CHAPTER SIX | PLAN B

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A LOT HAD HAPPENED IN THE LAST TWENTY-FOUR HOURS THAT MADE RILEY'S HEAD SPIN. Caroline had admitted that Katherine had been threatening Matt so that she would report back to her on everything that Stefan and Elena did. And, since Liz found out that Caroline was a vampire, they decided their only option was to compel her once the vervain was out of her system. So, Liz was in the basement cellar, where there was not a drop of vervain insight.

"Morning, Care," Riley called out the minute she opened the door to the Salvatore house and saw the blonde vampire seated on the couch in front of her. "How's your Mom?"

"I don't know. She just sits there." Caroline shrugged. Admittedly, Liz was having a hard time coming to terms with what her daughter was, and the fact that the Caroline she knew was very much still alive. "She won't even talk to me."

"I know that this isn't what you wanna hear, but think of it this way. She's just basically found out that her daughter died, and she didn't even know. Then, to top it all off, she's found out you're actually alive but you eat people." Riley tilted her head toward the blonde vampire. "She's spent her entire life under the impression that all vampires are evil monsters, it's gonna take some time to rewire that inside her brain."

"God. Part of me wishes I could just compel her to accept me, you know?" Caroline sighed heavily.

"But, then part of you would know that it wasn't genuine. She has to want to do it, Caroline." As Riley spoke, the blonde nodded. "Where is everyone, anyway?"

"Uh— Stefan's at the Lockwood's. And, Damon's God knows where." The blonde vampire vaguely answered, then furrowed her brows. "So, you and Damon— did that friendship kinda sneak up on you?"

"What'd you mean?" Riley raised an eyebrow with confusion spread across her face.

"You just— you make dealing with all of this so easy. You're best friends with Stefan, and now you're even friends with the psychotic brother that snaps and kills people without thinking." Caroline nervously chuckled. "You, of all people, accepted Damon after he's done the unthinkable. I can't even get my own mother to accept me."

"Go down there. Tell her your story, and I bet she'll be willing to listen." Riley offered up. "I mean, it's not like she's got anything else to be doing down there, right? The least she could do is hear you out before all of this gets scrubbed from her brain."

"Okay." Caroline lifted herself up to her feet, took a deep breath, and smiled. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," Riley called out to her friend, who had wandered in the direction of the staircase which led to the basement. A mere five seconds later, the front door swung open to reveal Damon with an unconscious Mason Lockwood draped over his shoulder and Bonnie at his side. "What the—"

"Don't ask, Riles." Bonnie begrudgingly rolled her eyes as she followed Damon into the library. He set Mason down onto a chair situated in the middle of the room, almost as if Damon had preplanned what was about to happen. "Here's his bag. As requested. " Bonnie dropped a large duffle bag down onto the chair beside them.

"Yo, Riley. Grab that corner." Damon pointed to the other end of a large sheet that laid out on the floor in front of Mason. "I don't wanna stain the carpet."

"That's uncomfortable." Riley nervously looked between Damon and Bonnie. "Do I wanna know what's about to go down?"

"Damon wants to see if Mason knows where Moonstone is."

"Woah!" A loud gasp left the Salvatore's lips as he began to rummage through Mason's bag. "Looks like this guy's used to being tied up." Damon pulled the chains out and used them to tie around Mason's wrists

"The best way to do that is to get inside his head, right?" Riley raised an eyebrow to Bonnie. The two witches positioned themselves near Mason. Riley stood behind him with her hand against his temple, whilst Bonnie stood in front doing the same. They grabbed each other's hands and closed their eyes.

"Oh, good. Yeah! Find out if he gave it to Katherine. Find out where she is. And find out what they're gonna do with it once they get it." Damon told the two witches whilst he continued to chain Mason to the chair.

"Erm, it's somewhere—somewhere small." Riley's voice trailed off as flashes of the location where the stone began to show in her mind.

"Dark." Bonnie continued on."There's water."

"Like a sewer?" The raven-haired vampire raised an eyebrow.

"No." Bonnie hesitated for a moment. "Like a well? No, that can't be it."

"No, we're right. It's in a well." Riley told them as she and Bonnie both removed their hands from Mason's head just as he jolted awake and grabbed hold of Bonnie's hand.

"That's it! I gotta go, now." Bonnie grabbed hold of her bag once Damon peeled Mason's hand off of her and then she ran toward the exit.

"Hey, judgey. Thank you." He then turned his attention to Mason. "Come on. Wake up, wolf boy."

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"Ooh, someone's feisty," Damon smirked while he heard Mason thrash against the chains that kept him bound to the seat. The Salvatore pulled a poker out from the fireplace, once he had heated it up, kicked Mason's chair over, then he plunged the poker into his chest.

At the immediate sound of Mason screaming in pain and the sizzling of his flesh, the witch winced. "Oh, my God."

"What? Riley, I gotta know that he can hurt. Makes this gig a hell of a lot easier." He yanked the poker from Mason's chest and observed how quickly he could heal. "Oh, but he heals quickly. Not good. Guess I'll just have to keep applying pain."

"Mason, I think it's time you started to talk. Don't you?" Riley got to her feet and began to circle Mason just after Damon lifted his chair upright. "How do you know Katherine. What does she want?"

Once Mason didn't respond, the Salvatore strutted back over to the fireplace and placed the poker into the place. "You realize we have all day, right?" He rolled his eyes at Mason's stubbornness and pushed the poker through his chest again. "When did you two meet? She seduce you and tell you she loved you?

"You're a supernatural creature, so Katherine can't have compelled you." Riley continued on whilst Damon nodded and straightened himself up just as Jeremy wandered in. "Jer, what're you doing here?"

"I found something in, uh—Ric's box of stuff. Um, I did a search on my phone. It's a plan. Aconitum Vulparia. Grows in the, uh— mountainous areas of the northern hemisphere." As Jeremy explained, his attention kept moving back to Mason. "Commonly known as aconite, blue rocket, and wolfsbane."

"What else did you read?" Damon raised an eyebrow.

"Well, every source says something different. One myth says it causes lycanthropy, which sounds bogus. Another one says that it protects people. And another one says, well, it's toxic."

Riley's attention turned to Mason, who sighed out heavily. "Judging by that response, it's probably toxic."

Damon grabbed a handful of wolfbane and wandered back in front of Mason. "What's Katherine doing in Mystic Falls?" Once Mason didn't answer, Damon dragged the plant against Mason's skin which caused it to burn whilst Jeremy and Riley winced at the screaming. "Why is she here?"

"She's here with me!" Mason finally spat out as his eyes darted to Damon. "Why'd you ask? You jealous?"

"How rude of me. I just realized I didn't offer you anything to eat." Damon innocently chuckled, then pushed the handful of wolfsbane into Mason's mouth. "What do you want with the moonstone?"

"Screw you!" Mason cried out loudly through the pain.

Damon chuckled as he made a buzzer noise. "Wrong answer. I'm taking your eyes now."

"The well!" Mason shouted out once more in an attempt to save himself from Damon's torture. "You can find it there."

"We know where it is. We just need to know what it does and why you want it, Mason. That's it." Riley immediately called out.

"I'm getting it for Katherine. She's gonna use it to lift the curse."

"of the moon? Now, why would a vampire help a werewolf break a curse that keeps them from turning whenever they want?" Baffled, Damon straightened himself up and furrowed his brows.

"So I wouldn't have to turn any more! Because she loves me!" Mason yelled out as Damon began to chuckle.

"Now I get it. You're just stupid. Katherine doesn't love you, she's using you. You moron."

"I'm done talking,"

"Yes, you are." The vampire handed Jeremy the wolfbane whilst his eyes were firmly fixed on Mason. "It's time to take a walk, Jeremy. You too, Riley."

"No, I'm staying here." Riley protested immediately.

"Me, too," Jeremy told the vampire, who didn't seem to know when enough torture was enough.

"Just help Tyler. Don't let this happen to him."

"He wants me to kill him, anyway. Don't you, Mason? It really is a curse, isn't it?" Damon moved back in front of Mason just as Jeremy got up and hurried out of the room. He knew that there was no changing Damon's mind. "You know, I look at you and I see myself. A less dashing, less intelligent version."

"Damon. You can't— You know that you can't do this." Riley breathed out as she lifted herself to her feet and attempted to reason with the vampire.

"Katherine will only rip his heart out, Riley. Let me do it for her." Damon lunged forward and thrust his hand into Mason's chest. A gasp left Riley's lips as she watched Damon pull his hand out of Mason's chest with the werewolf's heart in his hand.

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Riley felt numb after she watched Damon kill Mason, but there was a sudden feeling of relief that also fell over her. Mason had made so many attempts to kill both Stefan and Damon that his death meant the people she cared about were in less danger. Whilst Damon wrapped Mason's dead body up within the rug, Stefan wandered into the room holding the moonstone in his hand.

"All this, for that?" Damon scoffed in disbelief. He expected the moonstone to be a grand mystical looking object, not the sort of stone you would find in your front yard.

"Yup." Stefan sighed heavily as he tossed the stone into his brother's grip to let him examine it. Then, he turned to Mason's body on the ground. "I see you've exercised your usual restraint." Stefan's eyes fell to his best friend, who remained seated on the couch silently. "Riley, you okay?"

"Conflicted." The witch mumbled softly as Damon bent down to grab Mason's wallet and cellphone from the floor. "I don't know. I feel relieved, which is disgusting, considering I just watched Damon literally kill someone."

"Had to be done." The raven-haired Salvatore answered back, unremorsefully before he pulled Mason's phone out to type a text to Carol Lockwood. "Carol. Big opportunity in Florida. Gonna be gone, for a long time. Will send for my things once I get settled. Much love, Mason."

"Right." Stefan rolled his eyes and then grabbed one side of the carpet Mason was rolled up in. "Let's get ride of the body."

"Ooh! Last number dialed. I wonder who that could possibly be."

Riley remembered that Mason had told them he was in love with Katherine, so the obvious assumption would have been that the last number dialed was hers. "No! No, don't you dare. She'll retaliate, you know that she will."

Damon pressed call whilst Stefan attempted to chase him around the room, trying to grab the phone before the Pierce woman answered. "Mason, you should've been here hours ago." Katherine's voice purred.

"Wrong boy toy." Damon grinned as Stefan finally remained still. He knew there was nothing he could do now that she had answered.

"Damon. For once, you've surprised me. I assume Mason's with you?"

"He's right beside me. Although, his heart's across the room." The Salvatore smirked gleefully whilst Stefan and Riley exchanged anxious looks. "I've had a very busy day today. Killed a werewolf. Found the moonstone. Did you know that he hid the moonstone in the bottom of a well full of vervain? Guess he didn't trust you very much. Although, he did love you. Poor guy."

"Damon, stop it." Riley hissed softly, though the vampire ignored her.

"Hey, where are you? Because I can bring him over. Last goodbyes and all that."

Silence befell the line for a moment, then Katherine sighed. "You've no idea what you've just done. Do you honestly believe that I don't have a plan B? And, if that fails, a plan C, then a plan D, and— you know how the alphabet works, don't you? Send my love to Stefan." And with that, Katherine ended the call.

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After Katherine's threat to Damon, Stefan had offered to give Riley a ride home. He didn't trust that Katherine wouldn't go after her, given that Riley was important to both of them. As they stepped up to Riley's front porch, she smiled thankfully toward her friend.

"Thank you, for the ride," Riley told him with a sincere smile. "And, I'm sorry. I— I know I should've stopped Damon from killing Mason, but I just— he's been a threat to both of you since he blew into town and now he's dead."

"It's okay. Honestly, I—" Stefan was immediately caught off guard by the smell of blood that lingered out from Riley's grandma's home. With a serious look on his face, he pushed the door open and strode inside with the witch following behind him, dumbfounded by his actions.

"Stefan, what is it?" She asked, her eyes watching him scan the house at a million miles an hour until finally, they saw Gwen laid on the kitchen floor whilst a pool of blood surrounded her. "Grandma! Stefan, do something!" The strawberry-blonde witch rushed to her grandmother's side, whilst Stefan bit his wrist and forced his vampire blood up to Gwen's lips.

"Come on, Gwen, drink," Stefan told her, but the woman remained unresponsive. "Riley. I don't think—"

"No!" Riley cried out as the tears streamed down her face. Her grandmother was everything to her, and there was no way she would let her go. "No, it has to work. She's not dead, I won't let that happen."

Stefan's vampire blood slowly began to heal the wound on Gwen's abdomen and the woman's eyes fluttered open, panic across her face. "Riley? Wha— Elena— Elena told me to stab myself. I don't understand."

"It's okay. You're okay. Everything's going to be fine now, I promise." Riley told the woman as she pulled her into her embrace. The witch turned her eyes to Stefan and they knew exactly who was to blame: Katherine.

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