AN: Thanks to VampireJacinta for another review! I think you'll appreciate this chapter (:
Part Twenty-One: Damsel in Distress
Klaus was losing his mind. It had been a few hours now and Rin hadn't responded – had Kol already gotten to her? What was he planning on doing with her, anyway? Seducing her? Surely Rin was smarter than that. Klaus snorted as he pictured her turning down Kol's advances. She knew a predator when she saw one. Then again, sometimes she craved danger. She was a little unpredictable, and he couldn't count on her turning him away.
Would he just kidnap her? Force her to cooperate with him? Or did he have something else up his sleeve? Perhaps Klaus could figure it out when Kol was back here. He could talk to him – Kol would surely give away a few clues, if only to taunt him. He'd already looked through the things Kol had left at the manor but found nothing. Kol was apparently smarter than leaving around a notebook or any giveaway magical items. Of course.
He picked up his phone and dialed Rin's number. He didn't care anymore if it was socially odd to be calling her – this was important. The phone rang three times before Damon, of all people, answered.
"Hello Klaus. You've reached the personal line of Rin Yamamoto. How can I help you?" the other vampire's voice was loaded with disdain.
"Give her the phone." Klaus was not dealing with this bullshit right now. This was much more important than their silly date night. That had been irritating, but now Rin was in danger. And if something happened to her, Klaus' entire plan would fall through. There was no way he was letting that happen now. Not when things had been going so well.
His mind flashed to the loaded moment in the river from earlier that day. He quickly pushed it out of his thoughts.
"Sorry, she's asleep right now. Long day. Can I take a message?" The obvious sarcasm in Damon's voice was driving Klaus insane. He quickly composed himself and tried another angle.
"Damon. She's in danger. I need to talk to her, now." He tried his best to sound worried for Rin's well-being. That should work, right? There was a short pause.
"I don't believe you. What do you want with her, Klaus? She already had a lesson today." Klaus was officially pissed off. There was no way he was letting Damon get in his way right now.
"Give her the phone this second, or I will show up there and tell her what's wrong in person."
"I'm not going to wake her up right now. Even if she wakes up, I doubt she'll be sober." Klaus rolled his eyes. So either they were smoking, doing some other drug, or daytime drinking. What else have they been doing? Was she that tired just from smoking? Klaus' mind was racing. This way ridiculous. He shouldn't concern himself with her romantic life – there was no point. He wasn't interested.
"For God's sake. Damon. Wake her up. It's important. I don't care if she's sober or not as long as she remembers what I tell her." Something must have finally gotten through to the younger vampire, since Klaus heard a long sigh before some mumbling. As Damon woke her, he realized his vampire vision wasn't even sharp enough to catch her transformation – it was so fast it looked unreal.
"What the hell? He called?" Klaus heard Rin groan as she took the phone. Finally. "Klaus, what's going on? I just saw you earlier today."
"My brother is hunting you. He was in the forest earlier today. His name is Kol, and you need to stay away from him. There was another pause as Rin took this in.
"I'm pretty sure it was just Marissa in the forest today, Klaus… She found me later and we came back here."
"So you're not just asleep with Damon, then?" The words came out before Klaus realized what he was saying.
"Excuse me?" Had Klaus just asked if she was alone with Damon? Was that really any of his business? Rin was surprised, but told herself she was misinterpreting because she was still slightly stoned. He squeezed his eyes shut – definitely the wrong thing to say. Completely unrelated. Goddammit.
"I saw Kol. He told me what he was up to. You need to be careful. I have a feeling he'll find you sometime soon – do not invite him in. In fact, try not to be alone with him at all. If you are, drain him as much as you can. I don't know what he's up to but whatever it is it will not end well for you. Understand?"
"Why all the concern, Klaus?" said Rin doubtfully, referring to what he'd said a moment earlier. Klaus was expressing a lot of uncharacteristic worry about not only her love life but her well-being in general. It was a little too unusual to ignore.
"Remember our deal? I need something from you, Rin. And you can't provide it if you're dead." Klaus was using his mean-boy voice again, talking down to her.
"Oh right, I'm an item. I forgot. Thanks for the heads-up." Rin rolled her eyes. She wasn't sure if she was even buying it – he was acting pretty strange. Then again, she was still a little baked.
"Rin, you know there's no reason to be like that. I consider us friends. Now be a good girl and watch out for yourself. I can't always be there." And just like that, he was making himself the good guy again. Rin narrowed her eyes at the coffee table. There was something strange going on here, and she was beginning to feel an inkling of suspicion not only about Klaus' intentions but this whole mentorship situation. What, exactly, did Klaus want from her that was so important it warranted his brother wanting to thwart his plans? She was too smart for this. She held the phone a foot away from her head for a moment to clear her throat. She was going to play this intelligently – she was done pretending to eat out of his hand. It was time to make her own rules.
"Klaus…" she made sure to let her voice trail off on a fearful note.
"What?"
"I don't know if I like this. It's one thing if a regular vampire or someone else is hunting me, but… Kol is an original. I don't feel safe by myself here." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Damon's expression change. He was shocked. To him, it looked like Rin was begging for Klaus' protection. On top of that, she was making herself sound defenseless. Hell, she'd managed Klaus already for this long, and he was by far the most dangerous of the siblings. What was she doing?
Rin held a finger up to him, gesturing for him to wait and letting him know that she would explain later. Damon continued looking at her curiously. On the phone, Rin heard Klaus sigh.
"Kol is staying here, at the manor. I'm not sure if it would be safer for you to stay here with me for the time being. What would you propose?" he asked. He's buying it. Rin was delighted. Original vampire or not, boys were predictable. Always looking for a damsel in distress.
"I don't know, I just…" She sighed, trying to show that she did not like making herself look so vulnerable. It was important to stay at least a little in character. "I don't even know what he looks like. If I'm with you, no matter how close he is, he won't be able to hurt me, right?" Her stomach turned. She hated how that had come out – as if she needed him to defend her. If there was one thing Rin hated, it was relying on someone else to watch out of her. She didn't need it, and she didn't want it. But if she wanted to know what Klaus was up to, she had to lead him to believe she needed him. That was the only way to get him to let his guard down long enough for her to figure it out.
Klaus was taking his time pondering this. She decided to take advantage of the delay. "Sorry, it's too much to ask. I'll be fine," she added quickly.
"No, no, I'm thinking. I'm just trying to figure it out if it'd be better or worse. I don't know how often he plans to be around the house, really. If he's hunting you, though, and you're around… I don't know. Just give me a minute."
"Honestly, Klaus, it's alright. I shouldn't have brought it up." She was surprised he hadn't picked up on her sudden personality change. Did he not realize she would never act this way normally?
"Rin, shut up. I need you alive as much as you want to stay alive." Apparently he didn't notice, but he didn't appreciate submissive Rin any more than she did. Thank God. She couldn't have him being too much of a hero – she might throw up all over Damon. Klaus took another moment to figure out his thoughts and replied. "Alright, fine, I think it'll work. As long as I have an eye on him, he can't get to you, and the closer you are to me, the easier it'll be to protect you against him. Get here tonight, and drive straight here. Don't go out otherwise. Plan to stay for as long as it takes for me to figure out what he's up to." Rin resisted a smile. He'd fallen for it.
"Okay, I'll be careful." She sighed again. "Klaus… Thanks. I appreciate it." Klaus had already hung up the phone. She took a deep breath after disconnecting herself and tossing her phone back on the couch. "Oh my god! That was grueling." She collapsed back onto Damon's chest, trying to overcome how pathetic she'd made herself look. No matter which way she looked at it, it was horrifying.
"Yeah, care to explain what the hell I just heard?" asked Damon, pushing her off of him. He needed to understand what, exactly, she was up to before she was allowed to bury her face in his chest again. She sighed, shooting him an exasperated look.
"I need to figure out what he's using me for. I'm getting nervous – he wants it badly enough to keep me alive, and it's big enough for his brother to want to fuck up his plans. He never talks about it, so I need him to let his guard down long enough to drop me a hint."
"So you move in with him?" Damon was skeptical.
"It's one thing to be close to Klaus, but he's like a rock. Kol, on the other hand, might not be. I don't know. But there's a chance he could drop a hint as well. If he wants to mess up Klaus' plans and if Klaus' plans involve hurting me in the end, the best way to do it would be to tell me what's going on, right?" Damon nodded. This was making a little more sense now.
"Damsel in distress card. You know, I knew a girl once who did that a lot. It worked like a charm until I caught on," he said, reminding her that this particular plan was something she couldn't rely on often. Otherwise, it would backfire. He was referring to Katherine. Rin flashed him a sultry smirk.
"She must have been doing it wrong," she said slowly before leaning in to press her lips to his. It was a heated kiss. He pulled away for a second.
"Just don't do anything too reckless," he said, his voice low, before kissing her once more. "And if one of them tries to eat you, give me a call." Rin laughed a little in her mind – even Damon was hopping on the hero bandwagon. He and Klaus weren't so different, after all.
"I'll do that," she said, smiling. At least Damon knew she was capable of watching out for herself and his warning was more of a polite offer than anything else. He wasn't actually swooping in to save her like she'd just gotten Klaus to do.
Oh well, she couldn't quite hold it against Klaus – he was just doing what she wanted him to do. She smiled into another kiss and pressed herself against him once more to curl up on his chest. The two of them lay in silence for a while.
Damon didn't know what to think. This whole plan could either go fabulously or it could blow up in her face. He knew Klaus was smarter than she gave him credit for, but she was smarter than Klaus gave her credit for, too. Aside from all that, when she walked into that house, Damon wasn't sure he'd be able to see her until she was allowed out. So this might be marking the end of their little non-relationship. And he wasn't sure if he liked that.
On top of that, he couldn't help but admit that Klaus was acting strange. He was overly concerned about her and he'd heard what he'd said on the phone – he didn't like the idea of her being alone with him. And there should be absolutely no reason for that. He shouldn't be concerned about her love life, should he? Was he playing her just as hard, pretending to be more concerned than he should be to get on her good side?
But Damon shouldn't be concerned about it, either, right? This was casual. This was nothing. He looked down at her silky hair – she was staring at the table. His lips parted and he took a breath to say something, but he wasn't sure what. Before he could get a word out, though, Rin sat up abruptly.
"I don't know if I'll be able to see you while I'm there," she said simply. Damon stared at her, expecting her to continue, but she didn't. She was giving him a chance to either walk away now or push through an obstacle. Damon was all too familiar with this decision, but this time, the easy way wasn't what he wanted.
"I'll figure it out," he said with a pained look on his face. Rin was shocked. She had been pretty sure he would tell her he knew, and that this was probably it for them for a while. This didn't make a lot of sense. She narrowed his eyes at him.
"You're in love with Elena," she said sharply, almost as if it was an insult. Damon's face contorted into a wounded expression.
"How the hell do you know that?" he asked.
"Please, I can tell by the way you look at her. I'm pretty sure anyone can," said Rin with a dry laugh. She knew it was harsh, but she couldn't help but react this way to his desire to commit to her a little more. It was a romantic notion, but it confused her too much. It seemed superficial because she knew the truth.
"Then it should be pretty clear that I've given up on that front," he said, annoyed. "Why the hell would I tell you I'll figure out a way to see you if I was thinking about her?" Rin drew in a slow breath.
"Look, whether you figure it out or not, I don't want your commitment if you're hung up on some other girl, and don't expect mine while I know you're hung up on her. I can be a rebound just fine, but trust me, I know I'm a rebound," she said evenly. Damon didn't know what to say. As usual, Rin's undying self-respect ruled her actions. Even if she cared for him, she wouldn't let it be anything real unless he was all his. "I don't do relationships where I can't own his soul, got it? Elena owns your soul," she said before getting off the couch. It was getting later into the evening and if she wanted to get to Klaus' before it was too late at night she needed to start getting some clothes together now. She took a step toward the bedroom but Damon was in front of her in a flash.
"There's something hot about a girl who wants it all," he said with a grin. "I could let a girl like that own my soul." He was back to his casual self, and all the tension was lost. Rin smiled up at him, glad he understood.
"Great, let me know if it's mine and we'll talk," she said with a quick peck on his lips. "Now I need to pack, I'm moving in with my other boyfriend, remember?"
Damon smirked. She knew what she was doing. He wasn't sure if he'd really been kidding when he said he could give her everything. He'd have to think about it.