A/N: New Chapter you guys! I know I shocked a lot of you last update. Lol I was successful. Now that Damon knows, a lot of you are wondering how he will react. Prepare to find out! Enjoy!

Chapter 12

Riley stopped speaking then, her face falling into her hands. We had pulled up to the boarding house, and I listened momentarily for approaching sirens. For the moment there were none. A sob racked Riley's thin frame, and she spoke from behind her hands.

"The woman started screaming, and I ran. I got out of town before they set up roadblocks or anything." She raised her head from her hands and looked into my eyes. "I destroyed a family, Damon."

Grief washed over Riley as she openly admitted this. I guessed that it was the first time she had dared to say the words aloud since it happened. She had kept this hidden even in her mind so I would not hear it. I turned to her and pulled her tightly into my arms. I thought about the hundreds of people who had met their ends because of me, sometimes for sheer enjoyment. Then I recalled the first life that I took—how the look on her eyes in her last moments had affected me. The human part of me died that day.

My heart broke for Riley in that instant, and I pulled her even closer, running my fingers through her dark locks gently.

"I'm so sorry, Riley," I whispered in her ear.

She lifted her head from my shoulder and wiped at her tears hurriedly as if they were betraying her, making her weak.

"Rachel," she said. "My name is Rachel."

Shaking my head, I took her hand in mine.

"That may be so, but I don't know Rachel. I don't give a damn about who she is or what she has done. Riley is the girl I care about and she is the most amazing person I have ever met." I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"Thank you," she whispered faintly.

We sat in companionable silence for a few moments before she spoke again.

"I have to get out of Mystic Falls," she said.

The simple statement of fact was obvious, but the reality of it hit me hard. She would have to leave, and that meant leaving me as well.

"I'm coming with you," I said with determination.

"No," she replied, her response was just as determined as mine. "I'm not dragging you into this."

"You're not dragging me into anything. I'm not leaving you to do this on your own. If you run, I run with you."

Clearly realizing that I would not back down, she gave in.

"Thank you," she whispered again, voice cracking. "The truth is I don't know what to do. I came here on blind faith as a last ditch effort. I don't know where to go with the police after me and the full moon so close."

She looked up at me defeated. It was obvious that she was giving up as we spoke.

"Get your stuff," I said, suddenly struck with an idea. "I know where we can go until we figure this out."

"Where?"

"Don't you worry your pretty little head about that," I responded. "You've got five minutes."

She smiled and leaned over to kiss me quickly before turning to leave the car. I watched as she gathered the skirt of her emerald green dress in her hands and sped of into the house. As I stepped out of the car to follow her, I pulled out my phone and dialed Stefan's number.

"Hello?" came my brother's voice. He sounded surprised to hear from me as I had avoided contact since he left. I ran to my room and started to pack a small bag of necessities as I spoke.

"Stefan, I need to talk to Elena."

"I'm glad to hear from you as well, Damon," he responded sarcastically.

"Please, brother. It's important."

I was not one to plead, but I didn't have time to be jerked around. Liz could arrive any minute with the rest of her Mayberry police squad. I could hear Elena questioning in the background, her voice getting closer to the phone as she spoke.

"Damon…" my name sounded with warning on Stefan's tongue.

"Are you serious, Stef?" I was agitated now. "I'll be a good boy. I need her help."

He obviously heard my desperation.

"Damon?"

This time it was Elena on the other end of the phone. Hearing her now, I realized that I had missed her, but surprisingly it wasn't like I had originally thought it would be when she left. Her absence from my life had become one that I could handle. Riley's was one that I now found that I could not contemplate without a sick feeling creeping into the pit of my stomach.

"Elena, I need to use the lake house."

My lack of greeting threw her off at first, but she answered quickly enough.

"What? Why?"

Not wanting to reveal my full intentions, I told a half-truth, hoping that she would accept it without question.

"Riley needs a safe place to stay other than the boarding house for the full moon later this week."

"Riley? She's still there?"

"Yeah, surprisingly not everyone leaves me, Elena."

There was venom in my words that I hadn't intended. Elena intentionally ignored it.

"I don't know why you're asking. You've been invited in. You don't need my permission."

"I want your permission," I insisted, trying to sound kinder.

There was silence from the other side before she spoke again, sighing.

"Yeah, Damon, that's fine. I didn't leave any keys to give you, but I'm sure you can manage without them."

She was right.

"Thank you," I said.

I hung up the phone before I was tempted to say anything else. Riley was standing in the doorway of my room. She had changed from the gown she was wearing at the party to a baggy pair of gray sweat pants hanging low on her hips and dark purple tank top.

"A lake house?"

There was doubt in her voice.

"It's the best you're going to get before the full moon," I explained. "We can find something else once we get past that obstacle."

I prepared myself for more uncertainty from her, but it didn't come. Grabbing my duffle bag full of clothes, I took her hand, leading her back to the car.

…

After driving in silence for a while, a question that had racked my brain since Riley's arrival surfaced yet again. Why had she come to Mystic Falls? How did she know to come looking for Jules? Piecing her story together, it couldn't have been long from the time she shot Freeman to when she showed up in the forest of my backyard. What had brought her here? Knowing I would never know without asking, I risked bringing up the subject again.

Riley sighed as I asked.

"I'm sorry," I said. "Forget I asked. It doesn't matter."

"No, I'm being honest, remember? I might as well finish the story." She fidgeted in the passenger's seat and began.

"After I got out of town, I knew that I had to keep driving. My world was spinning out of control, and I didn't know what to do. Despite my common sense telling me to drive faster, I found myself pulling over at a rundown bar right across the state line. It was dingy and the neon liquor sign only had a couple working bulbs. Constantly looking over my shoulder, I entered the bar for a much needed drink to calm my nerves. I sat on the somewhat deserted end of the bar, waiting for the scotch I had ordered when the old man sitting nearest to me spoke.

'Not as comforting as you thought it would be, was it,' he said.

'Excuse me?' I responded, an edge of panic in my voice.

'The man's death. It wasn't as fulfilling as you expected.'

I rose to my feet, almost spilling the liquor that had been placed in front of me while I wasn't paying attention.

'You don't know what you're talking about,' I hissed.

Not acknowledging my fear, the man continued calmly.

'You don't know where to run and big changes are coming to you soon, Rachel.'

'You don't know what the hell—'

'Find Jules in Mystic Falls.'

Instead of fighting with the man, I sat in silence. The insistence in his voice put me at a loss for words. It was if this man knew what I was going through, knew exactly what I needed. Somehow he saw me for who I really was and yet there was no hate in his voice, just concern."

Riley stopped talking then, taking a deep breath.

"From there I drove for almost six hours to Mystic Falls in pain the entire way. Lucky for me the full moon happened to fall on the exact night of the change," she said sarcastically. "I obviously passed out in the process and ended up in your lovely basement a few hours later."

A pang of guilt hit me as she mentioned the cruel treatment I had put her through when we first met.

"Lucky for you, right?" I asked bitterly, remembering what I had done to her.

"Very lucky," she responded.

I had expected her response to be sarcastic once again, but instead I found her tone to be sincere and almost grateful, as though the first days of our rocky relationship didn't matter at all.

Before I had time to respond to her, I pulled down the rocky drive to Elena's parent's property. The lake house loomed in the distance and the stars in the night sky reflected brightly in the lake.

"Welcome to your new home for the next couple of days," I said trying to sound cheery.

Riley looked around skeptically.

"Are you sure we're safe here?"

"Yes," I promised, getting out of the car and motioning for her to do the same. "Besides, your safe no matter where you are with me around. I am a vampire, or have you forgotten."

A small smile touched Riley's lips then, even though it was faint. I grabbed the bags from the back seat and started carrying them towards the lake house. Within a few seconds the lock was broken, and I set the luggage inside the door, turning to Riley.

"You coming?" I asked, expecting her to follow me inside.

Instead, she stood by the car still, looking towards the calm water of the lake where the pier jutted off out into the water.

"I think I'm going to stay out here for a few a while," she said absently. "Could you give me a few minutes?"

Reluctantly, I agreed and made my way into the house. Taking our bags up to the main bedroom on the second floor, I emptied their contents and returned downstairs expecting to see that Riley had returned to the house. When she hadn't, I looked towards the pier through the large windows facing the lake.

Riley sat on the edge of the dock, her knees pulled to her chest. I followed her gaze into the sky, stopping at the waxing moon that hung there. Only the very edge was still covered in darkness. Two days and the consequence of Riley's actions would be upon us.

Through the silence of the night, I could just make out the sniffles coming from her direction outside and the faint shimmer of tears streaking down her cheeks. An audible sob racked her frame and somewhere in the distance a wolf howled at the moon.

A/N: Poor Riley : ( Let me know what you think! Review make me happy!