Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

24. True Lies

It was the day of the historical society volunteer picnic. Riley, Caroline and Elena were painting a veranda while they tried to get over the new piece of supernatural information that Caroline and Stefan had found out.

"So, Mason Lockwood is a werewolf?" Riley asked.

Caroline nodded. "Which means that Tyler is. Or... he might be, eventually."

"And what are we supposed to do about that?" Elena asked, a worried look on her face.

Riley tutted, accidentally getting paint on her hand and wiping it on her jeans. "There's nothing we can do," she reminded them. "Unless you feel like taking on a werewolf? Against two humans and a newbie vampire, he could probably kill us all without blinking."

Caroline nodded in agreement, but Elena was distracted, staring at Stefan. Riley followed her gaze.

"Is everything OK with you two?" she asked, knowing what the answer would be. To make sure that Katherine stayed away from their friends and family, Elena and Stefan had agreed to fake a fight so that the doppelganger bitch would believe they were on the verge of a break-up.

"I don't know," Elena shrugged, her brunette hair bouncing off her shoulders. "He's pushing me away because he thinks that Katherine might get jealous enough to hurt me."

"You said that Katherine's dangerous," Caroline pointed out. "I mean, after all, she killed me. Maybe Stefan has a point?"

"I know what she did," Elena reminded her. "But it just feels like... giving up."

Riley shrugged. "Maybe sometimes we have to give up to keep the people that we love safe?"

"Yeah," Elena said softly, with a sad look on her face. "It's just... I thought we were stronger than that."

"Well... maybe you're not?" Caroline suggested gently. She was still thinking about the task that Katherine had set for her, and so far, it looked like it was working. Elena and Stefan were fighting, soon they'd break up, and then Katherine would leave her alone for good. Or so she hoped.

"I'm gonna go talk to him," Elena said determinedly, strutting towards Stefan before either of her friends could voice their disapproval. Soon, she had been replaced by Damon.

"What's her problem?" Damon asked, nodding towards Elena.

"Don't worry about it," Riley said with a smirk.

Damon ignored her, turning to Caroline. "Why are you being such a bitch to your mom?"

Caroline gave him an annoyed look, before repeating Riley's comment. "Don't worry about it."

After a minute of painting, Riley looked up at Damon and Caroline, realizing that they were both eavesdropping on Stefan and Elena's conversation.

"Hey, I don't have vamp-hearing, remember?" she said, looking at the arguing couple. "What are they saying?"

Caroline grimaced. "Let's just say... things aren't looking good."

"Relationships are all about communication," Damon taunted.

"And you'd know that... how?" Riley asked, tilting her head to look up at him. "You're infatuated with a crazy psychopath doppelganger bitch who's a carbon copy of your brother's girlfriend."

"Correction: I was infatuated. Now, Katherine Pierce can rot for all I care," Damon said harshly.

"Isn't it easy to tell when someone's lying?" Caroline asked Riley with a smile.

"So easy," Riley agreed. Damon rolled his eyes at the girls and walked away silently as Elena came back over.

"What did Damon want?" she asked, her voice softer than it was before, almost as if she was close to tears.