A/N: Thank you all for subscribing to my new story. I really hope you're enjoying it so far. Let me know what you think. Your feedback is very much appreciated :)
CHAPTER 12 – THE LAST DAY
The next morning Rhiannon woke up to feeling Elijah's lips brush against her forehead.
"I could definitely get used to waking up like this," she mumbled sleepily, stretching out on the bed making Elijah hum contently against her hair. "Good morning," she said and sat up on the bed giving him a quick kiss.
She was about to get up and head to the bathroom when she felt his grip on her arm as he pulled her into his lap and kissed her in a way that had her literally swoon. After a while he broke the kiss and murmured: "Good morning to you too."
"I should probably get ready," she said trying to pry herself out of his grasp but failing miserably. "C'mon, got a big day ahead of us... you know... evil younger Brother trying to break a freaky curse... does that sound familiar?" she jabbed smothered against his chest.
"You're ruining the moment," he said jokingly still refusing to let her go.
"Well, how 'bout we get this over with and then have as many moments as we want," she bargained.
Elijah just smirked and gave her one last quick peck on her upper lip before mumbling: "Deal."
"Tonight is a full moon," Elijah said standing behind and armchair Rhiannon plopped into unceremoniously. "We should assume that Klaus is prepared to break the curse."
"Elena said that The sun and the moon curse is fake," Stefan chimed in questioningly. "That's actually just a curse placed on Klaus."
"Klaus is a vampire born of a werewolf bloodline," Elijah elaborated. "The curse has kept his werewolf aspect from manifesting, but if he breaks it, he'll be a true hybrid," he continued looking down at Elena.
"Then why are we letting him break the curse?" Damon asked walking into the study. "We can kill him today, with Bonnie."
"Damon," Stefan said pleadingly.
"No," Elena retorted resolutely. "Bonnie can't use that much power without dying."
"I'll write her a great eulogy," Damon quipped making Rhiannon's blood boil with rage.
"It's not an option Damon!" she growled at him. "Bonnie's not dying and neither is Elena! How about you have a little faith in Elijah's plan?!"
"Alright, how do we break this curse?" Stefan asked trying to get the conversation back on track.
"Well, the ritual itself is relatively straightforward," Elijah started. "The ingredients, so to speak, you already know."
"The moonstone," Stefan chimed in.
"A witch will channel the power of the full moon to release the spell that's bound within the stone. After that Klaus being both werewolf and vampire will sacrifice one of each," he continued.
"And where do I fit into it?" Elena asked.
"The final part of the ritual," Elijah said walking behind Rhiannon to retrieve a wooden box. "Klaus must drink the blood of the doppelganger to the point of your death," he said making everybody in the room cringe at that idea.
"And that's where you come in," Elena retorted brushing off the news about her awaiting demise.
"This is an elixir I acquired some five hundred years ago for Katerina," Elijah retorted opening the small box and retrieving and ancient-looking bottle. "It possesses mystical properties of resuscitation."
"So I'll be dead," Elena said.
"And then you won't," Elijah finished putting the elixir back into the box.
"That's your plan?" Damon asked incredulously. "A magical witch potion with no expiration date? You wanna come back to life, what about John's ring?"
"Those rings only work on humans," Elijah shot him down. "The doppelganger's a supernatural occurrence, the odds are, the ring won't."
"I'll take those odds over your elixir," Damon bit back. "What if it doesn't work Elena?"
"Then I guess I'll just be dead," she said calmly making Damon look at Stefan incredulously and him sighing in defeat. Then he just stormed off.
"Do we know if Klaus has everything he needs to do this?" Elena asked looking at Rhiannon. "Does he have a werewolf?"
"Klaus has been waiting to break this curse for over a thousand years, Elijah said sitting on the armrest next to Rhiannon. "If he doesn't already have a werewolf, my guess is by tonight, he will," he continued looking at Rhiannon pointedly. She knew what message he was trying to convey. 'Either stay put or don't leave my sight, it's all too dangerous'.
Stefan then left to talk to Damon, leaving Elena in the study with Rhiannon and Elijah. He was still planted on the armrest next to Rhiannon who was playing with the hem of her T-shirt nervously. He placed his hand on her shoulder, rubbing it soothingly: "It'll all work out, don't worry."
"I know, but I can't help but feel a little nervous," she mumbled shooting a small smile his way.
"Oh my god, Rhiannon," Elena murmured. "Tonight's the full moon. I completely forgot about it. What are you gonna do? I should call Caroline, she'll show you the old Lockwood cellar Tyler was using or something."
"Elena!" Rhiannon had to raise her voice to get her snap out of her panicked rambling. "You don't have to worry about me. Elijah took care of that as well," she said looking up at him and smiling. "He had Jonas spell this necklace to shield me from the full moon so I don't have to turn unless I want to."
"But… what? Why…?" she was completely befuddled. She knew there was something going on between the two of them, but she had no idea it was that serious. "Wow," she whispered after she saw the look on Elijah's face as he was looking back at her friend, and came closer to inspect the necklace. "It's beautiful."
"Right?" Rhiannon smiled. "It'll all be alright Elena. I trust Elijah and I know you trust him too."
"I do," Elena said. "I just wish Damon would understand why I´m willing to do this."
"Why are you?" Elijah asked intrigued.
"I'm the key to breaking the curse," Elena said. "Klaus is here because of me. If I don't stop him, he's gonna hurt people. It's that simple."
"You know that there's a possibility this elixir won't work," Elijah said solemnly. "I don't wanna mislead you."
"I know the chance I'm taking," Elena said and Rhiannon hugged her tight, letting a few stray tears flow down her face.
They were interrupted by the sound of door being slammed shut and Jenna yelling at somebody to get out. They all hurried to the hallway and came to the sight of Jenna pointing a crossbow at much freaked out Alaric.
"What's going on?" Elena asked cautiously.
"It's me Elena, I swear. Okay?" Alaric pleaded. "He let me go. Klaus let me go.
"Proove it," Damon chimed in.
"Okay. Uumm, first night you and I spent together, Jeremy walked in right when I was—"
"Okay! It's him!" Jenna yelled, clearly embarrassed, and put the crossbow down.
"Why did he let you go?" Stefan asked.
"He wanted me to deliver a message," Alaric retorted looking glum. "The sacrifice happens tonight."
Upon hearing that, Rhiannon buried her face into Elijah's chest and he instantly wrapped his arm around her, caressing her shoulder soothingly with his other arm. Damon and the others were looking at them as if they saw a couple of ghosts, but he didn't care anymore.
"We should probably talk," he deadpanned sending them all a look that clearly said to mind their own business and walked towards the foyer with Rhiannon huddled under his arm.
They were all sitting in the foyer, talking about Alaric's time as Klaus while Elena left to go check on Damon. Rhiannon saw Elijah, who was leaning on the backrest of her armchair, tense and second later, Stefan was vamp-speeding upstairs.
"What happened?!" Rhiannon asked jumping out of her seat to run after him but was stopped by Elijah.
"Damon just fed Elena his blood," he said solemnly. "I think it's best if you stay out of this. It looks like it's going to get ugly. I guess I can go pack the elixir. Come with me?"
It turned out Elijah was right when a minute later, bruised and bloody Damon walked into the study to get a drink.
"Well it sounds like you won't be needing this anymore," Elijah stated, putting the box away. "Feeding her vampire blood rendered it useless."
"We both know that elixir wouldn't have worked anyway," Damon bit back bitterly.
"Your problem Damon is," Elijah walked up towards him. "You talk of good game, but you don't actually know anything. She'll never forgive you. And forever for a vampire is a very long time."
He started walking away extending his hand to Rhiannon, gesturing for her to come along. She obliged happily because she couldn't stand being in the same room as Damon. She was so mad at him for feeding Elena his blood that she probably wouldn't be able to contain herself and would end up biting his head off. Literally. So she grabbed Elijah's hand and walked out of the study, crying silently.
"What are we gonna do?" Rhiannon asked once they were back in her room.
"There's nothing we can do, I'm afraid," Elijah said solemnly. "Klaus won't let anything stop him from breaking that curse tonight and whoever tries to mess with his plan, they're as good as dead."
"Oh god, this can't happen," she muttered and more tears started rolling down her face. "I need to call Bonnie. Maybe there's something she can do."
"Call her Rhiannon," Elijah said, "But don't get your hopes up too much."
"I won't, but I also refuse to give up until there's absolutely no other option," she said. "I mean, on one hand I'm glad she'll come back, but…"
"She'll be a vampire," Elijah muttered with a strange edge to his voice. Rhiannon immediately understood and walking up to him, she kissed him gently. "I didn't mean it that way and you know it. I wouldn't mind Elena being a vampire if it was her decision. What Damon did wasn't right. I don't hate vampires. I don't give a rat's ass about some old grudge. Some of my friends are vampires and I fell in love with one as well."
Now it was his turn to kiss her. She told him exactly what he needed to hear and more. He snaked his hand into the hair on the back of her head and crushed his lips against hers. This time she responded immediately to his touch, pressing her body against his and caressing his face lightly. He whisked her up into his arms and she crossed her legs around his back as he walked them towards the bed. He put her down gently, never breaking the kiss, then placing his hands on each side of her head, he started kissing down her neck gently, enjoying the pulsing sensation of her veins underneath his lips. He felt the blood rush and his fangs extend in his mouth but kept kissing down to the center of her collar bone, making her moan and gasp from pleasure.
"Elijah…" she whispered under her breath snaking her hands into his hair. He looked up at her and her beautiful eyes were glowing yellow once again. Then her phone rang, breaking the mood effectively and throwing them back into the harsh reality of the night that laid ahead.
"Saved by the phone," Elijah muttered, breathing heavily and got off of her before he threw her phone out of the window and took her then and there.
"It's Damon," Rhiannon muttered, having trouble catching her own breath. "Hello?"
"Klaus's got Caroline and Tyler Lockwood locked up in the tomb," he said. "He's planning on using them in the sacrifice."
"WHAT?!"Rhiannon yelled and jumped out of bed making Elijah freeze dead in his tracks as he listened to their conversation.
"How did this happen?" she asked.
"No idea," Damon quipped. "But I'm headed there now, so don't worry. Just stay put. The last thing we need is Klaus getting a hold of you instead."
"Don't worry about me, Elijah's not letting me out of his sight," she retorted making the vampire in front of her scoff lightly. "We'll be heading to the witch house shortly."
"Alright," Damon said. "I'll see you there."
"You should probably put some pants on," Elijah said after she finished the phone call. He was right, considering it was late afternoon and she was still in her pajama shorts. "I'll be downstairs."
Rhiannon changed quickly into a pair of dark denim skinny jeans and Led Zeppelin muscle tank, laced up her black combat boots and grabbed her black leather jacket before following Elijah downstairs. He was waiting in the foyer, leaning against the fireplace mantle.
"Ready?" she asked making him turn around and smile at her.
He smiled at her, the prospect of his future free of his brother's tyranny and full of her vibrant smile filling his head. He started walking towards the door and grabbed her hand. Kissing it lightly, he said: "Let's get this over with."
