Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

67. Finders Stealers

"We didn't find anything in the quarry," Liz informed Riley, Damon and Elena. Officers had been searching the quarry based on Riley's hunch. "But a deputy found this a few miles away."

She led them to a locked safe that was suffering from water damage. Damon grimaced at the thought of his little brother being stuck underwater in that small box for three months, while Elena shook her head.

"He's not in there," she said, looking warily at the safe. She rested a hand on it for a second as she thought about her ex-boyfriend.

"How do you know?" Riley asked, raising an eyebrow. He had to be in there. She heard Silas drop something heavy into the quarry, and since then no one had seen or heard from Stefan. Where else could he be?

"She's been having 'psychic dreams'," Damon said, his tone betraying a hint of irritation. Of course he wanted to find his brother, but he'd prefer it if his girlfriend wasn't dreaming about her ex.

Liz unlocked the safe and Damon knelt down to open it, hoping that Elena's dream was completely wrong. Unfortunately Elena was right, Stefan wasn't in there. Instead, the safe held the dead body of a man that none of them recognized, covered in blood.

Elena turned away, while Riley tried and failed not to gag. No matter how many times she'd seen a dead body, it would never become her new normal.

"He was hungry," Damon acknowledged, pushing away his own guilt. He could make it up to Stefan when they found him.

"So, did your psychic dream tell you where he is?" Riley asked Elena hopefully. Like Damon, Riley was dealing with her own guilt. In Portland, it had taken her at least two weeks to realize that Silas wasn't Stefan. And a further two weeks for him to find out that she knew his secret. Apparently, unlike everyone else in Mystic Falls, he couldn't get inside her head.

"Route 29," Elena confirmed. "Joe's bar."

The other three raised their eyebrows at the specificity.

"You three should go," Liz said, ushering them away. "I have to deal with the fact that an evil immortal being killed the new mayor."

It was true. Of course, they couldn't confirm that Silas had been behind the murder of Bonnie's father, but who else could it be? At least Bonnie wasn't in town.

They walked towards Damon's car. Riley gasped when she noticed a familiar face sitting in the passenger seat, looking bored out of her mind.

"Katherine?" she asked Damon. "Seriously? Silas is looking for her!"

Damon smirked. "Exactly. For whatever reason, Silas wants her real bad. And if Silas wants her, we want her more."

Riley and Elena crossed their arms in solidarity and exasperation, climbing into the back of the car while Damon got into the driver's seat.

"I know it sounds crazy that we're following some psychic dream," Elena sighed. "But it's the only lead we have."

Katherine leered at Elena in the rear-view mirror. "You're not the only one who had the dream," she reminded her doppelganger. "By the way, this is both of your faults."

Riley and Elena gasped in outraged unison.

"Um, how's that now?" Riley asked the vampire-turned-human.

Katherine leaned her head on her headrest, closing her eyes as she answered. "Elena, aka America's most boring, self-righteous vampire, force-fed me the cure. If I was still a vampire, I'd be well away from here by now and Silas would never find me."

Elena leaned forward, her face full of anger. "You were trying to kill me!"

"But in her defense," Katherine continued. "She wasn't the one who spent three months with Silas without realizing that he wasn't Stefan."