CHAPTER 2 – THE RETURN
Rhiannon was sitting on the porch swing of a Gilbert house for almost two hours, absentmindedly looking at her pick-up truck loaded with all her possessions and parked on the driveway, waiting for her old friend Elena to come back. It seemed like she picked a hell of a time to move back to her birth place that was in a wake of a tragedy. The mayor Lockwood just died and Elena's uncle was attacked in their house by some psycho and was in a hospital, as well as Caroline who got into a car accident. Things have certainly changed since she moved away eight years ago, and she was trying hard not to take it as a sign she made the wrong decision ditching her parents on their latest adventure digging up some old forgotten settlement in forests of New Zealand.
She was silently contemplating the past two weeks of her life, during which she helped her parents to pack up and sell their house in Seattle, drove them to the airport and then took one hell of a road trip throughout the states to end up here. She was more than capable of looking after herself seeing as her parents spent more time travelling around the States concerned with their research than home with their only daughter. She argued with them a lot, trying to convince them to let her stay in the States. She finally managed to get her way under one condition – that she would move in with their old family friends in Mystic Falls, finish high school here and then they would join her here after their two-year contract in New Zealand ended. So here she was, sitting on the porch swing and about to dial Elena's cell for the third time in the past two hours when a red mini cooper parked in front of the house letting out Jenna and little Gilbert, as she liked to call him, who wasn't so little anymore.
"Hey Rhiannon! Welcome!" Jenna hollered. "I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting like that but these past few days were absolutely crazy."
"Don't worry about it," Rhiannon said sheepishly. "So where's Elena?"
"Oh, she kinda had to stay behind," Jeremy said.
"Boyfriend drama," Jenna added. "But she'll be home soon."
"Hey, it's good to see you again Rhiannon," little Gilbert said and went straight for a hug.
"It's great to see you too Jer," she retorted.
"C'mon, let's get you settled," Jenna said unlocking the front door, giving her a spare set of keys.
"Alright, Jeremy, let's put those muscles to a good use," Rhiannon teased and started towards her car.
All her stuff was moved in her room within an hour, during which Elena accompanied by her boyfriend Stefan, who was kind enough to pitch in and help them with the rest of boxes. They were currently munching on pizza Elena thoughtfully ordered on her way home and reconnecting.
"So how's Caroline doing?" Rhiannon asked. "I have to drop by the hospital tomorrow and say hi. Maybe you and Bonnie could join me and we can all go for lunch after that."
"That sounds lovely, but Bonnie and I are in charge of the carnival preparations and Caroline would have our heads if everything wasn't perfect," Elena joked.
"Yeah, I'm not surprised; I still vividly remember her organizing our Sunday tea parties," she joked along.
"You're kidding!" Stefan laughed.
"I wish," Rhiannon retorted. "Well can I help you with the carnival then? I'm sure you can use an extra pair of hands, am I right?"
"Well yeah, but you just got here. Don't you need some time to settle?" Elena objected.
"Nonsense, the sooner I start participating in things like this, the sooner it'll start feeling like home. Plus, I love stuff like this."
"Okay, that would be great actually," Elena smiled back at her.
"Awesome," Rhiannon smiled back. "I think I'm gonna go back to unpacking my stuff."
She grabbed one last piece of pizza along with a can of Dr. Pepper and ran upstairs to unload her ridiculous amount of clothes into her closet. So far so good. She liked the house. It was almost exactly the way she remembered it. The king-size bed in her new room, the spare guest bedroom, was incredibly comfy and after she was done unpacking and showered, she fell asleep immediately feeling like this new chapter of her life would not be so bad after all.
The following couple of days were pleasantly dull but also fun at the same time. Rhiannon managed to settle, and reconnect with all of her old friends easily enough. She liked hanging out with them, doing the community work and living a normal high school life. She started to notice that they all kinda tend to disappear on a whim. Like today, they were all, except for Caroline, decorating for the masquerade party and all of a sudden, they were all gone. She dismissed it and spent the day sorting masks and setting tables and now she was out shopping for a cocktail dress for the party.
She managed to find the perfect dress – black lace bodycon dress with cap sleeves and boat neckline and bare back. They would go amazing with her nude Louboutin peep-toe heels. Most of the time she was the jeans and dorky comic book T-shirts and converse kind of girl, but when the opportunity to dress up presented itself, the girly girl part of her came out to play and she happily indulged it.
She was walking to her car fishing for the keys in the backpack when somebody grabbed her causing her drop her backpack trying to fight back whoever was trying to choke the wind out of her lungs. She managed to stomp on their foot making them release their grip on her. She started running but the man grabbed her hair and pulled her to the ground. Then she saw him pull out the butterfly knife and she knew she was in trouble but some primal instinct made her fight back. She kicked the guy straight in the nuts. She grabbed the knife and plunged it into the guy's neck. He immediately slumped to the ground making gurgling noises and Rhiannon started running to her car and as she was getting into the driver's seat, all of a sudden she got the most horrible headache she ever experienced. It felt as if her skull was splitting open. Her vision became blurry and her gums were throbbing with pain as well. And then it was over. She took a few deep breaths to calm down, thanking God the street was empty, and drove away.
She got inside crying hysterically but nobody was home. It seemed like that was slowly starting to become a tradition here. She dialed Elena's number.
"Hello?" Elena answered the phone.
"Elena? Where are you?" Rhiannon managed to ask in between sobs.
"I'm at the hospital. Jenna managed to walk onto a knife and stabbed herself in the stomach," Elena blurted out sounding really distressed. "Are… are you okay Rhiannon?"
"No… I… I think I killed somebody Elena," she cried out crying out loud.
"What? What happened?" Elena asked.
"I was walking to my car and some guy jumped me and he… he threw me on the ground and then he pulled out a knife and I fought back and I… I stabbed him and I think he died."
"Oh my god," Elena mumbled. "Just stay inside, we're coming home right now."
"Okay," Rhiannon said and hung up.
Not ten minutes later, Elena burst through the door followed by Jeremy, Stefan and Damon. She hugged Rhiannon tight letting her cry for a while and then made her tell them everything that happened.
"Did he say anything?" Stefan asked with that typical frown of his.
"No," she blurted out. "It's like he was hell-bent on killing me. I didn't see his face, I just ran away. I should call 911."
"Wait, where did this happen?" Damon asked.
"At the parking lot behind the stores. Mine was the only car left there," Rhiannon mumbled shaking.
"I better go and check it out," he said.
"Wait what?" she asked confused. "What're you gonna do about it?"
"Don't worry about that lil' fighter," he said then gave Stefan a pointed look and left without any further explanation.
"Rhiannon," Stefan addressed her with rather serious expression. "Everything's going to be alright. You're not going to remember what happened today," she felt a strange tug somewhere in her head but nothing he was saying made sense. How could she possible forget this?
"All you will remember is that you shopped for the dress, then came back home and went to bed," the moment he finished, the weird pull stopped as well.
"What are you talking about Stefan?" she started a little aggravated. "How can I possible forget what happened tonight?!"
"Wait, is she on vervain?" he asked.
"I don't think so, but I can't know for sure," Elena mumbled completely ignoring Rhiannon who was beginning to be beyond pissed.
"Why would I be on vervain?" she asked, almost yelling at that point. "What the hell is going on here?"
Without any further explanation, Stefan walked up to her, grabbed her wrist and bit down on it so hard, he drew blood.
"What he fuck?!" Rhiannon screamed trying to pry her hand free but he was too strong for her. He let her go as quick as he grabbed her, saying: "She's definitely not on vervain."
"But why doesn't the compulsion work then?" Jeremy asked.
"What compulsion? What are you guys talking about?" Rhiannon asked pressing the towel Elena handed her on her wrist.
"Are you a witch?" Stefan asked.
"A what?" she asked incredulously.
"No, Bonnie would've sensed it by now," Elena retorted.
"Then she must be a werewolf," Stefan said looking at Rhiannon with caution in his eyes.
"What the flying fuck are you people talking about?! Witches?! Werewolves?! Are you trippin' on acid?!" Rhiannon yelled hysterically.
"Rhiannon, please calm down," Elena pleaded. "We'll explain everything in a minute."
"Well somebody already disposed of the body," Damon said making a dramatic entrance into the living room. "Ooops, I thought you would've compelled her to go to bed by now."
"What the hell do you people have with this compulsion?!" she yelled even more.
"The compulsion doesn't work on her," Elena filled him in. "She's not on vervain and she's not a witch either. We think she might be a werewolf."
"Okay, I'm out of here," Rhiannon said but was cut off by Damon grabbing her wrist making her wince.
"I see you already did the taste test," Damon joked earning a very stern look from both Stefan and Elena. "Sit down feisty pants, we need to figure this one out."
"Will somebody please explain to me what the hell is going on here?" she asked sitting, or rather slumping down into the nearest armchair.
"Is it possible that she's a werewolf?" Damon asked Elena.
"I have no idea," Stefan answered. "But even if she was, the compulsion should've worked. You managed to compel Tyler Lockwood before."
"Yeah, but maybe they can't be compelled anymore once they activate the curse," Elena chimed in. "And she just did."
"That has to be it," Stefan murmured, then turned to Rhiannon. "When you killed that man, did anything strange happen to you?"
"What? Killing someone isn't strange enough?!" she bit back.
"Please Rhiannon, just answer him," Elena pleaded.
"It's really important that you think hard," Stefan said pleadingly as well.
"Well… for a moment I thought I was going to pass out, and my head started to hurt so bad I went blind for a second and then it stopped all of a sudden."
"Oh, I know how we're gonna know for sure," Damon said, reaching into the pocket of his leather jacket and smiling triumphantly, he pulled out a dried plant with small yellow flowers: "Wolfsbane."
"Damon," Stefan countered but his older brother cut him off abruptly: "Well how else are gonna find out?! I don't know how about you but I don't feel like waiting until next full moon to know for sure!"
"He's got point Stefan," Elena agreed. "Rhiannon, we just need you to do one last thing. Just take that plant from Damon."
"But after this, you're explaining to me what the hell's going on, you promise?" she asked sternly reaching out for the plant. "I really don't know what that's going to prov—AAUUU, what the fuck?! It burned me!"
"So there you have it," Damon said. "Now what're we gonna do?"
"You and Jeremy will take Rhiannon upstairs and explain everything to her," Elena started. "I need to talk to Stefan."
"It's already healed," Rhiannon murmured in amazement.
"Yep, that's one of the perks of being the supernatural," Damon started wrapping his arm around her shoulders guiding her upstairs. "Let me fill you in on the other parts."