𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 | 𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐄 [𝟐]

𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN | PICTURES OF YOU

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

IT HAD BEEN SEVERAL DAYS SINCE ELENA GILBERT HAD ATTACKED ANYONE, DESPITE HER THREAT TO DROP BODIES IF THEY CARRIED ON TRYING TO FIX HER. The Salvatore's eyes stood in the parlour, both tossing a football toward each other whilst Riley laid on the couch scrolling through her phone.

"So, what has it been? Eight, nine days?" Damon asked the group as he tossed the football toward Stefan.

"Yeah. Eight or nine days." Stefan nodded in agreement as he caught the ball, then tossed it back to Damon. "I don't know. I lost count."

"You two lost count of the days that Elena hasn't managed to kill anyone? Well, that's... positive." Riley rolled her eyes as she took a deep breath. Her eyes occasionally followed the football that flew over her head as they threw it to each other.

"So, what are we gonna do? Just throw the football around for another hundred and fifty-years 'till Elena gets her humanity back? Because I'm cool with that."

"She doesn't want the cure. She's gonna start killing people if she knows we're still trying to get it for her." He shrugged and then tossed the ball back toward his brother.

"Alright. We could always make her want it." The youngest of the two brothers suggested.

"Did you really just say that?" Riley sat up in disbelief, her eyes traveled toward her best friend. "How the hell are you gonna make a vampire that's gotten rid of all her emotions want anything?"

"Get her to flip her humanity switch." Stefan answered plainly as if that were an easy option.

Damon's eyes darted to Riley and then toward his younger brother. "So, what are we gonna do? Pull a Lexi, bombard her with emotions 'till one of them sticks?"

"Yeah, and if that doesn't work, then we go to Plan B— lock her up, and keep her sidelined until the three of us figure out a Plan C."

"And, what happens when we exhaust every possible letter in the alphabet, Stef?" Riley wandered over to the liquor cabinet and began to pour three glasses of bourbon. "She's gonna get slammed with all those emotions she's been repressing since Jeremy's death. What then?"

"Well, then you and Damon will be right by her side ready to help her through it." Stefan caught the ball in the air and gave the couple a sure grin.

"Alright. How'd you wanna do this?"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

it was Senior Prom and, despite the circumstances, Riley was excited. The strawberry-blonde had finished getting ready and then stepped down the staircase of the Salvatore house, holding the skirt of her dress in her hand so that she wouldn't trip. The strawberry-blonde hated wearing dresses so long that she could barely walk, but she knew that prom was the type of occasion where anything less was unacceptable.