Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

55. The Hunter Games

"I didn't know what else to do!" Caroline said. She and Riley were lying in bed next to each other before school. "It just... happened."

"You could have not told Stefan that Elena and Damon slept together?" Riley suggested, remembering again the re-told story of Caroline's latest mistake. "Y'know, just in case you didn't want to bring his world crashing down around him." Caroline groaned and pulled the blanket over her head. "How did he take it?"

She removed the blanket from her face and looked at Riley with her eyebrow raised. "How do you think he took it?"

Riley sighed. "Do you think we need to get Stefan laid?"

Caroline spluttered, sitting up. "Absolutely not! Elena will realize her mistake and get back together with Stefan. She has to. Damon is... awful."

Riley closed her eyes. It was becoming an unwritten rule between the girls that they would always agree to disagree about the oldest Salvatore brother.

There was a knock on their door, effectively ending the conversation.

"Come in!" they called in unison. Immediately their parents came into the room, both looking tired and troubled in equal measure.

"We have something to tell you," Chris said solemnly, sitting on the end of the bed.

"What is it?" Caroline asked, the sinister atmosphere causing her vampire heart to beat quickly.

Liz sighed. "Carol Lockwood was found dead last night. She drowned."

"What?" Riley asked incredulously. "What happened?"

"Officially, it's being ruled an accident," Chris informed her. "Unofficially... we don't know."

Caroline took a deep breath. "Tyler," she said softly. His mom was all he had, she couldn't even imagine what he was going through. "I have to talk to him."

Quickly she stood up, walking to the closet so that her family couldn't see the tears in her eyes. She shouldn't be crying, she should be helping Tyler.

"There's a mandatory assembly at the school," Liz continued. "You don't have to go if it's too hard, but it might be nice for you to support Tyler."

"We'll be there, mom," Caroline assured her.

"She'll be there," Riley corrected. "If it's alright with you guys... maybe I could skip school? If I have to go the whole day thinking about someone killing the mayor I'll go crazy."

Her father smiled, kissing her forehead. "One day," he warned her, determined that she would get a good education despite the occasional deaths and other vampire-related incidents.

When they left the room, Caroline got changed.

"Are you OK?" Riley asked her.

"No," her future sister admitted sadly. "But it's not about me. Tyler needs me." Then she left the room and went on her way to school, calling Tyler multiple times as she went.

Riley pulled her phone off her desk and called Damon.

"What's up?" he answered. She smiled at the sound of his normal-sounding voice. If she went to school, she'd be shrouded in a cloud of sadness. There was nothing sad about Damon.

"Are you still at Elena's parent's lake house training Mr. Mini Hunter?"

"Training's a strong word," Damon said. "More like supervising an idiot hunter and his idiot busboy friend. Why? You need an escape?"

"Desperately," she admitted. "Do you have room for one more?"

"No," he said, mock-sighing. "But I'm sure you'll come anyway."