Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

129. The Darkest Minds

"So..." Bonnie started. "If I go to hell when I die, does that mean I get some kind of advantage? Y'know, since I know the owner?"

She started to laugh, and Riley hit her with one of the couch cushions.

"It's not funny," Riley insisted, smiling despite herself.

Bonnie nodded in agreement. "You got your humanity-less vampire boyfriend to kill you so that you could talk to the devil... aka your ancient ancestor. You're right, it's not funny. It's terrifying."

Riley sighed. She'd been thinking about Cade's words over and over again, trying to make sense of them. In an ordinary world, finding out that an entire half of your family were related to the devil would be inconceivable. But in her world, when she'd already dealt with every other supernatural that could possibly come her way, how could she ignore anything he had to say?

"Guys, no more devil talk," Caroline demanded, walking into the room with a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other. It was the day of the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant, so Caroline was using her organizational skills as an excuse to not think about whatever it was that Stefan was doing for Cade. All she knew was that his humanity was off. "We should have been there ten minutes ago."

Bonnie and Riley rolled their eyes at each other playfully, knowing not to get in Caroline's way when she was organizing an event.

The girls followed Caroline to the front door, watching as she opened it to reveal Seline standing on the other side, her hand raised as if she was about to knock. Startled, the Siren took a hasty step back.

"I need to talk to you," she said, walking into the house without waiting for an invitation. Caroline followed her back in.

"Why would we want to hear anything you have to say?"

"My sister's on the warpath," she warned them. "She's trying to assemble an artifact that has the power to kill her. She needs all three pieces of a bell. Lucky for you, I already stole the biggest part."

Riley shrugged her shoulders. "If you stole something she needs, doesn't that make this conversation kind of... unnecessary?"

"I'm offering you one of the things that you need to get rid of Sybil once and for all," she told them. "I have the bell, you have the tuning fork, and Damon has the striker."

Bonnie crossed her arms. "Damon's working for Sybil. Shouldn't we assume that if he has the striker, he's already given it to her?"

Seline shook her head. "He doesn't even know what it is." She sighed, looking down at her feet. "Look, I am partially responsible for the damage she inflicts on the world. If I want to make good, that starts with killing Sybil."

Riley raised an eyebrow skeptically. "What makes you think we're gonna help you?" she questioned her former friend. "After everything that you've done to us, what makes you think we even trust you?"

"You don't have to trust me," Seline told her. "You're right, I've done a lot of stuff that I'm probably always gonna regret. But I'm trusting you. Because the only people that want Sybil gone more than me, is you guys. And right now... I'm counting on you to kill my sister."

***

"Okay, those are the last names on the guest list," Bonnie said, checking the last item off of the checklist that Caroline had given her.

"Perfect," Caroline complimented. "Once the dance is underway, we can get out of here and find that striker."

Riley nodded, slipping her phone back into her pocket. "Damon's not answering. What are the chances that he just randomly comes back to town with the striker in his back pocket?"