CHAPTER ONE | THE RETURN

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

RILEY EVANS' HEART THUMPED RAPIDLY IN HER CHEST THE MOMENT THAT SHE HEARD THE NEWS. She had hoped that after the events at the Founders Day with the attempted vampire round-up, everything would go back to normal— but it was far from normal. The strawberry blonde witch pushed the door to the emergency room open, and she saw Bonnie and Elena gathered in the corridor just outside, what she assumed, was Caroline's room.

"Guys! I got here as fast as I could." Riley called out to her two best friends, who immediately turned on their heels to look at her with somber expressions on their faces. "What is it? She's not—"

"She's weak," Bonnie confirmed with a slight nod as she watched a sadness wash across Riley's face. "They don't know if she's gonna make it."

"What? No. We can't just let her die."

"Riley's right. Is there something that either of you can do?" Elena glanced between the two witches with panic on her face. Even though both witches were relatively new to witchcraft, she hoped they could do something. "A spell or something?"

"They don't know how." The voice of Damon Salvatore boomed from behind them just as he strolled up. His eyes were fixed on Bonnie, then he glanced at Riley. The two had a somewhat strained friendship, but he did care about her, deep down. "I can give Caroline some blood."

At the mention of Damon giving Caroline his vampire blood to heal her, Elena began to shake her head. "No. No way."

"No, just enough to heal her. She'll be safe in the hospital. It'll be out of her system in a day. She'll be better, Elena."

"Do it," Riley told the vampire without a second thought. Once she saw the surprised looks on both of her best friend's faces, she shrugged. "What? He's right. His blood will heal her and she's our best friend. We can't let her die."

Bonnie nodded slowly, whilst Elena reminded silent. "Do it."

A flicker of a smirk swept across Damon's lips once he noticed he had the upper hand. "If I do this, you and me, call a truce?"

"No. But, you'll do it anyway. For Riley." Bonnie's eyes were locked with the Salvatore, and they engaged in a moment of silent stares. After a few moments, Bonnie grabbed Elena's hand and wandered off down the hall.

"You know, just because you're going to heal Caroline, doesn't mean I like you," Riley commented quietly as she led Damon into Caroline's hospital room. Her eyes fixed on the blonde female, who laid asleep in the bed with dozens of machines plugged into her. "Oh, my God."

"Riley. She's going to be fine." The Salvatore vampire told the witch with a stern tone of voice before he brought his wrist up to his mouth and bit it. Within a few moments, he had lifted his blood up toward Caroline's mouth.

Riley blinked as she watched Damon finally step away from the blonde, then he turned around to look at her. "Thank you, Damon."

"You're welcome, witchy." Almost as soon as the words fell from the vampire's lips, his phone began to buzz in his pocket. He pulled it from his back pocket and Riley watched his eyes widen. "We gotta go. Now."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It turned out that not only had Katherine Pierce attempted to kill John Gilbert, but she had also been invited inside the Gilbert residence. She impersonated Elena, though Stefan soon saw through her act and called Damon the minute after she disappeared into the night.

"Hold on a minute. Katherine was here?" Riley's eyes widened fearfully as she, Damon, and Stefan all gathered in Elena's kitchen whilst she had hurried upstairs to check on Jeremy. "As in, inside this house?"

"Yup. She pretended to be Elena. My guess is she spent a lot of time perfecting that performance." Stefan spoke through gritted teeth as he recalled his earlier fight with Katherine Pierce once she pretended to be Elena.

"Woman certainly knows how to make an entrance." Damon softly hummed with an irritated look on his face as Elena wandered down the staircase and into the kitchen.

"I told Jeremy. I can't lie to him anymore." She announced with a heavy sigh of defeat. All her efforts to keep her brother from the supernatural madness had been wasted. "I thought that with all the tomb vampires gone, things would get better."

Stefan moved toward his girlfriend and supportively pulled her into his embrace, whilst Riley jumped up onto the kitchen counter. "I know. We all did."

"So, am I the only one worried about the fact that Katherine was inside this house. I mean, that means she's been invited in, right?" Riley's eyes flickered between the two Salvatores, who nodded. "What're we gonna do?"

"Move." Damon shrugged with an inconsiderate look on his face.

"Very helpful. Thank you." The Gilbert girl sarcastically answered back.

The Salvatore vampire folded his arms over his chest, while Elena glared harshly toward him. "Katherine wants you dead, there's zero you can do about it. You will be dead. But, you're not, so clearly, she has other plans."

"Right, and we need to find out what those other plans are and not provoke her on the process," Stefan told his older brother in a patronizing tone. Damon was likely to go off the rails and do something stupid where Katherine Pierce was concerned.

"John must know something," Elena mumbled softly under her breath, then she lifted her eyes up from the counter. "There has to be a reason why Katherine tried to kill him."

Damon rolled his eyes. "She's Katherine. She loves to play games and you're fooling yourself if you think you're going to find out what she's up to before she wants you to know."

"No, actually, Elena's right." Stefan stepped forward, then set his eyes on his girlfriend. "John could know something through Isobel. Your mother. She was in touch with Katherine. So, maybe we can go to the hospital and get him to talk."

"I've got a better idea."

Riley let a soft grunt leave her lips as she raised an eyebrow toward the blue-eyed Salvatore. "Oh. Do tell, Damon."

"I'm just gonna ignore the bitch. If Katherine thinks she's being ignored, it will lure her out. She'll make a move." Damon answered back with a devilish smirk. "Then maybe I'll stake her. Rip her head off. Something poetic. We'll see."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It was Mayor Lockwood's memorial, and Riley stepped up to the Lockwood Estate wearing a light blue-colored dress. She had expected the rest of her friends to be there, however, the only person that she could see was Damon. The Salvatore was stood on the front porch with an unreadable expression on his face and a tumbler of bourbon in his hand.

"How're you doing, pouty?" The Evans witch raised an eyebrow as she cautiously took a few steps toward him.

"Walkin' on sunshine, Riley. Thanks for asking." He commented back without even sparing a glance for her.

Riley pursed her lips and then moved beside him. Her back was pressed up against the porch, whilst he spared a short glance for her. "Damon, I'm asking how you are."

"I'm well aware of that, Riley. But, as I said, I am fine. I don't need you or anyone else thinking I'm going to go off of the deep end just because that manipulative little slut is back in town." The Salvatore immediately snapped, then once he realized, he clamped his mouth shut.

"Huh." Riley took a breath, then grabbed the tumbler of bourbon from his hand. Damon didn't even protest the fact that she had taken a sip of his drink, he didn't want to. After a short sip, Riley handed it back. "So, I heard Caroline's doing much better."

"She'll be out of that hospital soon and you and her can go back to doing what you do best." Damon finally let his eyes fall on her as a smirk appeared on his face. "Being annoying."

A smile slowly swept its way across Riley's lips as she rolled her eyes. "You're hilarious." She knew that, in his own way, Damon cared— he had just been burned one too many times and was scared to feel.

As the strawberry blonde witch wandered inside the venue, she headed into one of the rooms that contained some hors d'oeuvres. As she let herself move around the table, her eyes drifted up to Elena who stood across from her.

The innocent demeanor faded away and that was the moment that Riley realized she was not stood across from her best friend, she was stood in front of Katherine Pierce.

The minute that the witch attempted to make her exit, Katherine sped in front of her and tilted her head with a sly smirk on her lips. "Riley, right? The Evans witch? It's nice to officially meet you. I'm Katherine."

"You can't do anything to me, there are dozens of people here." Riley stammered fearfully as she watched Katherine begin to circle her as a chuckle escaped the doppelganger's lips.

"Oh, honey. If I wanted you dead, you'd have been dead the moment I stepped in the room." Katherine's tone was harsher than Elena's, despite the other similarities the females shared. "I've been putting all the pieces of Elena's life together. Isobel told me it was a bit of a puzzle. I do know who Jenna and Jeremy are. And, I've met that delicious ex-boyfriend, Matt, who's sweet on Caroline. The vampire hating Bennett witch. And, then there's you. Innocent Riley; everyone's favorite. Did I do good?"

Riley's eyes were firmly fixed on Katherine as she used her magic to pop blood vessels in the woman's brain. After a few painful grunts, a sadistic grin appeared on the vampire's face, proving that whatever Riley intended to do, hadn't worked.

"I've been around a long time, Riley. You're gonna have to do better than that." Katherine attempted to lunge at Riley, but Stefan immediately appeared in front of them and pushed Katherine away from the strawberry-blonde. "Stefan. Always the protector."

The Salvatore's eyes sternly locked with his best friend, whilst his grip was placed around Katherine's neck. "Riley, get out of here. Now."

Panic shook through Riley as she hurried herself back outside to the front porch of the Lockwood estate, where Damon was. The minute she ran outside, his eyes widened when he noticed the fear in her eyes. "Riley? What is it?"

"Katherine. She's here."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

A heavy sigh escaped Riley's lips as she pushed her keys into the front door and wandered inside the house. The minute that she dropped her car keys down onto the table in the hall, Gwen, her grandmother, walked out to greet her. "Hey, sweetheart. I expected you home a while ago."

"Yeah. Sorry. I—" Riley shrugged with a smile on her face. "I was just spending time with Elena after Mayor Lockwood's memorial."

Riley had been living with Gwen for as long as she could remember. She practically grew up living with her grandmother after her parent's death. Riley desperately wanted to keep her grandmother as far away from Katherine Pierce and the vampire drama as she possibly could since Gwen did not possess any supernatural abilities of her own, which meant she would be unable to protect herself.

As Riley pulled her jacket off and hung it up on the coat rack, her grandmother furrowed her brows. She had always been able to tell them something was bothering Riley, and she knew something was wrong. "You wanna tell that to your face?" I know when something's bothering you."

"No. Honestly, I'm fine, Grandma." Riley stepped forwards, placed a gentle kiss on her grandmother's forehead, and headed toward the staircase. "I'm gonna go upstairs and take this dress off."

The strawberry blonde exhaled deeply as she wandered right up the staircase and toward her bedroom. Riley worried that especially if Katherine was in town, that it would be a lot harder to keep Gwen away from the supernatural. She didn't want her to get hurt, she was the only family Riley had left.

"I did a bad thing. So, I came here." A loud gasp of horror escaped Riley's lips as Damon's voice boomed the moment she stepped into her bedroom. Her eyes were drawn to the Salvatore, who seemed drunk, perched on the edge of her bed.

"God! Damon, you scared the hell outta me." Riley quietly closed her door to prevent her grandmother from overhearing the conversation, then she stepped closer to Damon. "Are you drunk?" She watched him lift his thumb and his index finger to indicate that he was a little intoxicated. "Drunk and you've done a bad thing. This should be interesting. What is it?"

"No. No, I'm not here to talk about that." Damon aggressively shook his head and then dropped himself backward onto Riley's bed.

The strawberry blonde witch folded her arms across her lips and let out an irritated grunt. "Okay. Then, why are you here, Damon?"

"Katherine came to see me tonight, and I think for once in her damn life she actually told me the truth." The Salvatore's eyes were fixed to the ceiling as Riley's face softened at the mention of Katherine. "She told me that she never loved me. That is was always Stefan."

"Oh, Damon." The strawberry-blonde moved over to her bed and sat beside the vampire. His eyes contained tears, that he continued to blink away almost as if he didn't want to be upset. "I can't imagine how you must feel right now."

"Like a dick."

"Yeah." Riley hummed softly, then she laid her head down beside him. "But, a woman like that doesn't deserve to be loved in the first place. She's bitter, twisted; honestly, I'm surprised she's even capable of feeling anything."

"You know, that's quite funny." A small chuckle escaped Damon's lips as she glanced to the witch beside him. "That's how you used to describe me."

"Yeah, well, I hadn't met her yet."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───