CHAPTER NINE | KATERINA

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RILEY WAS TAKEN ABACK WHEN SHE HEADED DOWNSTAIRS FOR HER MORNING COFFEE AND SAW ELENA'S KIDNAPPER ON THE COUCH. She had turned up offering to help, and willing to give them all they knew about the sacrifice, and Klaus himself. Riley was unsure whether to actually believe the woman, but considering their information on Klaus was extremely limited, they had no other option.

"Okay. I only know what I've picked up over the years." Rose declared as she stood in front of the four supernatural creatures. "And, I don't know what's true and what's not true. That's the problem with all of this vampire crap. But, Klaus I know is real."

"Who is he?" Elena suddenly asked with her arms folded across her chest whilst she sat beside the Evans witch.

"He's one of the Originals." Damon's voice carried as all eyes averted to him. "He's a Legend."

"From the first generation of vampires." Stefan continued on from Damon's vague explanation.

"Like Elijah, the guy that tried to take you?" Riley asked Elena whilst her gaze flickered between the doppelganger and Rose, who stood her head.

"No." Rose exasperatedly sighed. "Elijah was the Easter Bunny compared to Klaus. He's a foot soldier. Klaus is the real deal."

Stefan turned his eyes to his girlfriend, who seemed utterly terrified. "Klaus is known to be the oldest."

"Okay. So, you're saying that the oldest vampire in the history of time is coming after me?" The doppelganger scoffed in disbelief.

"No."

"Yes."

Damon furrowed his brows at the two completely different responses from Stefan and Rose. "What they're saying is. I mean, if what she's saying is true— and you're not just saying this so we don't kill you. Then, we're looking at a solid maybe."

"No. But, wait." Riley spoke up the moment she saw Elena's face fall. "If you guys killed Elijah yesterday, then nobody else knows the doppelganger exists."

"Not that you know of." Rose carried on, while Riley glared at her.

"That's not helping." The eldest Salvatore snapped.

"Look, I've never even met anyone who's laid eyes on him." Stefan lifted himself up and sat down, the other side of Elena. "I mean, we're talking centuries of truth mixed with fiction. We don't know what's real. For all we know, he just could be some stupid bedtime story."

"He's real. And, he doesn't give up. If he wants something, he gets it. If you're not afraid of Klaus, then you're an idiot."

"Alright, we're shaking. You made your point." Damon sarcastically rolled his eyes toward the woman.

Silently, Elena grabbed hold of her school bag from beside her feet, then she glanced at the witch once she stood up. "Riley. Come on."

"Uh. Okay." Riley shrugged as she followed in pursuit of the doppelganger.

"Where are you going?"

"School," Elena told him with an unchanged tone of voice. "I'm late."

"Let me, uh—" The Salvatore pulled himself up from beside Riley, and nodded toward his girlfriend. "Let me grab my stuff. I'll go with you."

"That's okay. I know where it is." Elena shot him a pointed look and then disappeared out the front door, whilst the remaining few exchanged concerned looks.

"She's acting weird, right?" Riley furrowed her brows. Elena had quite literally just been told that a thousand-year-old vampire was after her, and she wanted to go to school as if nothing happened.

"She's in denial." The eldest Salvatore muttered under his breath.

"Shut up, Damon."

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"Alright, Rose-bud. I need some answers." Damon sauntered back into the parlor to the sound of Rose's quiet sobs, which caused him to roll his eyes. "Oh, please don't tell me you're crying because your buddy, Trevor lost his head."

Rose scoffed quietly as she grabbed a tissue. "You always been this sensitive?"

"A little vampire switch. You can—" He imitated the sound of a switch flipping whilst Rose tilted her head. "—for this very reason. Takes the emotion out of it."

"Yeah. You switch yours, I'll switch mine." Rose countered as she saw an unreadable look spread across the Salvatore's face. "Being in love with that witch upstairs must be difficult."

At the mention of his feelings for Riley, Damon's face fell. "I'm not in love with anyone."

"You wanna try that again? Because, I've been here, what? Twelve hours, and I've seen the way that you look at her. Must suck, knowing that she doesn't feel the—"

Before Rose could say anything further about Riley, Damon sped right in front of her and gave her a pointed stare. "Don't get on my bad side."

"Then, show me your good side." The five-hundred-year-old woman tilted her head. "And, as for finding Klaus, you don't. He finds you."

"Someone must know where he is, though, right?" Riley's voice carried as she slowly stepped into view as she readjusted the handbag that was draped over her shoulder. Once all eyes averted to her, she shrugged. "Sorry. I just— I was just on my way to school."

Damon remained silent for a moment, fearful as to what the little witch had overheard. He wasn't in love with Riley. But, he cared about the witch a lot more than he would let anyone believe. He felt something for Riley, he knew that much for sure.

Rose folded her arms across her chest and sighed. "Add another two-hundred somebodies to that, and you're still not even close."

"Humor me," Damon stated again, his eyes firmly on Rose. "You got in touch with Elijah. How'd you do it?"

"Through a very low somebody on the totem pole. A guy named Slater, in Richmond."

"Perfect. I'll drive." Damon clapped his hands together, then set his sights on Riley. "You want a lift to school?"

"Uh— actually, I was thinking of coming with you." Riley breathed out as she dropped her bag, containing her textbooks to the ground. "I'd much rather that than Math class, anyway."

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After a debate about Rose not being able to be caught in the sun as Damon could, she ended up having to drive. Eventually, after the painfully long drive, they parked in a darkened underground parking lot.

"Back entrance," Damon spoke up as he, Riley, and Rose stepped out of the SUV. "How convenient."

"That's the point. We can't all have little daylight rings." Rose shrugged as she watched the vampire wave his hand that contained the daylight ring.

"So, how do you know this guy is actually going to be here?" Riley suddenly directed her question to Rose, who stopped in her tracks. "What if it's just a trap? I mean, we haven't exactly got any reason to trust you."

"I called him. He's here. He's always here." Rose shrugged toward the witch. "And, as for trusting me. I've given you no reason not to."

"Good. Just one thing." Damon simply grabbed Rose by the throat and pinned her to one of the concrete beams that helped keep the underground parking lot standing.

Riley's eyes widened as a small gasp left her lips. "Damon, don't." She spoke with an almost irritated tone of voice.

The vampire turned from Riley back to the older vampire. "If you are setting me and my girl here up in any way. I will rip your heart out, and shove it down your throat. Something I'm very good at."

Rose responded with silence until she simply twisted his arm behind his back and pinned him against the back of the car. "I'm older than you and stronger. Don't get on my bad side."

"If you two are quite done." Riley rolled her eyes with her arms folded across her chest once Rose finally released Damon from her grip.

"You can trust me. You both can."

Rose led the way, whilst Riley and Damon followed a little behind her as she led them into a café. "I swear, if this is a trap I will end her," Damon whispered in Riley's direction as he slung his hand over her shoulder.

"Calm yourself down, Dracula. There's no need for death threats quite yet, alright?" Riley rolled her eyes.

They walked into a café that was completely lit up by natural sunlight. Damon and Riley exchanged a confused look, then they saw Rose remove her jacket. "Woah. What about the, uh— sunlight?"

"Double-paned and tempered. UV rays can't penetrate. You see the appeal now?" Rose raised an eyebrow with a smirk as the pair looked seemingly impressed.

"That, and the free WiFi." A man began to edge towards the trio. Once Rose realized who it was, she slung her arms around the man with a smile. "Hey. I saw you come. What're you doing here?"

"Slater, I presume?" Riley raised an eyebrow toward the man who finally pulled himself from Rose's embrace.

"I want you to meet—" Rose turned her head in the direction of the human and vampire stood next to her.

"Damon Salvatore. Turned 1864 in Mystic Falls by Katherine Pierce A.K.A Katerina Petrova." Slater spoke confidently but stopped when he noticed how creeped out both Damon and Riley were.

"Oh." Riley cleared her throat and tilted her head. "I'm Riley, by the way."

"Nice to meet you." He nodded, though his eyes lingered on Damon, who didn't look the slightest bit interested. Slater glanced back to Rose. "What's goin' on Rose, where's Trevor?"

"Uh— Trevor's dead. Elijah killed him." Rose quietly revealed with a somber expression on her face as the group headed toward a variant table, near the window.

"But, it came full circle, since the dude is now a desiccated dickwad." Damon hummed with a smirk as he remembered back to when he staked Elijah.

"Trevor was a good man." Slater sighed heavily. "Helped me with my dissertation on sexual deviance in the Baroque period. I was going for my psych Ph.D."

The minute Rose saw Riley's brows furrow with confusion, she nodded. "Slater's been in college since '74."

"When I was turned. I have eighteen degrees, three masters, and four Ph.D.'s."

Damon, who was seemingly irritated that the conversation wasn't about anything he was interested in, rolled his eyes. "The point?"

"Exactly. I mean, what is the point?" Slater's eyes flickered between Rose, Riley, and Damon. "What should I be doing with my eternity? If you have an answer, please enlighten me."

"Actually, Rose here told us that you could help us, that's why we're here," Riley spoke up before Damon had a chance to. "How do we find Klaus?"

"Craigslist." Slater shrugged.

Damon scoffed in disbelief at the simple answer. "Really?"

"Seriously. I respond to a personal ad that gets sent to somebody, who knows somebody, who knows Elijah— who's dead." The vampire's face fell. "And, that's where my connection ends."

"Okay. Here's what I don't get; Elijah moved around during the day which means the Original people knew the secret of the day ring." Damon spoke up once more. "Now, why would Klaus wanna lift the curse of the sun and the moon?"

"To keep the werewolf from lifting it." Slater simply responded whilst they exchanged looks. "If a vampire breaks the sun curse, the werewolves are stuck with the curse of the moon forever, and vice-versa."

"But, werewolves are all extinct." Rose lunged forward, clearly unaware that Mystic Falls was home to a few of them.

"No, actually, they aren't." Riley cleared her throat as she watched Rose and Slater's eyes widen. "It's like you said, Mystic Falls is one hell of a town."

"God, I've got to visit this place. It sounds awesome."

"Awesome doesn't even begin to describe it." Damon nodded in agreement, then his face fell. "Wait. Can we stop the curse from being broken at all? Can we render the moonstone useless and stop the curse from being broken?"

A look of confusion fell across Slater's face. "Well, yeah. Probably. But, why would you wanna do that?"

"It's a long story." Riley shrugged. "Just, tell us how to do it."

"What, you think I'm gonna help you do something that will piss off an Original and keep me from walking in the sun?"

"You wanna walk in the sun? Just so happens that Riley here is a witch, she can make that happen. If you help us." Damon's gaze was firm as he gestured to the strawberry-blonde, who sat beside him.

In that moment, the glass windows of the café suddenly shattered out of nowhere. With the windows broken, the sunlight poured into the café and every single vampire without a daylight ring began to scream and cry as their skin started to burn.

Riley got to her feet and looked outside to try and make sense of what happened, but nobody was there. Meanwhile, Damon threw his jacket over Rose and grabbed the female's hand as they headed out of the back entrance and into the car park.

"You're gonna be okay," Damon assured Rose as he helped her into the back of the car just as her burned skin began to heal. "Who was behind that?"

"I didn't see anyone. I tried to see but there was nobody there." Riley's voice was quick due to the stress of the situation. She knew it was a calculated attack, she just didn't know who by.

"Where's Slater?" Rose's eyes widened as she remembered her friend was left inside the café

"Iowa by now. Who the hell knows."

"He's not behind this." The vampire suddenly protested against any thought that Slater was behind the attack. "He's a good guy. He wouldn't betray me."

"Yes, okay. But, then who the hell did this, Rose?" Riley flapped her arms around.

"It's Klaus! Don't you understand?" Rose's cries began to become more consistent. "You don't know this man. We're dead. We're all dead."

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