CHAPTER SIX | GHOST WORLD

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WHEN RILEY WOKE, SHE FELT THAT SHE WAS ALONE IN THE BED. Her eyes fluttered open, and she raised an eyebrow the moment she realized that Damon was not beside her. It was unusual for Damon to have gotten out of bed before Riley even woke up since he usually liked to roll around with her since it helped him start his day right.

The strawberry-blonde pulled one of Damon's shirts from the dresser and yanked it over her head before she wandered down the staircase. With every step she took, she heard a low grunt echo from the parlor.

"What the hell?" She saw Damon bound to a chair in the center of the room with a poker right through his chest. She noticed his daylight ring was laid on the floor just a little away from him. "What— I'm guessing we have your brother to thank for this, huh?"

"Low blow, Stefan," Damon muttered breathlessly as his eyes flickered up to Stefan, who stood at the doorway with a smirk on his lips. "Low blow. Whatever twisted Ripper game this is, leave me out of it."

"I didn't do this," Stefan answered simply.

"Really? Then, who the hell else would've done it." A scoff of disbelief left the strawberry-blonde's lips. "This is a little too kinky, even for me."

"I didn't. It's pretty messed up, isn't it?" He stepped closer to his brother and yanked the poker from his chest, which caused a loud gasp of pain to leave Damon's lips. Then, he broke the restraints from Damon's hands and walked away.

"God. You're a dick." Riley rolled her eyes as she hurried behind Damon and tried to release the chains from behind the chair. "Do you really believe he didn't do this?"

"I don't know." Damon shrugged breathlessly, whilst his eyes flickered to the curtain that began to twitch. "Riley? Riley, hurry—"

"Shut up! I'm going as fast as I—" Before the witch knew it, the curtain had been yanked open and Damon's skin began to sizzle and burn. "Holy crap." The witch sprinted over to his daylight ring, picked it up, and slid it onto his finger. "Guess I should've grabbed that first, right?"

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Damon and Riley had come to the conclusion that what happened to Damon was not the work of Stefan— Mason Lockwood had done it. They worked out that whatever they had done to stop Vicki from interacting with Matt after he died had somehow caused something to fall apart which had allowed other ghosts to come back and mess with people.

"So, this is where you brought Jeremy back to life?" Caroline anxiously asked as Bonnie led Caroline and Riley down into the basement of the old witch house.

"Yeah. Sorry, I know it's creepy. But, we needed a private place around here to do the spell."

"There's no chance that's haunted by the hundred dead witches who were horrifically burned to death in this very spot, is there?" The Forbes girl raised an eyebrow whilst Riley and Bonnie began to set up for the spell.

"They're not here anymore, Care. You've got nothing to worry about." The Evans girl told her friend whilst she yanked a Grimoire from her bag.

Caroline nodded, grabbed a lighter, and began to light a few of the candles that were set around the basement. "Ready? Do you guys need me to—"

Once the vampire had turned around, she saw Bonnie and Riley sat on the floor with their hands intertwined whilst they chanted quietly in Latin. A harsh wind began to rush through the basement which caused Caroline by surprise, but the witches didn't seem fazed. The wind grew wilder as the chanting became louder, and Caroline began to frantically look around.

"Guys. I don't like this. Bonnie? Riley?" Caroline anxiously called out, but then the chanting stopped and the witches opened their eyes to see Bonnie's grandmother holding onto their hands. "Oh, my God. Is that your—"

"Grams?" Bonnie hesitantly asked with her voice as quiet as a whisper. Once she noticed that her grandmother was actually in front of her, the Bennett witch began to cry. "I can't believe you're here."

"Now, stop your crying. We don't have time for tears." Sheila Bennett smiled innocently toward her granddaughter, then her gaze flickered to Riley and Caroline. "Nice to see you again, girls."

"It's really good to see you, too." Riley smiled thankfully back toward the woman.

"Hi, Miss Sheila." The vampire chuckled softly, though it was clear she was still baffled by Bonnie's grandmother's presence.

"A fine mess you've made, honey." Shelia turned her attention to Bonnie. "The witches told you there'd be consequences to bringing Jeremy back, and you did it anyway."

"I didn't have a choice. I love him and I couldn't just let him go."

"I understand. But, you cracked open the door to the Other Side. There's an old witch over here. She took advantage of it. She took advantage of you, honey." Sheila raised an eyebrow. "When you did that spell to send Vicki Donovan away? She wedged the door wide open, giving a free pass to anybody with unfinished business."

"I don't understand." Riley raised an eyebrow toward the woman. "How do you know all of this?"

"Witches talk. Even on the Other Side." Bonnie's grandmother simply stated. "Who do you think makes all the rules?"

"What does the witch want?" Bonnie asked but she watched Sheila's face suddenly hardened.

"That's Original vampire business, not yours. I don't want you getting in the middle of that. I'm here because you upset the balance of nature. And, it's your duty to set it right. You girls need to close that door."

Riley nodded slowly once she and Bonnie had exchanged looks. "Okay. And, how exactly do we do that?"

"There's a talisman over here that she is drawing power from. You girls need to find out what that is, and you need to destroy it." Shelia watched the witch's eyes suddenly widen.

"Oh, my God. Elena's necklace." Caroline trailed off slowly. "That's it— that's the witch's talisman."

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Riley had called Damon for the location of Elena's necklace, but when the girls headed into his bedroom to retrieve it, it was not there. Riley desperately tried to contact Damon, whilst Caroline called Elena to inform her about what was happening.

"So, the necklace isn't where Damon said it would be and now Riley can't reach Damon." Caroline irritably spoke down the phone to the doppelganger as she watched Riley pace up and down with her phone against her ear.

"Listen, I need you to get Bonnie and Riley to hold off on sending the ghosts back." Elena innocently told Caroline, whose face dropped.

"What? But you said you were in full support of getting rid of them?"

"I was. I am." The doppelganger paused for a moment, then lowered her tone. "Look, Lexi's here and she's helping with Stefan."

"Okay. Well, let's just find it first, and then we'll choose between the boyfriend-ghost dramas." Caroline told Elena, just as Bonnie and Riley raised an eyebrow toward her.

"Caroline? What'd you mean?" Riley asked once she watched the Forbes girl innocently slide her phone into her back pocket.

"Um— Lexi's back so Elena wants us to hold off on destroying the necklace."

"You said boyfriend dramas, plural." Bonnie took a step forward with a raised eyebrow. "What is it, Caroline?"

Caroline looked almost as if she was about to break. She glanced at Riley, then took a deep breath before she turned back to Bonnie. "Elena caught Jeremy kissing Anna."

"Oh— what the hell is wrong with him?" Riley snapped viciously as she glanced at Bonnie. The Bennett girl looked like her world had been completely turned upside down. "Oh, Bonnie. I'm so sorry."

"He kissed her?" Bonnie repeated in disbelief.

Caroline nodded. "She's got a foothold now, so she probably thinks that she's here to stay."

"Well, she's not." The Evans girl immediately snapped with a confident tone of voice. "We're not letting her stay. We're gonna find that damn necklace and we're sending her back to the Other Side, okay?"

The girls had split up once more in an attempt to search every single inch of Damon's bedroom. Caroline took the bathroom, Riley took Damon's dresser and Bonnie searched around his bed— Elena's necklace was nowhere to be found.

"Ugh!" A loud grunt of irritation left Caroline's lips as she slammed her hands against the marble counter in the bathroom. "I give up. It's not anywhere in this room."

Bonnie's attention was taken by her cellphone that began to vibrate on Damon's fireplace. She wandered over to it and saw it was Jeremy, but Riley had answered it before she got the chance. "Jeremy. What'd you want?"

"Riley?" The Gilbert boy answered in a baffled tone. "Did you find that necklace?"

"Not yet. Why?

"The ghosts of the tomb vampires killed Tobias Fell. You might wanna find that necklace before they start going alphabetically through the founding families." Jeremy told her in a stern tone of voice.

"We've looked everywhere. It's not where Damon said he'd put it." Riley stressfully answered as she raised her hand to her forehead. "Someone's had to have taken it."

Jeremy was silent for a moment. "Who?"

"Ask her," Riley ordered. She knew that Jeremy had the exact same thought as her. Anna stole the necklace in order to keep her foothold.

"She said she didn't take it. And, you know what? I do believe her."

Caroline, who had lost all self-control, grabbed the phone from Riley. "You're an even bigger idiot than I thought! So, wake up, Jeremy before you lose everything!" She slammed Bonnie's phone back onto the counter.

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Riley and Bonnie headed back to the witch's house to prepare the spell which would destroy Elena's necklace and every ghost's foothold. Jeremy ran down the staircase which led to the basement with the necklace in his hand, which he retrieved back from Anna.

"Bonnie?" He hurried into the basement and stepped closer to the Bennett girl who remained silent. He knew that he had screwed up, big time. He broke Bonnie's heart and her trust.

Riley snatched the necklace from Jeremy's hold and tossed it into the fire. Bonnie and Riley softly mumbled the spell as Shelia stepped beside her granddaughter to intensify the spell. Once she did, Shelia had disappeared.

"I, uh— I'm gonna let you guys talk." Riley anxiously told Bonnie just before she hurried out of the witch house with her phone pressed against her ear. "Damon, where the hell have you been? I've been calling you for the past two hours."

"With Mason Lockwood. And, before you ask, I'm fine." Damon chuckled to himself as she heard his car door open. "Hey, where are you? I've actually got something I need to tell you."

"The old witch's house. Bonnie and I just sent the ghosts away. I'm giving her and Jeremy some time alone, since—"

"Yeah, I heard. Elena caught Jeremy kissing Anna, huh?" Damon scoffed. "That sucks."

"Be more sympathetic, why don't you?" Riley rolled her eyes, then folded her arms across her chest. "You comin' to pick me up, or do you expect me to walk all the way back home?"

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