CHAPTER 3 – THE SURPRISE
When Rhiannon woke up the next morning, her head was pounding from everything that she learned the night before. She still wasn't sure she believed it all but even she had to admit that Damon baring his fangs at her was pretty convincing. There was a knock on the door.
"Hey, are you okay? How're you dealing with everything?" Elena said entering Rhiannon's room.
"Well it was a lot to take in, I tell you that," she murmured rubbing her eyes. "I just don't understand why this Katherine would do this to me. She doesn't even know me."
"I know, but she really is diabolical and Damon killing Mason yesterday made her retaliate by hurting people I care about," Elena explained.
"But how did she know I'm a werewolf? I had no idea until yesterday! And none of my relatives is a werewolf, at least none that I know of."
"I have no idea, but she's old and resourceful, I guess she had somebody spying on us all for months," Elena reasoned. "Or maybe she didn't know and she just wanted to hurt you."
"That's comforting," Rhiannon murmured. "So what happened with you and Stefan last night? Damon said something about an ongoing break-up scene."
"Well, we broke-up. At least until we deal with this whole Katherine thing and I just don't know if we're ever gonna make it. There's just so much about us that will never work."
"I don't know, Elena, you two are really great together and the way he's looking at you… I can tell he really loves you and in the end, love conquers all."
"Thank you for that," Elena said hugging her tightly. "Anyways, we're going to hospital to pick up Jenna."
"Right, I'm so glad she's gonna be okay," Rhiannon said really relieved. "Does she know about any of this?"
"No, and I really want it to stay that way as long as possible," Elena retorted. "Okay, we'll be back soon."
Since apparently nobody was going to go the masquerade, Rhiannon spent the rest of the day cooking her famous parmesan chicken and taking care of Jenna with Elena and Rick. Nobody from the gang of supernaturals, as she named them, showed up that day which made Elena convinced that something was up. Her suspicion proved to be right when Rick was shady about where everybody was.
"I don't like it," Elena whispered to Rhiannon. "There's clearly something going on. Jeremy and Stefan going to the masquerade party? They hate stuff like that."
"Well then we need to go find out what's going on, now don't we?" Rhiannon suggested with a mischievous smile plastered on her face. Five minutes later they were in Elena's car and headed for the Lockwood mansion.
The night got so much more eventful than Rhiannon would ever anticipate. It turned out that the gang was on a crazy assassin mission trying to kill Katherine. It also turned out that Katherine was a crafty little bitch and had herself linked to Elena. In the end it all miraculously worked out and Katherine ended up stuck in the freaky tomb along with the moonstone and Rhiannon with Elena were on their way to her car.
"So next time there's a party, how about we just go and have some vampire-free fun?" Rhiannon chuckled opening the passenger's side door. "Are you sure you don't want me to drive?"
"Nah, I'm feeling better already," Elena said pulling out the keys when some freak in a mask grabbed her. Rhiannon jumped out of the car to go help her tugging at his arm but he freed it from her grip easily enough smacking her full force across the face. She lost her balance and hit her head on the hood of the car and blacked out.
Elijah was on his way to meet up with Rose-Marie and Trevor. He was really interested what gave them the courage to call him considering they've spent the last five hundred years running from him and Klaus. Whatever the reason, it must've been a good one. It took him a couple hours to get to the place and he really hope that those two fugitives were not wasting his time. If that was the case, he'd make sure it was going to be worth him a while. He had no idea what treat he was in for.
Rhiannon woke up to the sensation of being carried in a strange man's arms and then being plopped on an old and dusty sofa right next to fully awake Elena. The man then proceeded to untie the ropes from their hands and feet.
"Well you're the doppelganger, you must not be harmed," the man said in a British accent turning his head over to Rhiannon: "You on the other hand."
Before she could react she was lifted up from the couch and felt the man's fangs sink into the flesh on her neck making her yelp in surprise and pain and trying to writhe away from his death grip.
"Trevor!" the female voice yelled. "Control yourself!"
The man stopped feeding on her and dropped her back on the sofa and walked away murmuring: "Buzzkill." Elena rushed to her side, trying to help her contain the bleeding wound on her neck.
"What's with the other girl?" the woman asked.
"She was with the doppelganger when he tried to kidnap her and she fought him. He didn't want her to alarm anybody and didn't know what else to do with her so the idiot took her too."
"I knew we should've just done it ourselves," the woman said, obviously irritated. "Oh well, we'll deal with her once this is over."
"What do you want with us?" Elena asked.
"My god, you look just like her," the woman murmured in amazement.
"But I'm not," Elena retorted getting up from that couch. Rhiannon felt like that was a bad idea. "Please, whatever you—"
"Be quiet!" the woman interrupted her sternly but she just kept on: "But I'm not Katherine. My name is Elena Gilbert. You don't have to do this."
"I know who you are. I said be quiet," the woman repeated again, the threat clear in her voice.
"Elena," Rhiannon whispered cautiously, warning her to back down, but to no effect.
"What do you want?" Elena kept pushing on. The woman was clearly done talking and smacked Elena right across the face making her land half on the sofa and half on Rhiannon.
"I want you to be quiet," the woman said one last time turning over to Rhiannon handing her a towel. "Same goes for you."
"Elena," Rhiannon shook her gently pressing the rag she soaked in water from the bottle Trevor brought her: "Elena, please wake up!"
She finally did and Rhiannon was pulling her into a sitting position while listening to the conversation the two vampires were having in the other room about sending a message to some Elijah. Whoever that was, Trevor seemed to be very scared.
"What happened?" Elena asked, confused.
"Shhh," Rhiannon pointed towards the door. "You were out for quite a while, I was beginning to worry. Let's go!"
They were making their way through the hallway as quietly as possible, but the house was really old and floors really creaky.
"Hey!" the woman yelled walking straight up to them with murderous expression in her eyes. "There's nothing around here for miles. If you think you're getting from this house, you're tragically wrong. Understand?"
"Who's Elijah?" Rhiannon asked.
"He's your worst nightmare," the woman oh so kindly elaborated and stormed away. Well that was comforting as hell.
"What are we going to do?" Rhiannon asked her.
"I don't know," Elena said. "We need to stall them. I'm sure Stefan and Damon are on their way."
"Well what if they're not?" Rhiannon asked panicking. "I saw them sun-proofing the house. They don't have daylight rings. All we need to do is get out of this house. As long as there's light outside, they won't follow us."
"No," Elena shot her down. "They look old and strong. They're gonna kill us. How's your neck?"
"It's already healed, but my jacket's ruined," she joked to lighten the pretty bleak mood.
Couple of hours passed, during which they managed to coerce Rose and Trevor to tell them why they kidnapped them in a first place and that Elena was in a great deal of trouble being the doppelganger and they key to breaking the curse. It was really time to try and run before this Elijah got there; otherwise they would both be screwed. Elena would be taken for some creepy ancient sacrifice and Rhiannon would probably end up as somebody's afternoon snack. They were running out of time.
Then the message from Bonnie came but Rhiannon was rather skeptical about the Salvatore boys getting there on time and she was right. Moments later, Rose was packing up her stuff when Trevor rushed into the room panicking and announcing Elijah's arrival. Well damn.
Elijah finally arrived knocking on the door of what once was a beautiful house and was met by rather freaked out Rose.
"Rose-Marie," Elijah said instead of a greeting. "Is there somewhere we can talk?"
"Yes, in here," She gestured towards a rather shabby looking living room. "You ha-have to forgive the house."
"Oh, what's a little dirt," he said smirking smugly closing the door behind him. "I completely understand."
"So tell me what is it that gives you the courage to call me?" he asked walking towards an armchair that looked the least dirty.
"I wanted my freedom," Rose started following him. "I'm tired of running. Are you in a position to grant me that?"
"I have complete authority to grant pardon to you and your little pet – what is his name these days – Trevor. If I so see fit."
"Katerina Petrova?" 'oh this should be good' Elijah thought to himself.
"I'm listening."
"She didn't burn in a church in 1864," well that certainly was interesting.
"Continue."
"She survived," Rose went on.
"Where is she?" Elijah asked getting tired of having to drag it out from her.
"You don't seem surprised by this," Rose quipped making Elijah sigh inwardly. Thank god he was so good at masking his true feelings.
"Oh, when you called and invited me into this armpit of civilization, which is mere three hours away from a town we know as Mystic Fall, I surmised it had everything to do with Katerina," Elijah explained. "Do you have her in your possession?"
"No," – 'are you kidding me?' "But I have better. I have her doppelganger."
"That's impossible," Elijah said exasperatedly. "Her family line ended with her, I know that for fact."
"Then your facts are wrong," Rose said a little smugly.
"Well show her to me," this is going to be really good.
"Elijah, you're a man of honor. You should be trusted, but I want to hear you say it again," Rose insisted.
"You had my word that I will pardon you," he had no problem with that. She got into this mess trying to help out her friend and he honored that.
"Follow me," Rose said and started towards the back rooms of the house and he followed closely. And there she was standing, looking exactly like Katherine, holding onto another girl who… wait. That's impossible. Could that be…? No, she'd been dead for over a thousand years. But this girl… it was like seeing a ghost that had been haunting his nightmares for centuries.
"Brenna," he whispered rushing down towards the girl who looked totally freaked out and backed up dragging Katherine's doppelganger along with her. Okay, take a deep breath and calm down. This clearly wasn't his long gone lover and he was sure there was a logical explanation for this, but business first. He walked towards the brunette sniffing along her collarbone lightly, whispering: "Human. It's impossible."
Then he turned over to Rhiannon looking her up and down. If Katherine's doppelganger existing was impossible, then Brenna's impersonation standing right in front of him was utter madness. He looked as composed as always on the outside, but on the inside, his mind was chewing and scratching the walls.
"And who are you?" Elijah asked, his voice in spite of his best efforts softening fractionally.
"I'm… I'm Rhiannon Petersen," she said, her voice although shaky, the same like hers used to be… Snap out of it Elijah!
"You didn't mention her," Elijah said turning over to Rose. "Why is she here?"
"She's her friend and she was with her when our guy grabbed her, so he took her too," Rose said. "She's not important."
"Oh, she just might be much more than that," Elijah murmured turning back at Rhiannon. "I'm taking them both."
"As you wish," Rose retorted looking somewhat confused.
"Well, we have a long journey ahead of us, we should be going," Elijah said walking towards the girls making them both back up u little.
"Please don't let him take us," Elena pleaded with Rose.
"One last piece of business and we're done," he said backing up never letting his eyes from Rhiannon.
"I've waited so long for this day Elijah," Trevor started. "I'm truly, very sorry."
"Oh, your apology is not necessary" – 'actually it's pointless to be precise'.
"Yes, yes it is," Trevor insisted nervously making Elijah who was pacing around him smirk. "You trusted me with Katerina and I failed you." 'Oh, we're stating the obvious now?'
"Well yes, you are the guilty one," Elijah agreed. "Rose aided you because she was loyal to you. That I honor. Where was your loyalty?"
"I beg you forgiveness," Trevor pleaded looking like he was seconds from wetting himself.
"It's all granted," Elijah said making Trevor smile. One little piece of mercy before he smacked his treacherous head off his shoulders making the girls yelp in horror and Rose cry starting towards him with murderous determination in her eyes. Loyal to the end.
"Don't Rose, now that you are free," he said dispassionately wiping his hand on a handkerchief, then gesturing towards girls who were backing up again. "Come."
"Wh-what about the moonstone?" Elena blurted out in panic.
"What do you know about the moonstone?" today has just been full of surprises, Elijah thought to himself.
"I know that you need it and I know where it is," Elena continued.
"Yes?"
"I can help you get it."
"Tell me where it is."
"It doesn't work that way," Rhiannon chimed in. She wasn't sure what to do anymore considering she just saw a guy whack another guy's head off with his bare hand. But if Elena wanted to stall, she was going to help her stall.
"Silence," Elijah said giving her a pointed and almost amused look that shut her up immediately. He could hear her heart was close to jumping out of her chest. "Are you two negotiating with me?"
"It's the first I've heard of it," Rose mumbled with teary eyes.
Elijah looked back at Elena trying the freaky vampire mind compulsion trick but it didn't work because of her necklace. He figured that out pretty quickly tearing it off of her neck and grabbing her by her hair. Rhiannon, against all logic, jumped him and tried to make him release Elena. He was getting really irritated at this point but managed to civilly enough peel her of his shoulder and wrap his arm around her waist holding her in place while never letting go of his grip on Elena.
"Tell me where the moonstone is," he compelled her still holding them both.
"In the tomb underneath the church ruins," Elena answered in a robotic-like voice.
"What is it doing there?"
"It's with Katherine."
"Interesting."
Then there was a loud bang and shattering of glass somewhere in the house making Elijah turn around, still not releasing his grip on Rhiannon who was trying to wriggle her way out but with zero effect. She was like a paper doll in his arms and was sure he could rip her to shreds if he wanted to.
"What is that?" he asked.
"I don't know."
"Who else is in this house?"
"I don't know." His patience was really wearing thin at this point so he grabbed Elena and dragged her and Rhiannon towards the exit, yelling: "Move!"
They were in the main hall of the house when what appeared to be two more vampires started blurring around them. Perfect! Like this day wasn't annoying enough. He released both Elena and Rhiannon and shoved them towards Rose.
"Up here," one of them murmured making Elijah blur through the hall and up the stairs.
"Down here," another voice called out. He was about to blur down again and rip his way through whatever idiots dared to stand in his way when a small wooded stake pierced right through his hand. And all three girls were gone.
"Excuse me!" he hollered walking down the stairs. "To whom it may concern, you're making a great mistake if you think that you can beat me. You can't."
"You hear that?" he continued grabbing the coat rack. "I repeat. You cannot beat me. I want both the girls. I'm going to count to three, or heads will roll. Do we understand each other?"
"We'll come with you," Rhiannon said standing on top of the stairs holding Elena who joined in: "Just, please don't hurt our friends. They just wanted to help us out."
Elijah blurred his way up the stairs again, saying: "What game are you playing with me?"
Then both Elena and Rhiannon pulled out the pins on what looked like a grenades of some sort and threw it towards him dunking away. It exploded right in his face burning him with vervain water. He recovered quickly and he was done playing nice. He started walking towards the girls when one of their friends ran down the stairs towards him shooting him with stakes from a stake gun but to no effect. He was old and strong and it would take much more than couple of toothpicks to put him down. The boy realized that and tackled him making both of them fall down the stairs.
Elijah being older and stronger, recovered faster and was on his way to release the fool out of his mortal coil when another man emerged from the darkness of the corridor and drove the provisional stake he made earlier from the coat rack through his heart, pinning him against the front door with it. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was Rhiannon standing on top of the stairs looking right at him.