"Rebekah, come down here." Esther called in her 'do what I'm saying or you'll regret it' tone, forcing a smile on her face that was far sweeter than she was while her icy blue eyes locked on Rebekah, making a chill run down the girls spine.
Rebekah exchanged a look with Caroline and the pair moved slowly down the stairs in sync, Caroline heading into the living room where Rebekah's brothers were staring at the scene while Rebekah stopped short in front of Elena, scowling as she swept her eyes up and down the girl before turning to her father, "This is a joke, right? I've nearly been kidnapped four times, and this is what you hire to keep me safe?"
"Now Rebekah-." Mikael started, not used to his daughter ever questioning or talking back to him.
"No!" Rebekah interrupted, her face turning red with anger, "men grabbed me and tried to take me, and you hire this to protect me? What is she going to do if men grab at me again? She'll just end up getting taken; this is a joke." She seethed.
Elena cleared her throat, Rebekah's angry blue eyes swung to her, "Seeing as they were incompetent enough to have not successfully taken you I doubt they'll even try if there is a second person around."
"There's no guaranteeing that." Rebekah hissed, turning back to her father, "next time you hire someone to save me don't call my ex!" Rebekah yelled, her father's face turned red as Rebekah stormed into the living room.
"What is it about me that has you in such a snit?" Elena asked, spinning slowly so her eyes followed Rebekah's path.
"If I get nearly kidnapped again it'd be more useful to have Kol following me around all the time." She gestured toward her brother who was sprawled out in the arm chair in a pair of grey sweat pants and wrinkled t-shirt, his hair sticking up in random directions while his brown eyes stared lifelessly at the TV screen.
"Please, I could kick his ass. He'd be useless in protecting you." Elena declared, "he'd overreact. And I doubt he could take on a full grown man in a fight. Kidnapping is not like boxing."
Kol's attention was drawn to Elena when she mentioned boxing, "Do you honestly think you could take me?"
"I wouldn't even break a sweat." Elena laughed at a joke nobody else in the room seemed to understand while Kol's chest puffed up and his cheeks turned red from a mix of anger and embarrassment, Elena arched an eyebrow in challenge.
"I wouldn't want to hurt you." Kol huffed, turning away, crossing his arms over his chest.
"You couldn't even come close." Elena replied easily her eyes moving back toward Rebekah's father, "Anyways, I've already gone by the campus and done my research there, and the house is pretty safe, so I'd like a list of the other places she was almost kidnapped so I can look at them and figure out what their minimal thought process was in trying to nab her there."
"Of course, Rebekah can you write that list up?" Mikael asked his face no longer red., Rebekah nodded mutely while anger burned in Nik's eyes, Elena noticed this and eyed him curiously, noting that he was very protective of his sister.
"She was attacked twice outside the school, once outside the Grill, and another time outside of a club a town over called Tempest." Niklaus told Elena, his angry stare locked on his father. Elena typed this into her phone and nodded her head slowly.
"Thanks, do you go by Nik or Klaus?" she asked, without looking up.
"Klaus." He muttered.
Elena nodded and glanced toward Elijah, "Full name or a nickname?" she asked.
"Why do you want to know?" Kol asked.
"Because if I'm posing as a friend it would be strange for me to be calling you by your full names if you go by something else, wouldn't it?" Elena's tone made Elijah crack a smile; she talked to Kol in the way someone would talk to a child.
"I go by Elijah; it's a pleasure to meet you, Elena."
Elena smiled briefly, it wasn't forced, but Rebekah noted that it also wasn't a true smile, "likewise."
Esther clapped her hands together and her forced smile amped up to full wattage as she directed Elena through the house to her room, directly across the hall from Rebekah's, and then announced she was heading to work. Mikael moved into his study without another word.
Without a word to her brothers she grabbed Caroline's wrist and dragged her upstairs, sending a glare toward the closed door of the guest room before she stepped into her room and shut the door behind her.
"Seriously he hired a girl to protect me. He couldn't even get someone with some muscle or something? No he gets a tiny girl what's she going to do? Scare him off with her bad attitude?"
Caroline laughed, "She's such a total biker chick," Caroline gasped, "I bet she has a tramp stamp!" the pair exchanged a mock-horrified look and briefly dissolved into a fit of giggles, giving Rebekah a nice reprieve from the sense of doom bubbling in her stomach.
"I mean seriously Beks, she's got a point, at least she's better than nothing. It's the Salvatore's fault they sent a chick, not hers." Caroline reasoned, "cut her some slack maybe she'll be I don't know…better?"
"He should know better than to call and ask my ex to help protect me." Rebekah muttered digging around in her closet while Caroline changed from the bathing suit back into her shorts and tank top, slipping on her ankle boots before pulling out her phone. Rebekah pulled out a pair of blue jean shorts and a double layered tank top; she put them on and then pulled on a pair of tan heels, her eyes straying toward her bed. Part of her just wanted to crawl right back under those sheets and never come out.
Caroline saw her longing gaze and frowned, "Well forget about that. We're going to the Grill to have a fun time!" Caroline grinned, touching up her makeup. Rebekah plastered a smile on her face, pulling open her door, "go ask her to at least change."
"I will." Rebekah crossed the hall and poised to knock on the door just as it opened, Rebekah's heart jumped into her throat and Elena smirked. Rebekah put her hand on her chest and took a few steps back. "We're going to the Grill with Klaus and Kol."
"Okay." Elena turned around and walked back to her bed, Rebekah noticed that she'd changed into a pair of light blue jean shorts and a lavender tank top, she'd even pulled her hair down so it fell in waves down her back. She also noted that Elena did not, in fact, have a tramp stamp when the girl bent over to get something from her bag on the floor and the purple tank top rode up to reveal creamy unmarked tanned skin.
Once Elena was ready the girls headed down the stairs where they joined Klaus and Kol and went out to Klaus's SUV. Caroline, Rebekah and Kol sat in the back while Elena sat up front and they told her various things about each place, people and friends the recognized and places Rebekah had felt creeped out in the past two months, upon Elena's request.
When they got to the Grill Rebekah and Caroline went straight for a table where a bunch of guys were playing pool while Elena lingered by Klaus, sitting down with him and Kol across the bar, "she's helpful." Rebekah muttered, Caroline followed her glare across the Grill to the table Elena, Kol and Klaus were sitting and just shook her head.
"Rebekah, hey how are you feeling?" Matt called when the blondes joined the group at the pool table; he gave her a half hug and smiled down at her.
Rebekah smiled meekly up at him, "I'm better now. Thanks for the help the other day." Matt smiled down at her, gave her a quick half hug and then moved away to take his turn at the table. Rebekah sighed and joined Caroline and some old friends from school sitting at a nearby table, she tried to listen to the gossip and participate but she was too busy watching every door and window and glaring at her useless body guard to be much help. The tanned girl was in some deep conversation with Klaus and hardly even looking anywhere but at her brother.
"Earth to Beks." Caroline snapped her fingers in Rebekah's face, "we're going to a club tonight with the guys, you wanna come?"
"Uh…sure." Rebekah mumbled. Part of her really wanted to say no but the other part of her desired not having to hide in fear of something that might happen. Elena had a point earlier when she said she might not be attacked if she wasn't alone, Rebekah had never been attacked when her friends were around so going to the club should be fine.
When they got back home to get ready Rebekah went straight for the bathroom. She turned on the radio, turning it up as loud as she could, and started running the water in her tub while she grabbed shaving cream and a razor. After soaking her legs in the warm water she spread the shaving cream over her legs and slowly shaved her legs, trying to figure out what she wanted to wear.
By the time she was done shaving she had her entire outfit planned, now excited to go out she stepped out of the bathroom and went to knock on Elena's door to let her know, when she knocked the door swung open and she watched the dark haired girl hastily close the lid of her suitcase, "we're going over to Tempest tonight." Rebekah told her, eyeing the bag suspiciously.
"Okay. I guess I should shower and change then." Elena replied, turning away from the bag to grab a towel from the night stand along with a hair brush and a bag of what Rebekah assumed to be makeup wipes. She shrugged and backed away from Elena's room, going into her own.
After turning on her bedroom radio she sat down at her vanity to start fixing her hair separating it into layers to begin the lengthy process of straightening her blond locks. Elena was out of the shower and back in her room blow drying her hair before Rebekah was finished with her third of four layers, and by the time she was done with her hair she heard Elena step out of her room and move down the stairs just before the door bell rang.
Rebekah tiptoed out of her room, hearing Elena's voice and peered down the stairs. She was talking to Damon, holding a brown paper bag in her hand, and she looked like she'd rather be talking to anyone else, but Rebekah couldn't make out the words she was saying. She tiptoed back into her room before she could be caught snooping and shut the door almost all the way again so Elena wouldn't know she came out.
Elena passed the room almost silently, shutting her bedroom door behind her. Rebekah heard the paper bag rustle, then silence, and then the sound of someone crumpling it up. She wasn't too sure what Damon would be bringing the girl but she didn't really care anyways, she finished up her hair put on some face powder, eyeliner, mascara and lip gloss before changing into a dress that had a pink flowing skirt that stopped above her knee and a halter style top that was cut out like a bra with a bow design on it and thick straps.
She dug around in her closet to find the box with her favorite black pumps inside and tossed them onto her bed while she searched through her jewelry for a necklace to wear, she clipped her favorite silver chain with a small arrow pendant on the end around her neck before she put on her heels and stepped into the hall.
"Elena, are you ready?"
"Yeah." Elena replied, stepping out of the room and pulling the door shut behind her. Rebekah's eyes scanned over the girls outfit, a blue dress with a low cut square neckline that was belted at the waist with a cropped black jacket and a pair of black heels to match. She paused at the door to take a ring off of her finger and tucked it into the zipper pocket of her jacket before she started down the stairs ahead of Rebekah.
"You have pink high lights in your hair." Rebekah commented when they were outside waiting for Caroline on the porch, "Were those there earlier?"
"Yes." Elena replied, leaning on the porch railing, "they're underneath so you can't see them if my hair isn't curled."
"They make you look less intimidating."
"That's why I hide them when I want to look intimidating and have them out when I don't." she sighed, her eyes scanning the dark sky for the moon which was hidden behind a number of clouds but was still shinning brightly, "Full moon tonight." She murmured.
"Yeah. All the werewolves must be out." Rebekah laughed, sitting down on the porch swing and pulling out her phone. Elena snorted in response, "Caroline said she'll be here soon, she had to drop her boyfriend off somewhere."
"Okay." Mumbled, pulling out her phone. Rebekah's eyes scanned through the dark, nerves bubbling up in her stomach almost out of nowhere; maybe this wasn't a good idea after all. Caroline showed up before she could change her mind and run back into the house, and talked a mile a minute the entire way their. Unlike at the Grill, Elena stuck beside the pair most of the night, as if they'd been friends for years, laughing, drinking and dancing with them like she'd always been there.
Rebekah couldn't help but marvel at how quickly Elena could go from being this strange, cold, cut off person to a college party girl in such a short amount of time, this girl who was about as drunk as she was, was supposed to be protecting her, instead she was doing shots at the bar with Caroline.
Scowling at the pair Rebekah pushed through the crowd, stumbling slightly, and into the rather dirty ladies room to touch up her makeup, wondering if they would even notice that she'd gone. About five minutes later neither had called to check on her whereabouts, "that's it, I've nearly been kidnapped but shots are more important than me." she grumbled, storming out of the bathroom ready to go give them a piece of her mind when a hand clamped over her mouth and another wrapped around her body.
This person was stronger than the others, she felt like he could break her body without much effort and all of her screaming and kicking did no good as she was carried out the door and into the back alley where he threw her on the ground, another man was waiting outside and he grinned when he saw her, "so this is what he's after, she's nothing special." He mused, "certainly not one of the five, so why?"
"Who cares, lets just kill her." Rebekah's hands started to tremble, kill? They'd only wanted to take her before now they were going to kill her?
Tears sprung to her eyes, "please, don't kill me, I'll do whatever you want please don't kill-."
The man glared at her, "shut up." Like magic Rebekah's words died in her throat. The second man laughed while the other crouched in front of her with malice shining in his dark eyes, "there is only two things you are good for. Dying or-." He didn't get to finish, almost like she appeared out of nowhere Elena was their, grabbing the back of the man's shirt and tossing him like a rag doll across the alley way.
She grabbed the second man and threw him aside as well before looking down at Rebekah and locking eyes with her, "run."
Without much control over her body Rebekah was on her feet and running, she wasn't sure where she was going but she wasn't going to stop. She heard a lot of fighting behind her and feared the worst for Elena, but she couldn't stop running, not even to pick up her shoes when they fell off.
She only stopped when she ran straight into another body, hitting the ground hard. When she looked up she found Bonnie Bennett sitting across from her, "watch where you're going next time."
"I'm sorry." Rebekah whispered, "these men grabbed me and Elena-oh my god Elena." Rebekah turned, ready to run back and check on the girl when she rounded the corner, jogging slowly, with Rebekah's shoes in one hand.
"Do you know her?" Bonnie asked.
"Yeah, she's Elena." Rebekah replied, "My uh friend, visiting from out of town."
"Hey, are you okay?" Elena asked once she reached them, handing Rebekah back her shoes, eyes scanning over the girl, "they didn't do anything to you, did they?"
"They threatened to kill me." Rebekah replied, shuddering, "but no they didn't hurt me."
"Good, Caroline is over there, go home, stay in your room, do not invite anyone inside, okay?" Rebekah nodded, her head swimming with confusion as she walked away, watching Bonnie and Elena talk before the pair started back toward the alley. But she followed Elena's instructions and got into the car with Caroline.
"Take me home." She whispered.
"Where's Elena?"
"Dropped her phone somewhere." Rebekah lied, Caroline glanced back at the pair turning into the alley before she started her car and headed back toward Rebekah's house. When she got inside she turned to watch Caroline leave before she locked the front door, and checked the other locks, and went into the kitchen.
Lying on the counter was a note from her parents, they'd been called away on emergencies and her brothers were all in the next down over for Kol's boxing match. She crumpled the paper up and threw it away as she walked to the cabinet, grabbing herself a glass of water and a pack of poptarts before she went up to her room where she dragged her curtains closed and changed out of her dress into a large tshirt and some sleep pants, wiped her makeup off and sat down to watch a movie on Netflix to numb her mind.
Her hand went to reach for her necklace to rub the charm between her fingers when she noticed it was missing. she pulled her knees up to her chest and stared blankly at the TV for the next hour, until she heard someone jiggling the door handle trying to get in. Grabbing her softball bat from her closet before she left her room, Rebekah slowly moved down the stairs, reached for the lock, readied her bat and opened the door, "Elena." She sighed in relief.
"Just me." Elena confirmed, stepping inside, shutting the door behind her, "you make it home okay?"
"Yeah, Caroline's a speedy driver." Rebekah mumbled, "What happened to those guys? Why did you go back into the alley?"
"I dropped my phone." Elena replied, "those guys are probably taking themselves to a hospital right now."
"How do you know Bonnie?"
"I know her family."
"Pretty convenient for her to just show up like that and go into the alley with you, and for you to show up right before they were about to kill me." Rebekah snapped, "you had time to grab my shoes but not your phone?"
"I didn't know I lost my phone." Elena growled, "and Tempest is the only club in the area it is not that suspicious that a college girl showed up at the only one around."
"I don't know why we should trust you, we don't even know your last name." Rebekah hissed.
"Gilbert." Elena snapped.
Rebekah paused, her eyebrows knitting together, "like the Gilbert founding family?"
"Yes." Elena's eyes took on a hard edge, "now is there anything else you would like to know?"
"How the hell are you alive? They all died in the 1800's." Rebekah crossed her arms over her chest, she hated being lied too.
"My parents moved out of Mystic Falls before they family died, that's how I'm still alive. Jonathan Gilbert and his family died, but not his sister's family, they were living over in New York." Elena replied, "If you checked your town's history you'd know that his sister Isobel moved away when she married a traveler."
Rebekah narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Elena before she spun and went into her room, shutting the door roughing. She heard Elena go into her room, the door shut almost silently. Rebekah dropped roughly into her bed, grabbing a pillow and holding it against her chest, her face buried in the soft fabric, turning on her TV to drown out the silence.
The Buffy theme song startled her out of her motionless stupor sometime later, scaring her half to death, but fully pulling her attention to the screen instead of wallowing on the almost kidnapping almost murder, instead she found herself getting lost in the world of vampires and demons without much complaint. Although the creepy demon on the screen was giving her the heebie-jeebies, she still let herself get sucked into the show anyways.
The next episode was starting when Elena knocked on the door, "are you feeling okay?" she asked, sticking her head inside, "are you watching Buffy?" she
"Yeah." Rebekah mumbled, moving over on the bed silently. Elena stepped into the room and sat down on the bed beside her, crossing her legs and leaning her elbows on her knees to watch the episode, the pair eventually moving downstairs to get popcorn and cookies, sitting down on the couch to watch a marathon of the show on Netflix.
"So vampires, that's your kinda thing?" Elena asks around 3 am, the pair had been camped out on the couch talking for nearly two hours now, Rebekah babbling on and on about writing, and fiction and things that help her escape.
"I mean I think it's cool, from afar, but a creature that will live forever and could kill you without much effort? That'd be terrifying if they were real." Rebekah shuddered, "but I imagine, if they were, they'd be pretty damn lonely, living forever, watching their loved ones die."
"So you wouldn't want to live forever?"
"No." Rebekah didn't even stop to ponder the question, "I don't want to watch my children die. I want to grow old with the one I love, have babies and watch them have babies and die before they do, nobody should have to see their children die. I mean imagine watching your child grow old and die without being able to see them? To say goodbye? That would be the worst."
"It would be." Elena's voice sounded hallow and lifeless, it made Rebekah's heart twist, but she didn't know why, "but I think the worst part would be having to remember them, all about them, night after night, having to remember that those people existed and now they don't, and you're all alone." Rebekah stared at Elena silently, watching the way her dark brown eyes seemed so much older than an 18 year olds eyes, haunted and terrified, and very, very lonely. But Elena quickly turned a smile onto her face and the look disappeared, "anyways, I think we should head up to bed. Getting kinda tired."
"Okay." Rebekah whispered, following Elena's quick path up the stairs, stopping to watch the girl slip into the guest room silently, shutting the door with a click. Sighing softly she walked into her own bedroom, collapsing against the bed, her arms wrapping around her pillow. She hadn't realized just how tired she felt until her eyes drooped closed and everything seemed slow until she was fast asleep.
A/N: Sorry this took so long to update, got distracted by my NaNoWriMo novel. But finally a new chapter.