Chapter One – Memorial


A/N: I have a few comments to make here in the preamble. If you don't want to read them, go ahead and skip down to the chapter; I will not be offended.

As I said before the prologue, I don't think it is necessary to read "Jagged Pieces" before reading this one. (But I will not stop you from going to read that one. ;) )

As for the timeline, the plot of "Jagged Pieces" took place sometime between the season three finale and the season four premiere. I know that time was only the span of a few hours on the show, but allow me to bend things to my will here. The only difference between what happened on the show and what happens here will be that Elena has now been a vampire for a slightly longer time.

But unlike "Jagged Pieces," I will try to incorporate other character's perspectives; it will not all be from Riley's POV.

Oh, and the Klaus-in-Tyler's-body thing didn't happen in my version; it was Tyler who saved Caroline from the van that was headed to the pastor's ranch. But that will be explained in this first chapter.


Leaving New York City was nearly unbearable for me. The sights and the buildings, the lights and the attractions, the sounds and the landmarks — I wanted to see and experience everything that city had to offer. But our plans were cut short. The thought of going from a city that glowed with life and adventure to the ho-hum small-town nothingness of Mystic Falls was dreadful. But we had to leave. Something was happening in Mystic Falls — something bad enough that it warranted Damon swallowing his pride in order to call Nik.

I dialed the house number once the New York skyline faded from the rear-view window and actually managed to smile, despite my lousy mood, when I heard C's voice on the phone.

"We're driving home now. What's going on?"

"Ugh, where to begin?! Well, the town council found out about us. Mom was fired; Tyler's mom was fired. Then they started rounding up the vampires."

"What?!"

"They caught me as I was trying to leave town. They got Stefan and Elena as a packaged deal. They shot Rebekah and took her that way."

I heard the steering wheel under Nik's fingers crack slightly before we sped up.

"Stefan said the council's plan was to use Rebekah to lure her siblings to town and wipe out the entire species."

"So they know about the bloodlines. They really are informed." This was definitely a worst-case scenario. I could understand why they needed Nik. "How did you escape?"

"Tyler saved me. When I didn't show up to our meeting place — we were going to leave town together to escape the council — he found me. Damon saved Elena and Stefan, and Rebekah by association."

"The entire council knows? About all of us? How?"

"A 'friendly outsider' told them." I could practically hear C using air quotes.

A part of me was upset that I was just hearing about this now. No one thought to call and warn me that the entire vampire-hating council knew what we were and were completely prepared to kill us all?! But I pushed those thoughts out of my head and stayed focused on learning as much as I could now. "So how dangerous is it for us, as we're returning to town?"

"Not at all."

That was an unexpected response. "Excuse me?"

"The day after we escaped, Pastor Young, who was acting head of the council after he kicked out my mom and Tyler's mom, he gathered the council members at his ranch and the place blew up with all of them inside. The official report is that it was a faulty gas line."

"But the truth?"

"I don't know. Mom doesn't know. It genuinely looks like Pastor Young, or someone else at his ranch, took his own life and everyone else's there. The explosion was sparked from inside. It wasn't an accident."

Sounds too good to just be wonderful timing. "How many people died?"

"Twelve."

"Wow."

"Good riddance," Nik added. I heard C scoff. "Calm down, Caroline; now all those who knew about us cannot come after us. Not that I had anything to worry about from those stake-wielding idiots."

I sighed and he glanced over at me. "I'm not wrong, love." The 'about any of it' was implied with his look.

"I know. But it still seems wrong."

"I agree; something sounds off about this." His eyes shifted back to the road in front of him; he had a pensive look on his face.

That wasn't what I meant, but he had me curious. I tilted my head, wanting to ask what he meant, but I could tell from the look on his face that now was not the time.

"Caroline," he spoke slightly louder. "Tell me about the hunter."

It was unnecessary, but I put her on speakerphone.

"The name he gave my mom is Connor Jordan. He arrived shortly after the explosion. He was asking all these questions about it, like why my mom or Tyler's mom weren't at a council meeting. He knows it was a cover-up. Oh, and he wears vervain-laced gloved."

Nik gave a quick nod. "So he can quickly determine who is a vampire."

That made sense. "Handshakes are an accepted social custom, especially when first meeting someone. Clever…"

"He shot Tyler with seriously deadly wooden bullets the second he realized Tyler was a vampire — or, you know, had the vampire sensitivity to vervain. The hunter guy didn't even flinch about it. They were weird bullets." I could hear the panic rise just slightly in C's voice; she was obviously still upset that Tyler had been shot.

But now wasn't the time to comfort her. Nik wanted details; we needed details. "Define 'weird'."

"Stefan removed them from Tyler and said he had never seen anything like them before. If Tyler hadn't been a hybrid, they would have killed him."

"How so?"

"They were specially-carved bullets. Longer and much wider than the ones we've seen from the council members. They have strange writing on them. And none of us can touch them without getting burned. Bonnie said they're not spelled and the writing isn't magical. I guess that means they're simply soaked in vervain, too."

" 'Simply'?" I asked.

"You know what I mean. Anyway, once Stefan told us that, Damon called you. Have you ever seen anything like this?"

I shifted my gaze from the phone in my hand to Nik.

"Anything I say right now is purely speculation until I see everything for myself."

"So speculate."

"Not at this time, Caroline," he growled out.

I took her off speakerphone. "I'll see you when we get back, C."

"We have the memorial service this afternoon for the people who died in the explosion. I'll call you when that's over."

"Okay. Bye."

I hung up and turned in the seat to face him better.

"What are we going home to?"

He sighed. "As I told Caroline, until I have assessed the situation with my own eyes, I can imagine nothing with a confidence. It must all be conjecture."

Was he really going to keep his thoughts on the subject from me? "You don't have any preliminary ideas about this?"

He didn't respond. We drove in silence for a few minutes. Then he spoke. "I've never heard of a single hunter being so methodical or sophisticated before, apart from all Mikael did to kill me."

Mikael: his mother's husband, the father of his siblings, and the man who hunted him for over a thousand years. Nik killed him himself. "But he's dead, right, so it can't be him?"

"He's dead." He gave a quick nod of conviction. No doubt, Mikael's death was playing out before his eyes.

"So what is this?"

He reached for my hand and entwined our finger, but he gave no response.


Elena quietly walked into Mystic Falls Church and sat down in a pew next to Matt and Jeremy. They both turned to look at her, but Jeremy was the one who spoke.

"Hey, April was looking for you. She wanted help with her speech." He spoke as though he wasn't sure why April would want Elena's help.

Elena looked around the church, but failed to spot the girl she used to babysit. "Where is she?"

Jeremy looked around, too. "I don't know."

Meanwhile, up in the church balcony, Connor was loading a gun. Near him sat April Young, bound, gagged, and bleeding. After he stabbed her in the abdomen, he gagged her and tied her up, leaning her against the balcony's wall.

Stefan walked into the church. He stopped in the aisle, just next to where Tyler and Caroline were sitting.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked Tyler. He didn't look at them as he spoke; he kept staring straight ahead, up the aisle. It was best for him to show as little familiar connection with Tyler as possible, in case the hunter made an appearance; Stefan didn't need to hunter on his tail.

"Being sensitive to the community's loss."

Stefan could hardly believe what he was hearing. Or seeing. "With a hunter out to get you?"

"I'm not letting a hunter stop me from being where I'm supposed to be."

"Also, if he shows his face, I'm gonna kick his ass," Caroline added in a confident whispers with a quick shrug of nonchalance.

Stefan smirked a compliant smirk walked away, and eventually sat down two rows behind Elena.

Mayor Lockwood stepped up to the podium, preparing to start the memorial. "Before we begin the Mass, we'd like to open the floor to anyone who would like to share a memory about our late friends on the Town Council. I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her dad. April? April, are you still here, honey?"

Up in the church balcony, Connor loaded one of his large, wooden bullets into his gun, prepping himself.

When she could not immediately locate April, and when April herself does not stand, Carol assumed the poor girl must have felt too overwhelmed with grief to speak at the moment. Understandable. So she changed her tactic. "Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or a memory about Pastor Young?"

No one immediately rose to speak. Connor, in the balcony, pointed his gun at various people, getting ready to shoot if one of them should reveal themselves to be a vampire.

Elena stood up, offering to say something. All of her friends looked shocked at her action.

Carol smiled at her. "Come on up, Elena."

Connor pointed his gun at Elena's back and followed her movements as she made her way up to the podium. Damon entered at the back of the church, but only Stefan, Tyler, and Caroline noticed his arrival. He dipped his hands into the bowl of holy water and as he walked further into the church, he touched his forehead, chest, and then each shoulder in the formation of a cross.

He smirked as he spoke to himself. "Don't know why that always makes me smile." He sat down next to his brother and they both looked up at Elena, who was now at the podium.

Elena cleared her throat softly before speaking. "I uh – when I talked to April earlier she was kind of nervous about coming up to speak. And now that I'm up here, I'm kind of nervous, too." She paused and tightened her grip on the sides of the podium. She could remember being in that very church for her parents' funeral. "The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them." Her voice hitched, betraying her emotions.

She stopped suddenly. All coherent thought vanished from her mind. Everything around her reduced to two things: the sound of liquid dripping from somewhere and forming a puddle, and the smell of that liquid. It was overwhelming.

Stefan, Damon, Caroline, and Tyler had the same narrowing of their senses.

Caroline was the first to unfreeze from the shock. "Do you smell that?" she asked Tyler.

He gave a quick nod. "Blood."

Elena, still at the podium, began to breathe heavily. She was still too new to control herself around the smell of fresh blood.

"Nobody move." Damon's voice was low, nearly muttered, but Elena, Stefan, Caroline, and Tyler could all hear him, thanks to their heightened sense of hearing. "Don't turn around; it's a trap."

Up in the balcony, the pool of blood next to April had grown. The blood was now seeping through the balcony and starting to drip into the bowl of holy water.

Elena was still at the podium, trying to fight the urge for blood. She could see it, seeping through the balcony wall. "I um…" She breathed in and out, trying to control herself. But the breathing only made her more aware of the blood. Veins started crawling towards her eyes.

Stefan came up to the podium and wrapped his arm around her. "It's okay, it's okay. I got you." He led her off the stage area and back into the pew next to Matt.

The priest stepped up to the podium, taking over for what he falsely assumed was Elena's grief. "Please turn to page 42 in your hymn book. Let us join together in song."

Everyone in the church stood and began to sing.

Elena leaned on Stefan for support. "The blood. Stefan, the blood, I can smell it. There's so much."

He tried to calm her. "It's alright; just remember what we talked about. Focus, push back, come on you can do this."

Matt couldn't smell or hear anything out of the ordinary. But he heard what Elena had just said, and could guess at what was going on. Even though Elena was his friend, he was very skeptical about her control. "Get her out of here."

Stefan sighed softly, wishing he could do just that. "I can't. There's somebody watching us."

Damon couldn't handle the idea of someone having the upper hand on him. "I'm gonna go rip his head off now."

"You do that, Damon, and you risk exposing all of us," Stefan warned.

"Well, I think the risk will be slightly diminished when I, you know, rip his head off. Now, you have ten seconds before I go old-fashioned on the new guy."

"Don't do it, Damon. Please."

From the other side of the room, Tyler moved past Caroline and began walking up the aisle. Caroline watched him, confused.

"The blood. It's got to be April," Elena realized. "We have to help her." She tried to leave, but Stefan stopped her.

"Elena, we can't risk it."

She tried to push past him, but halted her movements when she heard Tyler speaking from the podium.

"Excuse me. I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young."

They all turned to look at him.

"What do we do?" Elena asked.

Connor recognized Tyler and pointed his gun at him.

Everyone sat down as Tyler began to speak. "Back in first grade, I was a brat who couldn't be bothered with team sports. Didn't care much about anything that didn't affect me. But he was the one who made me understand how important it is to be part of a team; a community. Of giving yourself up for the sake of…"

Connor shot at Tyler, cutting off his speech. He fell to the floor and everybody started to scream, ducking into the aisles and rushing out of the church. Damon joined the throngs rushing out, but his intended destination was not simply to get out of the church — he planned to go wherever the hunter went.

Caroline rushed over to Tyler, meeting up with Carol as they both made it to his side. Elena joined them on the stage a moment later.

All Carol could manage was, "Oh my God."

Carol stood as Caroline knelt down next to Tyler, rolled him over, and ripped the stake out of his chest. Stefan rushed onto the stage and stood next to Elena.

Tyler gasped, then started coughing, adding an "I'm gonna kill that bastard" between coughs.

"Damon's way ahead of you," Stefan offered. "Stay here, I have to help him." He turned to leave, but Elena grabbed his hand.

"What about April?"

"I got this," Caroline told her friend. "Go." Stefan left.

Carol finally broke out of her shock enough to think logically. "I have to call an ambulance."

Caroline shook her head. "No, he's fine." She didn't notice that Elena had walked away.

Carol spoke to her son, not Caroline. "The whole town just watched you get shot. I'm calling an ambulance."

As she left to make the call, Caroline looked up and noticed that Elena was gone. "Elena…"


We returned to the Mikaelson mansion and found it in shambles. One of the lower-level sitting rooms had bullets holes throughout it. Nik swiftly moved past the debris and open a cabinet. Inside was a safe. He entered the passcode. Once opened, he reached inside and pulled out a black box.

My curiosity grew immensely when I realized that it was a refrigerated safe.

I watched as he placed the box on the nearest ledge and opened it. Inside the ice-filled box were three blood bags.

"Is that what I think it is?" I stepped closer, looking at the contents.

He seemed relieved to know that they were still there. But that made complete sense, if they were full of what I thought they were full of.

"You know I don't drink from blood bags, sweetheart, so they aren't here for potential snacking purposes."

I couldn't believe it! "So you've had human doppelganger blood in your possession for months now, and you haven't done anything with it?"

"As you may recall, my last batch of hybrids did not turn out as well as I had hoped."

Understatement.

"I need to be more careful about my future hybrids."

"More choosy?"

He closed the lid, gently covering the blood bags again. "I am hoping to enquire further about the process, to improve for next time, since I clearly have a limited amount of human blood left. Perhaps it was a bad bunch of wolves."

"Or perhaps it was a bad Alpha." I muttered my thought, but he heard.

He quirked an eyebrow in my general direction, but otherwise, he did not acknowledge my comment.

I regretted my muttering because I was making a valid point. "I'm serious, Nik. Perhaps if you hadn't treated them as your personal slaves, maybe they wouldn't have revolted against you."

He turned to face me and stepped closer. "I am the Alpha, love; I had to make then respect me."

Idiot. "But they can't respect you, or want to follow you, if they hate you."

His eyes narrowed into a slight glare. "I'm not here to make friends, Riley."

"Clearly." I rolled my eyes. My words were making him defensive. I needed a new approach. I stepped around the debris and stood right in front of him. "Look, I get that you don't want to be alone, and that the hybrids were supposed to be a kind-of second family to you, but if you only use them, they'll only grow to resent you."

"They were supposed to be grateful that I have made them stronger and less vulnerable to certain weaknesses. I made them better." He was still defensive.

Nik, your hubris is showing.

"As I understand it, that is the underlying motive of the sire bond — they're grateful to you because they can turn at will, which means they do not have to turn at all — but a decent leader would build on the foundation of that gratitude, and not simply use it to his own will."

"Are you insinuating that I am not a decent leader?"

He twisted the intention of my words, but I realized that he wasn't wrong, going down that line of thought. "I am speculating, based on what I have been told. You lead the way you want to lead, not the way you should lead. There is a huge difference between the two styles… or methods."

He smirked, but it was a cruel smirk. "And when did you become well-versed in the art of proper leadership?"

I rolled my eyes at him again. "I haven't; I just have a bad habit of not keeping my mouth shut and therefore calling things as I see them."

My words were making him angry. "I do not need advice on how to be an Alpha from someone who couldn't possibly understand."

"Of course, because I'm just a silly, baby vampire, right? What could I possibly know about treating people with respect?!

He sighed and turned away from me, taking a step back. But before he could respond, Rebekah flew into the room, wearing her fury for all to see.

"How dare you?! The both of you!" She didn't give either of us any time to ask for clarification. "You left. You just took off to god-knows-where, leaving me here all alone."

Nik pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration as we both turned to face her at the entrance to the room. He was clearly annoyed with me, and now he's Bekah, yelling at him? "Rebekah…"

"I had no idea where you were or when you'd be back! Or if you'd even come back!" She was nearly hysterical; she had clearly been crying.

"Bekah…" I took a step closer to her before she stopped me, holding her hand out in front of her, palm facing me.

"Don't 'Bekah' me, Riley! I expected this sort of behaviour from him, but not from you."

"What sort of behaviour, sister?"

She glared at him. If looks could kill… "Taking me for granted! Keeping me by your side only when it suited you! You've always used me for your own purposes and never once have you consulted my opinion!"

He let out a sigh of annoyance. "Because you normally give it without being asked. As you are now, I might add."

"Shut up, Nik!" She stepped into the room, closer to her brother. "You left me!" She was yelling at him now; I was officially just an observer to this quarrel.

"We all know those idiots couldn't have killed you. And look, they didn't. Now it's time for us to move on, and find some more werewolves." He turned to tidy some papers scattered on a nearby surface.

"So you can create your hybrid family? You don't know anything about family."

"Well, I know how easily they can be silenced with a dagger…" Nik mused as he moved closer to his precious black chilled box.

But just before he could move it — possibly to return it to its safe place — Rebekah reached it first. She opened the lid, reached in, and grabbed one of the blood bags. Before I could even register what she was doing, Nik was yelling at her. "No!"

Then I heard the sound of liquid hitting the wall. Rebekah had thrown the blood bag and it burst on contact with the wall.

He was seething.

I looked to Rebekah just as Nik turned to face her. She had grabbed the other two blood bags while we had been distracted by the splattering of the first one and was stepping backwards, with a blood bag in each hand. The last two bags of doppelganger blood. The last of the blood that Nik could use to create his hybrids.

"Drop them," he commanded, eyeing the bags. "Put the blood down, Rebekah; there's a good girl."

"Rebekah," I said, trying to use a peaceful tone. "Think about your actions first." I was trying to calm them both down.

She didn't even spare me a glance. This was obviously a family matter. "It's always been me. Not Finn, not Elijah, not Kol. Me! I loved you through everything and you didn't care."

"Drop it!"

"You want your family? Here's your family." As she said 'family' the second time, she squeezed the blood bags, squirting the blood all over.

I gasped.

As she dropped the now empty bags, Nik rushed at her, holding her by her throat.

"You know something Rebekah? You're right: I don't care." Rebekah was gasping and gagging. "From this moment on, you're not my family, you're not my sister. You. Are. Nothing." And without wasting another moment, Nik, quite swiftly, broke his sister's neck. He let her body fall to the ground in a clump at his feet. He stepped over her and left, leaving Rebekah lying on the floor next to the empty blood bags.

"Nik?"

I walked to the room's entrance, but he was already gone. He'd sped off, to somewhere.

I turned back to Rebekah. I turned her so she was laying on her back — hopefully that would be more comfortable for her when she 'woke.'

"Poor Bekah," I said as I moved her hair away from her face.


Elena made her way through the church and up into the balcony. She spotted April on the floor, gagged and bleeding.

"April!"

She rushed over to the girl, but stopped when she saw the blood. She felt the veins appear on her face again and her fangs descended. She immediately went to April, wanting to feed, but Caroline surprised her by grabbing her and pushing her away from April.

"She's not dead," Caroline said. "But if you feed on her you will kill her!" Caroline had better control of her bloodlust, and it had nothing to do with the fact that she was older than Elena. She wasn't overwhelmed at the sight of all that blood because she could see April as a person, and not simply as a blood supply. Plus, Caroline knew better than to attend a public gathering of any kind without having a blood bag first.

Elena struggled against Caroline's hold, but the blond was too strong. "Let go of me!"

"Look at her! Look at her, Elena!" Caroline still had her hands on Elena's shoulders, keeping herself between April and Elena. "It's April. April Young. She's not a warm body for you to feed on. She's your friend."

Elena looked, and saw exactly what Caroline said. This was April. Elena used to make up stories to read to April when she was babysitting.

She took a calming breath and her features returned to normal.

Caroline released her. "She's an orphan. Just like you. She's scared. Just like you were." She bit her wrist and fed her blood to April.

April gasped, regaining consciousness as the vampire blood healed her. She looked up at Caroline with tears in her eyes. "Please, don't hurt me. Please."

Caroline shook her head at April's tears. "No one's gonna hurt you." She stood up and looked at Elena. "She needs you. You can make her forget all of this."

"Why did he do this?" April asked.

Elena shook her head. "No, I – I can't, Caroline. You have to do it." Elena had never compelled someone before.

"No. The only way you're going to learn is if you do it yourself."

She shook her head, overwhelmed and unconfident. "No, I can't."

"Yes, you can." Caroline spoke in a calm, encouraging, teaching tone. "You just need to believe what you're telling her." Elena eyed April, still unsure. "Okay?" Caroline placed her left hand on Elena's left shoulder, guiding her to the shaking, scared girl.

Elena knelt down next to April and gently touched the shoulder of the girl who was still panicking. "April, listen to me." She looked up at Elena. "Everything's gonna be okay. You're gonna get through this. Just like I got through it." April's pupils dilated as the compulsion set it. "I'm going to help you. I promise."

"I'm gonna be okay," April repeated in a monotone. "You're gonna help me."

Elena looked up at Caroline and smiled, proud and a little shocked that it worked. Caroline returned the smile, proud of her friend.

Elena focused on April again. "You watched the funeral from up here so that you could grieve alone. It was a beautiful service. People said really nice things."

April smiled as Elena's compulsion became her reality.


I stayed with Rebekah until she woke up. I was pacing nearby when she gasped.

"You're still here?" she asked as she sat up, rubbing her neck.

"I wanted to make sure you were all right. Even if you were mean to me."

Rebekah smiled. "I suppose you're not completely Nik's lapdog."

"You suppose?" I scoffed. "Maybe staying here with you was a mistake."

I sped out of the room. I was in Nik's bedroom before I had even realized I had intended to go there.

I sighed as I flopped down on the bed. Nik was beyond pissed at Bekah and she was hurt by and pissed at him; why was I caught in the middle?

"Hey." I sat up when I heard Rebekah's voice from the doorway. "I'm moving out."

"You are?"

She nodded and gestured to the two bags at her feet.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't imagine it will be too challenging to get a place of my own here," she said with a shrug. "I'll collect the remainder of my things once I have a place for certain."

She's playing a high-schooler, but she thinks she can easily get her own place? Oh, right; compulsion.

I just nodded; I wasn't sure how else to respond.

"I'll miss see you all the time, Ri."

"But you will still see me, right?" She wouldn't cut me out of her life just because she was angry with Nik, would she? "I get that you're angry with your brother, but I'm not him. I am my own person, despite what you may think."

She nodded. "I know. I do. I just spoke out of frustration. I don't really think you'd mindlessly follow whatever Nik says. I know you're much stronger than that." She paused for a moment, apparently lost in thought. Then she continued. "Of course I'll still see you around. In case you haven't noticed, I don't have too many friends around here."

I shook my head in a 'that doesn't matter' sort of way. "As long as you know that you do have me, Bexs."

She came closer and I stood. We hugged.

"Look, I saw what happened when Caroline forced you to choose sides, so I won't do that."

Relief. "Thank you."

"But be careful, Ri."

Then she grabbed her bags and left. I may have gained back some points in my favour with Bekah, but Nik definitely hasn't. With him, this is just the latest of countless examples of him taking her for granted.

I guess Rebekah had just reached her tipping point.


Nik returned to the house later. He wasn't seething, but he was still unbelievably angry with the loss of the doppelganger blood. I was still in the bedroom when he came home. We walked into the room, said nothing, and stood in front of the window. I imagine he saw nothing of the scenery before him.

I sighed, deciding to go with the rip-off-a-Band-Aid approach by skipping the preamble and just telling him. "Rebekah has decided to move out."

"Good." His reply was immediate and automatic.

"Seriously? Do you have to be so cold about it?"

His shoulders tensed, but he didn't respond. Could he really not see how alone and abandoned his sister felt?

"She took some of her things; she'll be back for the rest once she's settled."

"Fine." He spoke through a clenched jaw.

I sighed and shook my head at my own behaviour. I refused to put myself between them, and this was the last moment I would act as a messenger between them.

I stood and walked over to him, standing behind him as he stared out the window. I put my hands on his shoulders, massaging lightly. I smiled when some of the tension disappeared at my touch.

"Now we have more privacy," I said in a sing-songy whisper, suggestively.

He chucked — my desired reaction —but unfortunately, it held little humour.

He turned around to face me and I linked my fingers behind his neck. "And what shall we do with this extra privacy?" His hands rested on my hips.

I shrugged. "We're both intelligent and creative; I'm sure we can come up with something."

He smirked, but I noticed that it didn't quite reach his eyes, not the way his smirks typically did. He would never admit it, but I could see that a part of him was upset that his sister had moved out. He would never admit it, but he will miss her.

You never stop caring about family.

"I'm sure we can, love."

He ducked his head and our lips met. His hands moved to my lower back, pressing, holding me in place. He swiped his tongue across my bottom lip, seeking access. It left tingles in its wake. Before I could do anything in response—

—my phone vibrated in my pocket. The sensation startled me and I broke contact with him.

I fished it out of my pocket.

"Ignore it, love."

No one ever texted me for non-important reasons, so I ignored his suggestion instead. "It's from C."

Can you meet me at home? —Caroline

I sighed, our moment ruined.

"She can wait." He tried to pull me in close again but I shook my head and took a step back. I turned away from him to respond to the text, but his arms quickly wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I leaned back against his chest as I typed out my response.

Sure. I'll be over soon. —Riley

He moved my hair off my neck and I put my phone back in my pocket. "Don't tell her that," he whispered against my neck. "We're not finished here." His grip on my waist tightened as he began to place soft, warm kisses along the column of my neck. His lips moved upward, and he slowly sucked on the skin just below my ear. I let out a gasp at the sensation.

He grabbed my hips and spun me around to face him. I crushed my lips to his and he responded with a groan. One of his hands stayed on my hip while the other one tangled in my hair as his tongue made thorough sweeps of my mouth. I arched into him as the kiss turned urgent and hungry. And there was no restraint.

He grabbed me by the waist and suddenly I felt the wall against my back. He trapped both of my hands above my head in one of his as he placed hot, open-mouthed kisses along my jaw before running his human teeth along my neck.

A moaned a "Nik!"

He brought his lips back to mine.

By the time I finally pulled my mouth from his, my skin was flushed and my lips felt swollen. His eyes scanned my face and smirked at my appearance.

"I have to go see C."

"She can wait."

I managed to duck out of his hold before I could get lost in his touch. If I stayed and succumbed, I would never make it out of here. And whatever C wanted could be important.

"I'll be back soon."

I took a few steps towards the door, paused, and then walked back over to him. I stood on my tiptoes and gave his a quick kiss on his lips before speeding out of the house.


C was huffy when I got to the house. Apparently I had kept her waiting too long. "You call this 'soon'?"

"I got… sidetracked." I felt my face get warm.

She noticed my reaction. "Gross! I so do not want details."

"Well good, because I wasn't going to offer any to you." I stuck my tongue out at her.

She smiled, but it faded just as quickly as it appeared. Then I remember where she said she had to go this afternoon. "How was the memorial service?"

She let out a deep sigh. "It was a disaster! The hunter was there, and he tried to out us."

"In the church?"

"He took April Young, the dead pastor's daughter, stabbed her, and let her bleed up on the balcony, hoping the scent of the blood would out one of us." She paced a bit as she spoke.

I felt my jaw drop, but I said nothing.

"He shot Tyler, I guess because he recognized him from their previous encounter. Then everyone left the church, screaming. Damon went after the hunter, but somehow lost track of him."

"Wow. Not even church in this town is dull. And the girl, April, is she okay?"

She nodded. "I healed her; Elena compelled her. As far as she knows, the memorial service went smoothly."

"Good." I couldn't believe so much could happen in one memorial service.

"Where's your stuff, Ri?"

Subject-change whiplash. "What stuff?"

"Your luggage, and clothing, and whatever you bought in New York?"

"Oh." I was confused why she thought I would have it with me. "It's at Klaus's."

A scowl formed on her face. "So you're staying there, now?"

I hesitated, but I saw no way of dodging an answer here. "Yes."

"Great! That is great!" Her voice held no enthusiasm; it was an annoyed and sarcastic tone. "My cousin is sleeping with the enemy."

I groaned. This, again? "First of all, I was staying with him before our trip, so this isn't new; second, I thought you were okay about the idea of me being with him; and third, he is only classified as 'the enemy' because you made him so."

"Have you forgotten everything I've told you, Ri?!" Her outrage was nearly palpable. "He would have killed all of us during the sacrifice so he could break his stupid hybrid curse. He did kill Elena's Aunt Jenna!"

I sighed. "He did what he had to do; he did what was necessary."

"So you condone his actions?!" Her voice was slowly moving up an octave; soon, only the dogs in the neighbourhood would be able to hear her.

"I'm not in a place to pass judgment — on anyone's actions." She scoffed. "Neither are you, f.y.i. But seriously, imagine if a part of you had been suppressed by magic. What lengths would you go to restore it?"

"I wouldn't kill people for it." The pitch of her voice returned to normal.

"You would if it was the only way." I nodded slightly as I spoke.

She crossed her arms in defiance. "No, I wouldn't."

I stopped myself from arguing with her on this. I couldn't justify his actions. I wasn't there, and I didn't know his thoughts.

I looked around the living room and was surprised to see how much hadn't changed. "Speaking of stuff, shouldn't you have more things packed up by now? I know it's early, but that's late by Caroline Forbes' standards." That last part was a joke.

"Oh, you mean for college?"

"Yes…" I hesitated, because this should not have been something that slipped C's mind.

"Actually, I've decided to defer college for a year."

"You're what? Why?"

"And leave you here, alone, with a crazy hunter on the loose? As if, Ri. Plus, I don't want to go alone. Elena was too busy adjusting to life as a vampire to apply anywhere and everyone has been trying to help her; Stefan and Damon aren't going anywhere; Bonnie has descended to borderline black magic and has everyone worried about her; and Tyler never applied because he was too busy breaking his sire bond." She paused for a breath. "So I'm staying here, too. I'll help with this stupid hunter, and then maybe I'll get to do some travelling before I go off to college next year." She finished with a smile.

I tried to smile along with her. I didn't enjoy this plan of hers, but she seemed so optimistic about it that it seemed easier to just agree with her about it.