CHAPTER TWENTY ONE | AS I LAY DYING

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RILEY EVANS WOKE UP WITH A FEELING OF IMMENSE HAPPINESS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN, WHAT FELT LIKE, FOREVER. Every part of her was desperate to deny her feelings for Damon, but the moment she gave in to the way she felt— everything changed. She loved Damon; she wasn't sure when those feelings started, but they completely consumed her. 

Riley lifted her head up from her pillow but was startled when she saw Stefan in her doorway."Uh— Good morning to you, too, stalker." Riley groggily spoke as she scratched the back of her head and sat upright in her bed. "What're you doing?"

"You don't know?" Stefan raised an eyebrow as he watched a dumbfounded look appear on the witch's face. "Damon got bitten by Tyler Lockwood. I found him trying to burn himself in the sun this morning."

As the words fell from Stefan's lips, Riley's heart began to rapidly thump within her ribcage. "He, what?!"

"No, no, no. It's okay. He's— he's in the basement cellar until I can try and find a cure for the bite." Stefan exhaled deeply as he wandered into Riley's bedroom and perched on the edge of her bed.

"A cure for a werewolf bite?" Riley scoffed, incredulously. "But, I didn't think—"

"There's not." Stefan finished for her. "But, we found a way to keep Elena human when there was no way. There's got to be some way to fix this. So, I'm meeting with Bonnie this morning. I was wondering if you could keep an eye on Damon."

"You mean, make sure he doesn't try and off-himself again." The witch corrected her best friend with a smile. "Sure. Just, promise me something?"

"Anything?" Stefan nodded.

"Please, please find something. Because I—"

"I know you do." The Salvatore knowingly nodded as he carefully pressed his lips against his best friend's forehead. "I'll be back soon, okay?"

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Shortly after Stefan had left the Salvatore house, he texted Riley to say that he had a lead on a cure for the werewolf bite. Riley felt hopeful as she sat on the steps just outside Damon's cell. She wanted to be nearby, just in case he tried anything stupid. She knew that the hallucinations were bound to set soon, and Riley didn't want him to have to go through it alone.

"Riley?" Damon's voice softly called out as the brunette lifted herself up from the staircase and she rushed to the bars. She peered inside and saw him propped up against the wall, a weakened look in his eyes. "You're still there."

"Of course I am." The Evans witch smiled back toward him. "Where else would I be, huh?"

"Ideally, I figured once I told you I loved you, it would probably be good to take you out on a date. This is some first date, huh?" Damon sarcastically scoffed, but the small scoff turned into a violent cough.

"Ah. It's okay. I'm sure you'll make up for it."

"Absolutely," Damon smirked back up at her. Riley knew that Damon didn't believe that, of course— he thought that he was going to end up just like Rose did.

Alaric wandered down the staircase and nodded to Riley just as he walked over to Damon's cell. "Well, that looks bad." He whispered once he saw the werewolf bite on Damon's forearm.

"It feels worse." The Salvatore vampire bitterly grumbled with irritation lacing his words. "My subconscious is haunting me, please tell me you have something for that?"

Alaric chuckled, then he placed a tumbler on the barred section of the door. "Double-shot." He whispered and then poured Damon a drink of bourbon.

"That's good." Damon quickly got to his feet and grabbed the glass. "So, did my brother send you to make sure that I didn't harm his bestie? Since Riley's already here for suicide-watch?"

"Stefan's just trying to help."

"He's doing what he always does, trying to right the wrongs of the past." The Salvatore muttered whilst he weakly stumbled around in his cell. "You should want me dead, Ric. I'm the reason Jenna got killed."

"I don't blame you for Jenna." Alaric simply stated as he took a sip of his drink.

"Oh, sure you do. Let's not forget I turned your wife into a vampire. You must really hate me for that one."

"Okay, what the hell are you doing?" Riley spat with a vicious tone of voice once she saw the state Alaric was in.

Damon sped toward the bars and grabbed Alaric by the throat. "Kill me, please!"

"Screw you." Alaric choked out from Damon's grip before he grabbed a vervain dart from his pocket and plunged it into Damon's forearm.

"No. No." Damon weakly grunted as he dropped to the floor as the effects of the vervain took hold. "Riley?" He whispered softly. "I need blood. I need blood."

"I'll go. It's okay." Riley stepped into the basement room where the blood fridge was located. She lifted the lid on the fridge and pulled out a blood bag, but as she turned around, Liz stood in front of her with her pistol pointed right at her. "Liz, what the—"

The Sheriff's eyes hardened once she noticed the blood bag within Riley's hold. "Where's Damon?"

"Liz, uh— honestly, now is not a good time." Riley tried her best to reason with the Sheriff, just as another one of her deputies gestured to Damon's cell. "No! No, don't go in there!"

"I just wanna talk to him." Liz Forbes told Riley just before she ran out of the room and slammed the door shut. Riley tried her best to open it, but Liz had locked it from the outside.

"Okay, then." The witch scoffed as she closed her eyes, and concentrated on the door lock. Eventually, the door flew off its hinges, and Riley ran straight out toward the cell that Damon was in. But, Damon was gone and Alaric was unconscious in the hallway. "Oh. That's not good."

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Riley had told the rest of the group about Damon's escape and they agreed to help her look for him. The strawberry-blonde witch immediately took herself to the center of town, where she figured Damon was probably struggling with his self-control. After aimlessly wandering around, her heart thumping in her chest, she saw him.

"Damon?" Riley called out toward the weakened vampire. He turned around, eyes fixed on her, though it seemed like he was having trouble focusing. "Damon, come on."

"Where are we going?" Damon whispered in a delusional state as the Evans girl tried to keep him moving, back toward the Salvatore house. He started to stumble as she walked with him.

"We need to get you out of here. The Sheriff— she's looking for you." Riley seriously told him as she tried her best to help him back up from the group. But, instead, he pinned her up against the side of the building and gently caressed her face. But, then he slowly moved his lips toward her neck. "Damon, no. What're you doing?"

"Just— I have to do this. I need to. Just one taste." Damon slowly began to feed on Riley's neck, whilst soft cries of pain and discomfort left her lips until something snapped him from his hallucination. "No! No. Riley. Riley, I'm so sorry." He dropped to his knees in shame.

"Damon, it's okay. Hey, it's okay." Riley pressed her hand against her shoulder, whilst her other hand covered the open wound against her neck. "We just— we need to get out of here, okay?"

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It took Riley quite a while to get Damon back home due to the obvious hallucinogenic state he was going through. But, eventually, they made it back and Riley took him up to his bedroom. She prepared his bed and tucked him in, exactly the same way that she did with Rose. Then, she laid in bed beside him. She had faith that Stefan would find the cure in time, but if he didn't then Riley wanted to be with Damon through all of it— through every painful moment. She knew that if the roles were reversed, he wouldn't leave her side.

"Riley, you need to leave." Damon violently coughed out once he regained consciousness to see the strawberry-blonde at his side. "I don't want to hurt you. And, right now I don't trust myself."

"No, you won't hurt me. I know you won't. You've never done a thing to hurt me, even from the day you met me. So, I fail to see why you would now." Riley told him honestly whilst she carefully patted a damp washcloth against his forehead to try and relieve some of the sweat that had built on his forehead. 

"Please. Go."

"No. I'm staying with you through everything."

"You know—" The vampire slowly began, though he had to pause whilst another cough escaped his throat. "You know, before I met you, I never thought that I would be happy again. I just— I was just existing. But, I saw you and then something inside of me felt alive again. I really— I don't know how to describe that feeling. Everything just started to matter again. I didn't want to. It scared me to death. But, I realized you had replaced the one thing I had lost all those years ago: my humanity."

As Riley listened to Damon bare his soul on his deathbed, tears began to fall against her cheeks. She carefully rested her head against his chest. " I don't even know why I started to feel this way for you. It's like something inside of me clicked. And, I just— I knew I couldn't be without you. I know you have done some questionable things, but in a strange way, it drew me closer to you. You were this dangerous, mysterious Salvatore brother. I think that's what I love about you. I love you, Damon."

"Thank you. Thank you for making me feel something— after so long." The Salvatore hesitantly breathed out once more. His breath hitched in his throat as Riley lifted her head up from his chest. Their eyes met first, almost as if they were daring each other into having their last kiss.

Riley leaned forwards and carefully pressed her lips against Damon's in a delicate, yet passionate kiss. She kissed him like he was the air that she needed to breathe. She kissed him as if he were saying goodbye. After all, she thought she was.

"Well, it's me you should be thanking." Katherine Pierce's sarcastic tone of voice caused the couple to slowly pull away from each other as their eyes flickered to her. "I mean, I'm the one who brought the cure." She twirled a vial of blood within her fingers.

"You got free," Damon muttered, a tone of surprise in his voice as Katherine lifted his head and helped him drink the blood from the small vial.

"Yep. Finally." The doppelganger rolled her eyes.

"And you still came here?" Damon weakly spoke out once more whilst Katherine pressed her hand against his cheek.

"I owed you one," Katherine told him, a smile on her face as she twirled around to face the Evans witch. "This whole thing was very Romeo and Juliet of you. I mean, Riley, if you were planning on offing yourself, too, don't let me interrupt you."

"What about Stefan?" Riley snapped viciously in response to Katherine's sarcasm. "Where is he?

"He's paying for this." Katherine lifted the, now empty, vial up once more as Riley's eyes were drawn to it. "He gave himself out to Klaus. I wouldn't except him any time soon."

"Wait, what do you mean he gave himself over?"

"He just sacrificed everything to save his brother— his girlfriend. His best friend. It's a good thing you've got Damon, so you won't miss your best friend too much, am I right? Goodbye, Riley." Katherine smirked and then disappeared into the night without another word.

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