Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

12. Nightmare On Elm Street

Daddio: I hope you had a good night at Elena's, honey. Come straight home after school, there's been another animal attack.

Riley was already on her way to school when the text came through. The last thing she expected to hear about was another animal attack. If the Salvatores were trying to keep a low profile, they were doing an awful job.

So instead of going to school, she decided to take a small detour.

She knocked repeatedly on the door of the boarding house.

"One of you better answer!" she shouted through the door. "What the hell are you playing at?!"

The door opened suddenly, almost making her fall through it. Stefan was on the other side.

"Should we give you a key?" Stefan asked, crossing his arms with a slightly amused smile on his face. "That way you wouldn't have to knock like that all the time."

"If you guys keep doing stupid stuff, then I'll take that key. Can you please get your brother in line?"

"What did he do now?" Stefan sighed, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"Animal attack," she informed him. "I get that he's upset about that Katherine person, but he can't do this. Sheriff Forbes saw him stake Lexi, she already knows about vampires. A few more attacks, and she'll be led straight to you."

Stefan pointed to the house behind him. "Damon's out back talking to the Sheriff now," he told her. "It wasn't him, it wouldn't make sense. He's trying to keep a low profile."

"Well, did he turn anyone?" she asked, determined to believe that it had to be Damon.

"Riley, I don't know who's doing this, but it isn't us," Stefan confirmed sharply. "Maybe it's an actual animal attack for a change?"

Riley raised her eyebrows. "Are you playing dumb or are you actually as naïve as your boyish good-looks would suggest?"

The back door opened and Damon walked into the house with the Sheriff.

"Riley, what are you doing here?" Sheriff Forbes asked, frowning at her. After what Riley had told her about Damon, it worried her that she had turned up at his home. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

Riley glanced at Stefan in a panic. "I-I am, I'm going. I just needed to see Stefan. I have his... history notes," she fumbled, flustered. "Please don't tell my dad you saw me here."

She looked at them both for a second, then held her hands up. "I saw nothing."

She smiled as she left, but Riley's anxiety didn't let up. If Stefan and Damon weren't responsible for the new attack...

"There's another vampire in town," Damon said, finishing her thought. "But it doesn't matter to us. We're leaving anyway, right?"

"Wait, you're leaving?" Riley asked incredulously, looking back and forth between the brothers. "No, you can't leave. Especially if there's a vampire in town!"

Stefan nodded in agreement. "We can't leave. So how do we find this person?"

Damon smirked. "Fletch, how do you feel about skipping school?"

***

Riley stood in front of a warehouse, holding the compass that Damon had given her. Within seconds, Damon was beside her.

"Why did you need me to do this?" she asked him, snapping it closed and giving it back to him.

"It's a vampire thing," he told her. "I interfere with the signal."