𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘 | 𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐄 [𝟏]

𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍

CHAPTER SEVEN | MASQUERADE

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

RILEY WAS A FOOL TO BELIEVE THAT HER GRANDMOTHER WOULD BE SAFE IN A TOWN FULL OF SUPERNATURAL. It turned out that after Damon had killed Mason, Katherine had retaliated by compelling both Gwen and Jenna to stab themselves. Once Stefan had compelled her grandmother to forget about what Katherine had told her to do, Riley made the decision that if she wanted her grandmother to remain alive, she had to leave Mystic Falls. So, she asked Stefan to compel her to leave town before anything else happened to her. The decision didn't come lightly to Riley, but she needed to keep the people that she loved safe.

Riley stepped back into her house, after waving her grandmother off the morning after Katherine's attack. The house felt strange without the loving presence of Gwen Riley, but she knew it was for the best.

"Hey. Stefan told me what happened. I'm so sorry, Riley." Damon's voice called out just as he appeared in the doorway behind the strawberry-blonde. She slowly turned around to face him and he observed the look on her face— she was about to break. "Oh, come here."

The witch rushed into Damon's hold without a second thought. She wasn't sure why she felt so comforted around him, but he was the closest thing she had to comfort right now. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let her tears of regret and pain fall onto his leather jacket until she just felt numb.

She pulled her arms from Damon's neck, though his hands still delicately remained wrapped around her waist. "I need— Katherine needs to pay."

"Coincidentally, little witch, we've come up with a brilliant plan to take down Katherine tonight." A smirk drifted across Damon's lips as he wriggled his eyebrows.

"What? Where?"

"Tonight. At the Masquerade Ball." He nodded slowly. "She came after Caroline, demanding she wants the moonstone and she'll be at the ball tonight. So, we're gonna go and kill her."

Riley's eyes lit up at the thought of making the Pierce vampire pay for all the pain she had caused. "Well, I'm in."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

After Damon had explained the plan to Riley, they headed back to the Salvatore house where the rest of the group were gathered to go over the plan for the Masquerade Ball. Katherine was smart, she would see an attack coming a mile away so they just had to be smarter than her.

"Are you sure you guys don't want me there tonight?" Alaric glanced toward Stefan, who seemed to be the person calling the shots.

"No. I need you to stay with Elena. I don't want her to know about this." Stefan nodded slowly. He wanted Elena as far away from the event as possible.