Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

22. Legends Of The Falls

"Why are you avoiding Caroline?" Stefan asked Riley.

They were at Elena's house. Alaric, Damon and Elena were going to Elena's birth mother's old college to find out information about Tyler Lockwood and his family (including his visiting Uncle Mason), who seemed to have a secret. Tyler's father was taken into the building with the other vampires and eventually killed, but they knew for sure that he wasn't a vampire. Their best bet was to try and find answers in Isobel's research. Riley had offered to go with them to Duke to act as a buffer between Elena and Damon.

"I'm not going to Duke to avoid Caroline," Riley lied. It wasn't just about Caroline... she was also avoiding her arguing parents. "I want to help. Whatever Tyler's family secret is, we should know about it."

Stefan smiled slightly. "You're a bad liar."

Riley rolled her eyes. "Look, it's just gonna take me a bit of time. You know I love Caroline, but... she's a vampire."

"I understand," Stefan sympathized. "But look, every day that she's cut off from her old life, it'll make it that much harder for her to hold onto her humanity."

"Stefan, all of my best friends are supernatural creatures... or related to them. I need to work out how to hold onto my own humanity," Riley said. She knew how selfish she sounded, but she also knew that she'd never give up on Caroline, not really. She just needed to spend a day with some humans. And 2 out of 3 was the best that she could do.

Stefan nodded. "Do me a favor?" he asked. "Don't let Elena kill Damon."

Riley laughed. "He killed her brother, fair's fair," she said, recalling Elena's version of Damon's latest indiscretion, before sighing. "Don't worry, it'll be fine."

"I'm ready!" Elena announced, walking down the stairs. "I hate that Damon is coming, but I'm ready."

"Are you sure you wanna go?" Stefan asked her. He didn't like the fact that Damon was going either, especially since Damon had kissed Katherine, thinking she was Elena. In Riley's opinion, if it had been Elena, Damon would have regretted the kiss instantly – he cared about his brother too much.

"Yeah," Elena said uncertainly. "Having Ric and Riley there will be a good buffer. Plus I'll get to find out some stuff about my mysterious vampire birth-mother."

"You say that like it's the most casual thing in the world," Riley laughed.

Elena smiled. "I know. It's the same way I say 'my brother was killed by a vampire, but he came back to life because he was wearing a magic ring'."

They all walked out of the house together. Riley quickly got in the car with Ric, allowing Stefan and Elena to say a proper goodbye, made awkward by Damon watching them.

"Are we making a mistake by bringing both of them?" Ric asked, looking at Riley in the rear-view mirror.

"Totally."

***

"These are my friends Elena, Riley and Damon. I hope this isn't too much of an imposition," Ric said to Vanessa Monroe, a research assistant who worked at Duke with Isobel.

"Isobel's office is right through there," Vanessa gestured. "Feel free to look around."

They walked around the room.

"What are we looking for?" Riley asked, picking up random books on the shelves and putting them back in different places.

"Any evidence of werewolves," Ric said, also pulling out books in an arbitrary fashion. They didn't know if werewolves even existed, but there weren't a lot of ways to explain why Tyler and his father were affected by the Gilbert Device, but not by vervain.