For the most part Riley's presence was nothing but comforting, but there was just something about him that made you take one look into those eyes and say, 'that boy is not normal.' Crazy, I know that for the most part. Maybe it was the way I would catch him sneaking peeks at me when he thought I wasn't looking. He of all people should know that a vampire needs to be a little bit more careful with those kind of things. But I had to remind myself that even though he was well over a 100 years he was also a kid at heart. So maybe it wasn't that weird that he had the tiniest crush on me. The weird part was that I could have passed as his evil sisters twin. It's not like he was exactly making a show of anything…but all the same I could tell these things. I didn't have a choice though. He was my ticket to Damon. That was only if he kept truthful to his word though.

"How exactly do you want to do this?"

I looked up from the book I was more or less reading. Riley has walked into my room- not knocking like any other vampire would- and looked at me with those intense eyes. His beauty radiated through out the room like a crystal to a mirror. My confusion couldn't help but seep through. "What do you mean?" I had a feeling that I should have known what he was talking about, but my head was still fuzzy from passing out a couple of days ago.

He rolled his eyes. Such a kid. "I meant what do you want to do about my sister."

I just looked at him as he sat down beside me on my bed. "That's you're job." I said as flipped a page from my book. I was trying to find the part where the princess found her knight and they lived a happily ever after, lived in a castle and had three fairy kids.

I tried to keep my eyes from Riley but I could tell they were burning holes into my head. I wasn't being entirely fair. He couldn't have been expected to do all the scheming.

I watched as the book was torn from my hands and thrown across the hall, creating a puff of smoke and a small crack in the wall. "Are you even taking any of this seriously? Damon could be dead and you act like it's nothing. Last time I checked you were supposed to love him!"

I flinched. This had struck a nerve. I had spent all the time pretending that everything was going to be okay and Riley was my light of hope in a small dark closet. So like any child I just hung my head and gulped down the tears.

"Sorry. I am just trying to say that if I had the chance to do some things over again I would have made a plan A, B and C. But if you really want my help then you also need to help."

My eyes went up to look out the window, bright and made with different types of colors. I quickly caught my reflection and then just as quickly looked away. I didn't feel like looking at myself these kind of days.

"Yeah, okay." I climbed down from the bed, forcing his unusual closeness away. What exactly was it with vampire boys and their confidence know-a-days. The unnerving reason to laugh bubbled up in my throat. I quickly pulled it together.

I walked closer to the window that held the collage of colors, trying to figure out which one I liked better. I held my stare for the longest time until I figures out that Riley was waiting for me to say something, anything. He was as uncertain as me. My level of vampire experience was sadly lacking. We couldn't charm our way out of this one, that was for sure.

"It sure would be nice to know where she was hiding them." I said this mostly to myself, almost unaware of anyone's presence. But something about Riley's silence was weird. That was the time for him to agree with me or at least something reassuring that would make me feel more on the same page with him.

I turned around to find Riley nervously picking at his nails, something I knew no male, vampire or no vampire, would do if he was not nervous. "We don't know where they are, right?" I waited for the response.

"Well, I know where they are but I was kinda hoping that we could have a plan before we just went barging in there like nobody's business."

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. This was just too much work. I thought for a while and then spoke again. "Does Katherine still trust you?" He gave me a confusing look so I continued. "Does she suspect anything, I mean? Does she know that your trying to help me?"

Riley shrugged. "No. As far as she's concerned I just took a road trip to god knows where. She trusts that I will be killing people and not helping you."

I snorted. "Some sister you have going for you there. Does she even realize how much damage she's done?" I was pacing back and forth the room now.

"Please, we're talking about the women who used to torture bunnies when she was 12."

The thought was disgusting in it's self, but it made me smile to think that Katherine is not the opposed mask she fakes everyone into thinking. She was as every bit as crazy as the Mad Hatter.

I shook my head some to clear it. "So how about you just go to where she's stowing them, distract her while I sneak to where Damon and Stefan are, feed them some of my blood so they will have the strength to kill her."

This time Riley was the one to flinch, "We have to kill her."

I looked Riley in the eye and put my hand on his shoulder. "If we ever want Damon and Stefan back then yes." I couldn't help but miss that troubling look on his usually masked face. "It's the only way, Riley." I said this quietly, trying to calm him down. "it's for the best."

I took a step back while Riley shook his head over and over again. "You don't understand how powerful she is. She will have sensed you coming. If she doesn't then when I am trying to distract her then she will hear you. If Stefan had the chance to kill her over and over again then why don't you think she's not dead already? It's because she's just too strong. I don't think we could just win this and expect to walk away. And what happens if we did kill her? She had friends that would come chasing after us. More powerful, deadly friends who wouldn't stop until her vengeance is covered."

I all but gaped at him. That was the longest thing he had said since he was charged with breaking and entering into the boarding house. So this kid really did know what he was talking about. Kid… that reminded me.

"So how old are you exactly Mister Smarty Pants? If you're so old and wise then why don't I just drop down next to you're feet and pray?" Great, know who sounded like the kid?

Riley crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his foot. "it's considered rude to ask somebody their age, didn't anybody ever tell you that?"

I cocked an eyebrow. "Not likely. So really, how old are you, Squirt? When you were turned, I mean. Thirteen? Fourteen? I just want to know that I am not putting my fate in the hands in a kid."

Riley rolled his eyes. He seemed like he was used to this stress induced behavior.

"Not that old," he finally said "just seventeen."

I scoffed. Like that babyish face was ever going to be that old. "Right, and I'm the bride of Frankenstein."

Riley flashed a brilliant smile in my direction and walked towards the door. "I don't know Elena. Stranger things have happened."

He was gone even before I could reply.

"Are you sure this is going to work? Can we even trust the guy."

I nudged his shoulder from across the car. "We can trust him. He had all the vampire weapons you can ever dream of…and more."

"I don't know. Vampire and vampire weapons don't sound like they would really mix."

I rolled my eyes. "When you're a Mystic Falls vampire they do."

It turned out that Riley wasn't kidding when he said he was seventeen, even though I still wasn't entirely convinced, but his drivers license begged to differ. Outside the scenery was perfect and serene, like it had been for the past couple of days. The sky a perfect blue, the grass a perfect green, the trees swaying in the breeze perfectly. Everything was just so…perfect.

"Worst type of weather there is." Riley sighed beside me after a couple of minutes.

I was about to ask why that was when I remembered what Damon had told me. The ring only protected you from the sun, not from the suns harmful rays against your eyes. I quickly looked at Riley's chest. No lapis Lazuli necklace. I looked down at his fingers resting on the steering wheel. Nope, nothing there either. Weird.

"Where's you're protection?"

Riley jumped a little and looked at me strangely. "Where's my what?"

I shifted uncomfortably, realizing what it just sounded like when I said that. The last thing I needed to give him was unnecessary confidence that would get us nowhere. I cleared my throat and tried again. "I meant where is your ring? The one that protects me from the sun?"

"Oh, that protection." He chuckled a little. "That," He lifted a lock of his deep chocolate hair from his ear and when he did it shone a sparkly bluish earring. "Is on my ear."

I grinned. "Now that, my friend, is what I would want if I were ever a vampire." I expected him to laugh with me but actually gave me a sad sort of grimace.

"I have to tell you something."

I looked over at him some more. I hoped this wasn't to serious. "Okay. What is it."

"Alright, don't get too mad at me. Before I left to find you I talked to Damon."

A deep pounding was protruding my brain. "And…"

"Well, he said that if you were going to come with me and try to get them back then I would need to do something for him." I tried to ignore the big heaving sigh he gave at the end of that sentence. "He said that I had to give you some of my blood."

At first I didn't even get what he was saying. It didn't even possess fast enough. But then it set in. I tried to keep my voice calm. "And why would he say that?" My voice was still shaky.

"Come on, Elena. Your not that naïve. We don't know that you will come out of this alive. I don't even know if I will come out of this alive."

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. "But she's you're sister. She can't do that."

"Sure she can. I come at her, she comes at me. She wont stop until she gets wants."

"And what is that exactly? My misery? She already has that. If she want my pain then she already has that too. There is nothing more that I could give her that she wants. Nothing."

Out of the corner of my eye I caught Riley shaking his head. "She wants you to know what it feels like to die of a broken heart."

Sounded like a riddle to me. What was that supposed to mean? You can't die of a broken heart. If you could then who am I to say that I would still be breathing, standing, living?

"So I'm guessing that she never told you how she died."

"Gee, no. Never really had the pleasure of sitting down and talking to her about it." I hoped he caught my little bit of sarcasm there.

"Well, I guess that she had this vampire lover that she adored so much that she would do anything to be with him. Of course I was only three so I never really witnessed anything."

"What happened to him?" There was never a happy ending to these stories.

"He got staked by an old enemy. Katherine says that she died of a broken heart the next day. And then she woke up as a blood sucking monster. Of course they had exchanged blood so when she died the change started to take effect. She waited until I was older to turn me-" He must have stopped because of my gasp I didn't hide.

He grinned. "Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you that. She changed me on my seventeenth birthday. Happy birthday to me. You see, at the time I also had a…vampire girlfriend. One day Katherine just came up to me said 'see you on the other side, brother' then snapped my neck like a twig. All in front of my family I might add. They also thought that Katherine had died fourteen years ago so you can see how it came as a double shock."

That was honestly the most insane story I had ever heard. I was rattled to the bone. How could Katherine ever be that cruel? Even to her own brother. She was one branch short of a tree that was for sure.

I was about to say something else when the car came to a stop.

"Is this it?"

I looked around, confused know that I was out of my hazy stupor of vampires and their insane stories.

"Yeah." I grimaced. "This is it."

That sentence sounded more true then ever. We were dealing with a true psycho path here. I hope we were all ready for what was about to come. Or at least I hope Riley was.

"So what do you guys need these things for again?"

I stood at the door of Alaric Saltzmans' house. We decided that it was not a good idea to clue Rick in on what we were doing in fear that he would try to stop us or something crazy like that. He also didn't know that Riley was a vampire…well what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. I hoped.

"Oh nothing. Just going to take a cruz. You can never be to prepared." I winked at Rick, "You know what I mean."