CHAPTER TWO | BRAVE NEW WORLD

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RILEY HAD FALLEN ASLEEP MID-CONVERSATION WITH DAMON ABOUT KATHERINE. She had never expected the Salvatore to bare his soul in the way that he did. Maybe it was because he was drunk, or maybe it was because he was upset, but she enjoyed seeing that there was more to him than just the psychotic killer that promised her best friend an eternity of misery.

The strawberry-blonde's phone began to vibrate on her nightstand as she extended her phone to grab her. Once she saw it was Stefan calling, placed it against her ear. "You're lucky it's you. I don't usually answer calls this early."

A small chuckle escaped her best friend's lips. "Sorry, I was just checking you still wanted a ride into school with me?"

"Yeah, I know your angle. You just wanna experience more carpool-karaoke with me. Stefan, it's fine. You can admit it."

"That, and because there's something's I need to tell you." Stefan cleared his throat awkwardly as the witch remained silent. "Did you, uh— did Damon drop by your place last night?"

"For a while. Yeah." Riley trailed off. She knew just by the sound of his voice something was wrong. "He told me that Katherine sent him off the deep end and that he did something. He didn't tell me what. But, judging by the sound of your voice, you're about to tell me what he did."

"He killed Jeremy in retaliation to whatever the hell Katherine said to him," Stefan explained. "Thankfully, he was wearing the Gilbert ring."

"Oh, my God. When he said he did something bad. I never imagined it would be that."

"Yeah. Look, I'll come by and pick you up now." The Salvatore told his best friend before he ended the call.

Riley was distraught. All the time she spent talking to Damon about what he felt for Katherine, and all the while he laid there knowing he had potentially killed her best friend's little brother. She felt sick.

The witch rolled out of bed, grabbed an outfit for the day, and headed downstairs to grab some breakfast before Stefan picked her up. She stepped into the kitchen where her grandmother was sat at the kitchen table with a newspaper in hand. "Morning." The strawberry-blonde greeted as she grabbed a slice of freshly prepared toast that was cooling on a plate.

"Morning, sweetheart." Gwen finally lifted her eyes from her newspaper and lowered her glasses from her eyes as she turned to her granddaughter. "I might be completely imagining things, but did I hear you talking to someone last night? Only I heard voices."

"What? Uh— Yeah, I was on the phone for a while before I went to bed." The strawberry-blonde lied through her teeth with a smile. 

Gwen nodded slowly with a raised eyebrow. "A male, hm?"

"Damon." Riley watched her grandmother's face immediately fall at the mention of Damon. "He had a few— relationship problems. A girl he was interested in just really screwed him up. I was just making sure he was okay." The young witch simply shrugged. "Though, I'm not really sure why I even wasted my breath on him now."

"Well, sweetheart, you know how I feel about that boy. He's trouble." Riley's grandmother sternly told her with a pointed look on his face. "Why don't you concentrate on setting your sights on that best friend of yours, Stefan, right?"

Riley scoffed. "Uh, because Stefan is my friend. Besides, he's with Elena."

"Tell her she's a lucky girl. I like that boy." Gwen set her sights back on her newspaper whilst Riley rolled her eyes, grabbed her bag, and headed out of the door.

Once Stefan saw Riley walk toward his car with an irritated look on her face, he immediately lowered his window and raised an eyebrow. "Damon pissed you off that much, huh?"

"Yes. But, no." The strawberry-blonde yanked open the passenger side door to Stefan's car and jumped in. "My Grandma still thinks you're Mr. Perfect."

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The majority of the school day had been spent preparing for the carnival. It was usually down to Caroline, but since the blonde was still recovering in hospital, it was left to the supervision of Elena, Riley, and Bonnie. And, surprisingly, the turn-out was amazing.

"Uh-huh. You're lurking." Stefan told his brother with his arms folded as Riley and Stefan appeared at Damon's side. The eldest Salvatore was watching an arm-wrestling competition where Tyler Lockwood seemed to be beating most of the competitors.

"I'm observing." Damon corrected with an irritated look, then he glanced to the strawberry-blonde witch, who could barely even look at him. "Oh, let me guess, Stefan told you what I did."

"Yeah, he did." Riley snapped. "Shame you didn't include that small piece of information last night when you were baring your soul about how much of a bitch Katherine was."

"Ugh, he was wearing the ring. Big deal. He's still alive, isn't he?" Damon rolled his eyes and glanced back to Tyler, who had beaten yet another competitor. "He's got strength."

"He's a triple-letter varsity athlete. Of course, he has strength." The younger of the two Salvatore's scoffed. "You're reaching."

They watched Mason suddenly step up to the table after had he bet his nephew that he would be able to beat him. The three silently observed Tyler and Mason both match each other equally in strength until Mason completely wiped him out.

"Alright, he's the champ." Tyler reluctantly admitted defeat whilst the few dozens that watched cheered. "Who wants to go next?"

"Stefan wants a go." Damon finally piped up whilst Stefan and Riley both gave him a pointed look.

"Yeah, sure. I'll, uh— I'll give it a shot." Stefan reluctantly moved himself over to the table and positioned himself in front of Mason whilst Riley and Damon watched.

The strawberry-blonde tore her eyes from Stefan as she glanced at Damon. "You really think this is going to prove anything?"

"This guy has beaten everyone so far. He shouldn't be able to beat Stefan— if you get what I mean." Damon muttered the last part as they watched the two battle it out for a few moments until finally, Stefan lost. The Salvatore looked almost baffled by the fact that he had lost once he moved over to Riley and Damon. "You didn't put in any effort at all."

"Yeah. Actually, I did." Stefan nodded back. He looked a little stunned by what had just happened. He had vampire strength, there was no way he could've been beaten unless the Lockwood's were something supernatural, too.

As they walked into an empty corridor to discuss what had just happened, Riley's eyes widened. "Okay. So, do you think that Mason is a—"

"No, no, no. It wasn't that kind of strength. But, it was more than human, if that makes any kind of sense." The younger brother nodded slowly with his arms folded across his chest.

"What is up with that family? If they're not vampires, then what the hell are they?" Damon's voice contained immense amounts of irritation.

"Well, I'm gonna go and actually enjoy this carnival because this whole FBI vibe is really ruining my evening." Riley rolled her eyes whilst she sounded slightly irritated. She noticed the two nod as she headed off into Elena's direction.

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Riley didn't enjoy the carnival long before she was thrown into another supernatural drama. She and Elena were grabbed and pulled into Alaric's classroom where they informed the two girls that Caroline, their best friend, was now a vampire. She was turned by none other than Katherine Pierce herself.

"How did this happen?" Stefan exasperatedly turned his attention to his brother. Damon had been concerned by Caroline, who had delivered him a message from Katherine.

"Well, I fed her my blood, and Katherine obviously turned her." Damon shrugged simply as he began to connect the dots. "A plus B equals—"

"—But, why?" Elena immediately cut Damon off with an anxious tone of voice.

"Because Katherine is a manipulative, nasty little slut."

Riley propped herself up on one of the desks whilst her eyes flickered between the two Salvatore brothers. "Right, but what the hell is game on even suppose to mean? Game on for what?"

"It means she's playing dirty. She wants to know." Damon vaguely responded.

"But, why Caroline?" The doppelganger asked with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Caroline must be completely out of her mind. She doesn't even know what's happening to her." Stefan immediately got back up to his feet with a look of worry and anxiety on his face.

"Oh. I think she does." All eyes averted to Damon. "All of my compulsion from the past started wearing off the minute she was in transition."

"Oh, my God." Riley's eyes widened. "We need to find her."

"Yep, and kill her." Damon glanced around the room and saw the dozens of shocked faces. "She knows who we are. She's officially a liability, and we've got to get rid of her."

"Damon." Stefan's eyes narrowed toward Damon. "Absolutely not."

"Need I remind you of a tragic little story of a girl named Vicki Donovan? Caroline, of all people, will not make it as a vampire. Her mother is a vampire hunter. Guys, come on, we all know how this story's gonna end, just flip to the last chapter and—"

"It's not an option, Damon." Elena locked eyes with the raven-haired Salvatore.

"No?" Damon turned his eyes toward his little brother, who was silent. "Your silence is deafening, Stefan. Wait, wasn't there a school carnival the night you staked Vicki? Talk about a town where history repeated itself. You know I'm right."

"We're not gonna kill her," Stefan told his brother with a stern look in his eyes.

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"Caroline?!" Elena called out into the darkness. She and Riley had gone to search for the blonde together while Damon and Stefan checked elsewhere. "God! I can't believe this is happening to her."

"Elena, we're gonna find her. We'll find her and we'll help her." Riley gave her friend a reassuring nod. "There's no way we'll let her go through this alone."

"You heard Damon, Caroline won't make it as a vampire. It'll break her."

"Okay, so we prove Damon wrong." Riley simply shrugged into the darkness while her eyes fixed on the two Salvatore struggling with Caroline in the distance. "Caroline!"

Once the two girls rushed over to the scene, Elena attempted to comfort Caroline. "Get away from me. You killed me!" The Forbes girl screamed out as soon as she pushed the doppelganger away.

"No, no, Caroline, that wasn't me. You know that. That was Katherine." Elena tried her best to reason with the hysterical, newly transitioned vampire.

"No! Then why does she look like you? And, why? Why did she do this to me?!" Caroline cried out once more.

"Stefan." Riley's fearful eyes turned to her best friend. "You gotta get her inside. She needs to be cleaned up."

"Caroline, come with us." Stefan extended his hand toward the blonde vampire and tugged her away from Damon, whilst Elena followed.

Damon turned his attention to the strawberry-blonde witch. She stood, silently in front of him with an unreadable expression on her face whilst he crossed his arms over his chest. "She will die, Riley. It's only a matter of time."

A scoff of disbelief left the female's lips. "I can't believe you. Why the hell would you try and kill her, Damon?"

"She's already dead!" Damon retorted.

"She's alive! She's breathing. She's living. All she wanted was to live." Riley almost laughed towards the end as she held back tears. "That girl was innocent in all of this. This whole world, and now she's been dragged into it because of Katherine. Damon, she's my friend." The strawberry-blonde rolled her eyes. "It's what you do, isn't it? You know, I thought there was something redeemable inside you, but you don't care about anyone."

"Riley. No, I—" He stumbled across his words as he tried to move forward. "Caroline isn't cut out to be a vampire."

"So, what? Caroline isn't cut out to be a vampire so you try to kill her?" The witch glared harshly toward the vampire in front of her. "What if that was me, Damon? Would you have killed me, too?"

Damon's icy-blue eyes immediately narrowed. "No, I wouldn't do that."

"But you wanted to hurt her. You can't have it both ways. Not to mention what you did to Jeremy." Riley turned on her heels and began to walk away. "Just— Just stay away from me, Damon."

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