Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

6. The Pretty Reckless Necklace

The next day at school, it almost seemed like nothing had happened. Caroline was talking about the 'Sexy Suds' car wash, and her three friends were staring at her in disbelief.

"She's in denial," Bonnie confirmed.

Riley held the necklace with the amber crystal that she'd taken the previous evening. "I'm gonna go talk to her."

She walked up to her friend, who gave her a huge smile.

"Hey!"

"Hi. Um, I found this last night, I think it's yours?" she held up the crystal. A look of confusion crossed Caroline's face for a second when she thought about the party.

"It's Damon's, kind of. But he gave it to me."

"OK... Do you want it back?" Riley asked, worried that Caroline didn't even flinch when saying his name. Didn't she remember what he'd done to her?

Caroline regarded the necklace. "Not yet, it doesn't go with my outfit. You can keep it, as long as you promise not to give it back to Damon."

"As far as I'm concerned, it belongs to you," Riley said, putting the weird necklace back into her pocket, spotting that Stefan had now joined Elena and Bonnie had left. Obviously the weird feeling that she'd spoken about before hadn't gone away.

"Stefan," Caroline called, also noticing him. "Where is Damon? He has some serious apologizing to do."

"He's gone Caroline," Stefan said seriously. Elena and Riley looked at him in surprise.

"When is he coming back?" Caroline asked, her mood slightly more somber. She couldn't help but worry that it was all her fault.

"He's not coming back. I'm sorry," Stefan confirmed, walking away from the girls.

Riley frowned. "I'll be right back," she said to the girls, speed-walking to catch up with Stefan. "What do you mean he's gone?"

"Riley, this really doesn't concern you," Stefan said, not looking at her.

"I told you to keep your brother away from Caroline, next thing I know you tell us that 'he's gone'. You don't think that's suspicious?"

"I don't understand," Stefan challenged, wondering why she even cared. "You asked me to take care of the situation, and I did."

"I'm not saying you should bring him back, I just want to know that you didn't do anything to him. Because if you're a psychopath and you murdered him just because of what I said then..." she trailed off when Stefan started to laughed. "What's so funny?"

"You're insane," he told her. "You really think I murdered my brother because of Caroline?"

"No, I think you murdered him because of Katherine."

The name of his ex-girlfriend shocked him; he had no idea that Riley knew about her. She bit her lip when the smile faded from his face, realizing that maybe it wasn't the best idea to taunt a potential murderer about his murderings.

"Or, you know, maybe I'm completely off. I'll go now."

She turned quickly, but Stefan grabbed her arm, turning her back to face him.

"I didn't kill my brother," he said, looking deeply into her brown eyes with his green ones, before remembering that his usual trick wouldn't work while she was wearing that ring. "I swear."

"OK," she frowned doubtfully. "Then... cool."

She walked away from him, and this time he let her go. He was sure that at this moment, she didn't know anything. The problem was, the girl was persistent. Sooner or later, she'd figure something out. And without his compulsion, there was nothing he could do to stop her.