Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

125. The Siren Between Us

"You're getting married!"

"I'm getting married!" Caroline squealed down the phone. The previous evening, Stefan had given his girlfriend the shock of her life – complete with a sparkly engagement ring.

"I can't believe it," Riley said excitedly. "When I come over later, you have to tell me everything!"

Caroline giggled. Since he'd put it on her finger, all she'd done was admire her new piece of jewelry. "How's Ric taking it?"

Riley looked up, where Ric and Stefan were also discussing the engagement. Ric kept swearing that he was absolutely fine with everything, which enabled her to see just how not-fine he actually was.

"He's... fine."

Caroline heard and immediately noted the hesitation, but chose not to comment on it. "I have to go. I'll see you soon."

Focusing back in on the conversation, she found that it had changed from the engagement to a much more pressing matter.

"I've got the interns digging through arcane Siren research," Ric told Stefan. "They think they're earning extra credit."

Stefan nodded, impressed. "Well, if they could figure out how she managed to get into Damon's mind so easily, that would be a start."

Riley tilted her head, thinking back. "Enzo said that she connected their minds to hers," she told the guys. "Maybe the more time she spends with them, the stronger the connection gets, and the easier it is to take over?"

Stefan frowned, shaking his head. "I don't think it's easy. Actually, I think Damon's fighting her."

Riley raised an eyebrow. "Enzo left us those clues, Enzo tried to save Sarah's life... what makes you think the Siren's not in Damon's head?"

"That's not what I'm saying," Stefan corrected. "She is in his head. But when she looked into Damon's mind, she was searching for whatever it is that he's using to hold onto his humanity. And the only thing she could see was Elena."

Ric's eyes widened. "So you're saying... Damon's thinking about Elena around the Siren so that he doesn't think about Riley?"

"It makes sense," Stefan said, shrugging. "Even under mind control, he wouldn't do anything to put Riley in danger." He looked at Riley. "Elena's not a threat to the Siren, but you are. He's probably trying to keep you as far from her as possible."

Riley bit her lip. In a way, this made her miss him even more. After all, Damon always went to extreme lengths (like hiding in a coffin for three years) to protect her. But it also worried her further. How long could he keep fighting before he was forced to give in?

Stefan cleared his throat and changed the subject. "So if the Siren was in the vault, that means that the Armory must have found a way to capture her, right?"

Ric nodded, as he pulled out and displayed the artefact that Georgie had shown them the night before. "We think she used this."

Stefan frowned. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that we stab her with it?" he suggested. Riley took it from Ric's hand, examining the mark.

"Did Georgie find out anything else about it?" she asked curiously, running her hand over the metal prongs.

"Nothing that connects it to you," Ric admitted slowly. "Nothing much at all really."

Riley sighed, twirling the item around in her hands.

"You know, even if you don't believe what Georgie said, there must be some connection between this thing and the Phoenix Stone," she ran through her thoughts aloud. "Unless it's just a coincidence that the girl inside the Hell Stone also has the symbol for hell imprinted on her chest?"