WITCH STAYED AT CAROLINE'S PLACE SINCE SHE AND DAMON HAD SPLIT UP. After all, there was no way that Riley could face going back into the Salvatore house and staying there after everything that happened. So, when Caroline offered Riley the spare room at her place, she knew it was the perfect opportunity to take herself out of the situation altogether.

She hadn't gotten much sleep. If Riley were being honest, all she did was lay there in the darkness and think about how screwed up everything had managed to get— How screwed up she and Damon had managed to get. She received seventeen missed calls, fourteen texts, and eight voice mails from Damon, but she didn't want to hear any of it.

"Riles." Caroline's voice called out to the strawberry-blonde, who was laid in the Forbes' guestroom with a large fluffy blanket wrapped around her. "I brought someone to see you."

"If it's Damon, tell him to leave me alone," Riley mumbled quietly. She didn't even spare a glance for Caroline or her visitor.

"Good thing I'm not him then, right?" Stefan innocently chuckled as he stepped into the room with his hands in his jean pockets.

"I'll leave you guys to talk." Caroline gave Stefan a small smile and then she headed off out of the room.

Stefan cleared his throat and perched on the edge of the bed, beside Riley. The strawberry-blonde still remained absentmindedly staring out of the window. "I texted you. A lot."

"Yep." Riley grabbed hold of her phone and scrolled through the dozens of missed calls. "Everybody has, apparently. My phone's been on Do Not Disturb. I guess you could probably understand why." She scoffed, then placed her phone back onto the desk.

"Riley, come on. You need to get out of this house, it's not healthy for you."

A chuckle left the little witch's lips that caused Stefan's brows to furrow. "No. What's not healthy is that I actually let myself fall in love with a psychotic maniac. I knew better. I always know better."

"I'm a little offended. Especially since, you know, when I feed too hard I rip people's heads off. Accidentally, of course." Stefan instantly shrugged and saw a small smile creep across her lips. "See, there it is! That smile."

"Hm." Riley cleared her throat and rested her head in her hands whilst her eyes were fixed on Stefan. "I heard Caroline mention something about twelve stakes?"

"Yeah. We've got twelve White Oak stakes. And, well, killing the Originals should be light work considering they're all still linked." Stefan straightened his posture and then sighed. "I don't suppose you could—"

"—No." She held her perfectly manicured hand up and shook her head. "I've had enough drama this week. I'm sorry, but nothing is going to change my mind."

"Really?" Stefan cleared his throat with an uneasy look on his face. "Well, uh— what if I told you that Rebekah jumped Damon and now she's holding him hostage?"

Riley's eyes suddenly widened at the mention of Damon being in trouble. She didn't want to care about him, but she couldn't help it. "What? Why? I thought they were bed-buddies now."

"Turns out Damon was only using Rebekah to find out the location of the White Oak."

The witch furrowed her brows in confusion. "I— I don't follow."

"He never slept with her, Riles. He got her drunk enough that she'd pass out and then got inside her head. My guess is that Rebekah's obviously found out, and now she wants revenge." Stefan noticed the worried look on her face. "Don't worry, I'll get him back. I just— I need your help, Riley."

"What do you need me to do?"

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Riley and Stefan were seated a short distance away from Sage and Finn, who had decided to take their reunion to the bar. The redhead was insistent on showing Finn what he had missed during the nine-hundred years that he was daggered.

"You've never had tequila before?" Sage raised an eyebrow toward Finn whilst he offered his wrist up to her. She gently shook some salt across his skin, then scoffed. "That's embarrassing. Seriously, I'm embarrassed for you."

The couple licked the salt from their wrists then poured the shots of tequila down their throats. Finn winced at the taste, while Sage didn't even cringe. "Happy now?" Finn raised an eyebrow.

"What're they saying?" Riley whispered to Stefan, whose attention was solely on the pair of vampires a few booths away from them.

"Reminiscing, mostly." The Salvatore rolled his eyes.

The pair watched Sage hand Finn a lime, which he sucked and immediately scrunched his face up at the taste of it. "Ah. I am truly awed by the evolution of mankind."

Sage laughed at the Original before her attention was taken by the man who swiftly approached their table. "Hey, Sage." She greeted with a tight-lipped smile.

"Hey, Troy."

Troy nodded toward Finn, almost as if he were silently saying hello, then he wandered away. "You know him?" Finn curiously asked whilst his eyes followed the man around the bar.

"I turned him."

"You turned him?" The Original vampire's eyes widened in disbelief. "Why?"

"Because I'm in enemy territory." The redhead spat. "When your brother and sister called, I thought I might need a little backup. You can't trust anyone here." Matt headed over to clear away their empty shot glasses, but Sage grabbed hold of his wrist before he got the chance. "Two more tequilas?"

"Yeah, cool. I'll let your waitress know." Matt nodded hesitantly, smiled, and then disappeared over to Stefan and Riley's booth. He grabbed hold of their empty coffee cups, just as Stefan slipped him a bottle of vervain.

"Thank you for being here, by the way," Stefan told Riley with a soft smile on his face, whilst a waitress headed over to Sage and Finn with the vervain-laced tequilas.

Riley pulled her phone from her pocket and sent a text to Matt, telling him to get ready. "Well, what sort of a best friend would I be if I let you do this alone, huh?"

"We should probably—" Stefan pulled himself up from his chair and strode toward the exit with the Evans witch at his side. Almost as soon as they reached the door, Sage and Finn choked on their vervain.

"Oh, what the hell?" Sage groaned out in a raspy voice whilst she continued to cough violently due to the effects of the vervain.

"Vervain." Finn gasped in horror. He turned around to see both Riley and Stefan sending the couple sadistic smiles.

The Original vampire and Sage followed Stefan and Riley out of the Grill with the intention of killing them, but as soon as Finn stepped out, Stefan attempted to stake him. Sage caught sight of him and tossed him away from Finn, and caused the stake to roll down the steps.

"Finn, the stake!" Sage yelled out of desperation whilst she watched Finn attempt to hurry toward the stake. Just as he did, the fire exit door opened to reveal Matt and Elena.

The Gilbert shot him in the chest with a crossbow, just as Riley extended her hand and caused both of Finn's legs to break. "Now! Do it, now!" Riley yelled as she watched Matt harshly plunge the White Oak into Finn's heart.

"No!" Sage cried out and immediately rushed straight over to Finn once she saw his body drop to the ground. Elena and Matt backed up inside the Grill, whilst Stefan grabbed hold of Riley's hand and disappeared before Sage could kill them.

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"Hey, how's Alaric?" Elena called out to Caroline, who was watching over the human whilst Stefan, Riley and Elena sought to take down the entire Original family.

"He'll be okay." The blonde gave them a reassuring smile. "I gave him a bottle of Bonnie's herbs, and he went home. Did you guys kill Finn? Did it work?"

"Nothing worked until I see Klaus' dead body myself," Stefan stated from behind Riley and Elena, who nodded in confirmation at the fact Finn was now dead.

Riley rolled her eyes at Stefan, then pulled her vibrating phone from her pocket. "Bon, hey. Where have you been? Elena's been—"

"Klaus has Damon." Bonnie gulped just as Riley furrowed her brows and placed her phone onto loudspeaker.

"No, Bonnie. Klaus should be dead. All the Originals should be. We just killed Finn."

"No, Riley. He forced me to do a spell that unlinked all the siblings." Riley exhaled in disbelief whilst she turned on her heels to Stefan, who looked utterly defeated. "He's still alive."

"Okay. Okay, uh— where's Damon?" Riley breathed in a shaky voice. She knew that if Klaus found out that they had killed Finn, Damon's life was in more danger than before.

"At Klaus' mansion. It's bad, Riley. He threatened Jeremy and my Mom." Bonnie began to choke on her own words and Riley could hear her voice begin to tremble. "I'm sorry. I have to go."

"Bonn—" Before Riley could say anything further, the Bennett witch had ended the call. She then glanced up to the rest of her friends. "Okay, so what the hell do we do now?"

"There's no we. You and Elena, stay with Caroline." Stefan spun on his heels and began to saunter out of the house. "I'll call you when it's over."

"Stefan, stop. Klaus is stronger than you. We need another plan!" The doppelganger yelled in protest.

"No, what we need is for Klaus to be dead."

"Just shut the hell up a minute, okay!" Riley yelled out as she grabbed hold of the Salvatore's hand and pulled him back. "You're acting on anger. I get that you're pissed that Klaus is still alive, but if you go in there alone like this, you're dead, too. Look, you said you wanted my help. You don't get to pick and choose when it suits you."

"Fine." Stefan gritted his teeth and headed straight out of the front door, but seconds later was thrown back inside by none other than Sage.

"Ding-dong!" The vengeful redhead yelled out. She swung straight at Caroline, who attempted to intervene, and tossed her backward. "I'm not here for you. I'm here for him."

Elena attempted to flee, but as she did, another vampire entered the house and blocked her path. Just as Sage attempted to hit Stefan, she grew weaker and the Salvatore managed to get a few hits in until eventually, she dropped to the ground.

"Troy, help me!" Sage yelled out as she began to violently cough up blood whilst she laid on the ground. Troy rushed over to help her, but he suffered the same fate. "What's happening to me?" She muttered, breathlessly until she was suddenly desiccated.

"She just died." Elena gulped in horror.

"But, I don't understand. Nobody even touched her. She literally dropped to the floor?" Riley furrowed her brows whilst Stefan slowly paced up and down.

"So, Sage and this Troy guy die within an hour of Finn?" The Forbes vampire raised an eyebrow. "Maybe Sage was so in love with Finn, she just died of sadness."

Elena shook her head. "No. That doesn't explain Troy."

"It's the blood. The bloodline." Stefan suddenly answered as the three girls raised an eyebrow. "It has to be. Think about it. Finn turned Sage. Sage turned Troy. They're all part of the same vampire bloodline that originated with Finn."

"Oh, my God. So you're saying that if an Original dies, so does everyone turned in their bloodline?" The Evans witch's eyes slowly widened more. "If we kill the Originals, you all die."

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After finding out that killing an Original kills their entire vampire bloodline, Stefan knew that they couldn't kill Klaus until they knew for sure which bloodline they originated from. So, he and Riley headed to Klaus' mansion to bargain for Damon's freedom.

"Oh, my God." Riley gasped out in horror the moment they entered the room and saw Damon. Damon's eyes widened in disbelief at the pair stood before him. He had blood stains across his chest, whilst he was hung from the ceiling of the ballroom.

"Riley." Damon weakly breathed out, his voice was shaky and quiet. "This was much different in my head."

"Klaus! I'm here!" Stefan yelled with the duffle bag of stakes in his hand. Once he made his presence known, both Rebekah and Klaus wandered into the room. "Let's do this."

"What do you want?" The Hybrid simply stated.

Stefan tossed the duffle bag of White Oak stakes in front of Klaus and Rebekah, whilst Riley folded her arms over her chest. "We're here to make a deal. In that bag is eight White Oak stakes. You know, from the part of Wickery Bridge you didn't burn."

Klaus glanced toward his younger sister, who shook her head with widened eyes. "That's impossible."

"Actually, it's not." Stefan shrugged. "Finn's dead."

"You killed my brother?" Rebekah spat in horror, eyes widened whilst the look on Klaus' face was completely unreadable.

The Salvatore vampire didn't respond, instead, he stepped closer to Klaus. "Damon in exchange for the last eight weapons that can kill you."

"And how do I know there aren't any more left?" The Original Hybrid spoke coldly. "Let's be certain, shall we?" He strode over to Damon and whispered in his ear. "Leave."

"No," Damon answered back with his eyes firmly fixed on Riley as if it were taking every ounce of strength inside him to disobey.

"Go on, leave." Klaus grabbed Damon's throat within his hand and squeezed whilst he began to compel him. "I said, go home." Damon didn't have a choice, he began to slowly pull his hands from the animal traps that bound him. Screams of agony left his lips and blood poured down his arms.

"Klaus, stop it," Riley muttered quietly. Damon's screams were enough to make her feel sick as she watched him struggle.

"Alright. Stop. Stop. Stop, before you hurt yourself." Klaus chuckled and suddenly a sigh of relief left Damon's lips. "Well, I see that he can finally be compelled. Now, minus the stake that's in my brother, how many more stakes are out there that can kill me?"

"Eleven." Damon weakly answered against all his instincts and Klaus smirked once he saw Riley and Stefan's faces fall.

"Eleven, really! So not eight, then."

"I'll get you the other three." Stefan sighed out, knowing Klaus had him beaten.

"Yeah, that'd be nice. Or, since you lied maybe I'll just compel Damon to chew out his own tongue." Klaus narrowed his eyes toward Stefan. "Do you really have no appreciation for me? I have given you someone to hate. To loathe. A target for all of your anger so you don't have to turn it on yourself. I've given your life purpose, as your friend. I mean, I really think you should be thanking me."

"Enough!" Stefan snapped. He slammed Klaus against the wall and held a stake straight above his head.

"Step down, or you, Riley, and Damon will all die," Klaus warned in a soft and quiet tone of voice. He knew that Stefan wouldn't risk anyone else's life. "Now you only have to get me the other two."

"This is ridiculous." The blonde Original rolled her eyes and yanked Damon's restraints from his wrists which caused him to weakly fall to the ground. "I brought him here. I get to release him. My rules now." She then turned to Stefan and Riley. "Bring us the stakes and you live. Take Damon as a sign of good faith."

"Bring us the stakes, all of them. Or I'll wage a war against everyone you love. I hope I'm being clear."

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