Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

69. A Whole Lot of History

"The Whitmore Historical Ball!" Caroline said enthusiastically down Riley's ear, struggling to hold in her excitement. In her mind, a good party was just what they needed to take their minds off of Bonnie.

"The Whitmore what what?" Riley asked, completely distracted. She was walking down an unfamiliar street, looking into the windows of each car – it would have been so much easier to find him if he'd given her the make and model, but it seemed like he wanted to make her life as difficult as possible.

"It's the one time of year where Whitmore put their whole collection on display, and everyone dresses up as famous historical figures." Caroline explained. "It'll be fun, you have to come. Please?"

At last Riley spotted him, leaning against his car nonchalantly, also talking on the phone. From the look on his face, his conversation was a lot more stressful than hers.

"Care, I have to go," she blurted, before a guilty feeling came over her. "I'll come to the Ball. But I'm picking my own costume."

She hung up before her step-sister's excitement turned her into a shrieking wreck. Nothing excited Caroline Forbes like a party.

"... becoming rapidly well-versed in the power of cell phone tracking," she caught the tail-end of Silas's conversation. Without having to ask, she knew that he was tracking Katherine. For the most part, she didn't care what he wanted with the now-human doppelganger. What she did care about, was why he had summoned her.

"Can I help you?" she asked in a harsh voice. Having to mourn one of her best friends had taken the usual niceness out of her tone.

Silas looked over at her, a distracted frown on his face. "About time. Get in."

Against her better judgement, she followed his instructions. Qetsiyah might have fried his brain, but he was still a hundred times stronger than she could ever be.

"Is this where you reveal why I'm part of your diabolical plan?" she asked, looking out of the window. They weren't moving and the key wasn't in the ignition, so she guessed that he was using the car for privacy.

Silas sighed, raising an eyebrow. "I can't believe you haven't worked it out yet." He waited for her to make a guess, rolling his eyes in exasperation when she just stared at him, waiting for an answer. He couldn't remember being this dense when he was human. "You've been seeing things."

The fact that he said this as a statement, rather than a question, caught her off guard.

Riley frowned. "What things?"

"Things you shouldn't be seeing," he clarified. "Visions."

Once he said the v-word it was obvious what he was talking about. Her headache-accompanied moments of weirdness. Once with Qetsiyah, and once when she saw Bonnie.

"How do you know about that?" she asked suspiciously. "Have you been putting things in my head?"

"You think I have time to put things in your head?" he questioned scornfully. These humans – they thought the world revolved around them! "You have these visions because I've been channeling you."

Riley raised her eyebrows. "You've been what?! How?"

"I've been using your mind to make myself stronger," he continued casually, like this was the kind of thing he did all the time. "And today at the Whitmore Historical Ball, I'll be using you to get into Qetsiyah's mind."

Riley crossed her arms. "Back up! Why me? Why are you using my mind?"

Silas frowned, narrowing his eyes as he glanced at her. He thought she would have known this about herself by now, that she would be using it against him. But apparently, she still had no idea. In a way, he felt sorry for her. But if someone had to tell her, it might as well be him.