CHAPTER 6 – THE FRIENDSHIP

It was well past 2 a.m. when Rhiannon finally turned back into her human form. Elijah had watched her howl through the night from afar making sure she wouldn't cross paths with anybody else. He wasn't worried for himself, because the bite wouldn't kill him, but he also couldn't exactly afford the luxury of coming down with the wolf bite too.

He also noticed she wasn't the only werewolf in town this full moon. When he carried her into the woods to turn, he happened to come near what appeared to be the old Lockwood cellar and overheard Tyler Lockwood's transformation. He also stumbled upon freaked-out Caroline Forbes in the middle of the woods. She had no idea who he was and he managed to compel some information out of her, making her forget their encounter. It seemed like she had taken upon herself to help Tyler through his first transformation, but he was wondering why she wouldn't help one of her best friends. It turned out that Damon didn't want the boy to know about the rest of the supernatural residence in Mystic Falls, including Rhiannon, and helping both of them might bring out questions she couldn't answer.

He watched wolf-Rhiannon crawl into the shadows of trees and when he heard her strangled sobs, he knew it was over. He walked up to her naked curled up body, covering it with the blanket he'd been prudently carrying around with him the whole time. She raised her head as he was lifting her up from the ground, her beautiful face tear-stained, confused and covered in dirt was showing every single emotion that was racking her at that moment. He sat back down with her in his arms hugging her tightly gently. He knew she was in a lot of pain.

"You made it," he whispered soothingly to her. "It's over. You're alright."

"No I'm not," she whispered so quietly that anyone without his enhanced hearing wouldn't notice. "Will you take me home, please?"

"Of course," Elijah whispered pressing his lips on top of her head, too gently for her to notice. "We just have to make one quick stop on our way back."

While he was out following the little wolf, he called the Martin witches to remove the seal on the tomb. Now all that was left to do was let Stefan out and compel Katerina to stay put. He sat Rhiannon down on the wall next to the staircase that led down to the tomb wrapping the blanket tight around her.

"I'll be quick, I promise," he said rubbing his hands on her shoulders to keep her warm.

"It's okay," she rasped, her voice hoarse from all the screaming she did earlier. "I'm just glad you can get Stefan out."

"I'll be right back," he said and shooting her a small smile, began his descent to the tomb.

He removed the huge block of stone, serving as a provisional door, alerting the two captives to his presence. It wasn't long before they both emerged from the shadows, approaching the exit cautiously and it filled him with an extreme amount of satisfaction to see Katerina stop dead in her tracks and nearly wetting herself from fear upon seeing him stand outside the tomb. He once felt something for her, but that all changed once he got the glimpse of her real self-serving personality.

"Elijah," she mumbled, her voice shaking.

"Good evening Katerina," he said. "Thank you for having a good sense to be frightened."

"Your release has been requested," he said turning over to Stefan.

"What?" the young vampire asked, clearly confused. "By whom?"

"The lovely Elena drives a hard bargain," Elijah elaborated. "However we reached a peaceful agreement, she and I."

Stefan still didn't trust him and Elijah was in no mood to prolong his stay in a presence of Katerina.

"Please," he said stepping aside, gesturing for Stefan to come out. "Come."

"I can't," Stefan objected.

"Yes, you can," Elijah corrected him. "I've had the spell lifted," he elaborated waiting for Katerina's reaction and it didn't disappoint him. He saw that flicker of opportunism in her eyes and knew he would try to flee the minute she was sure the seal was broken. And he was right, as soon as Stefan stepped out of the tomb cautiously, she bee-lined for the exit, but Elijah was faster, stopping her dead in her tracks, second time that evening.

"As for you however," he started using his mind compulsion. "You shall not exit until I say so. When Klaus comes, he'll want to know exactly where you are."

Then he turned to Stefan again saying: "You're free to go. Elena will explain the arrangement to you. She keeps her word, I'll keep mine."

Then he left picking Rhiannon, who seemed to have dozed off, up from the wall and blurred with her in his arms back to her home leaving Stefan where he was. Moments later, he was laying her down on her bed when she woke up. He was about to grab another blanket to cover her with when she grabbed his hand.

"Please don't leave me alone," she looked at him, tears already welled up in her beautiful eyes just ready to roll down her dirt-stained cheeks. "My parents are on the other side of the planet and nobody in this house cares about my problems. I don't have anybody else. I'm alone in this."

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I'm not going anywhere," he whispered caressing few strand of hair from her face. "I'm just going to get you some food and water. I'll be back before you notice I'm gone."

He walked out of her room into a darkened hallway where he leant on the wall, breathing heavily. His emotions were overwhelming him, threatening to burst out on the surface from where he'd been keeping them, securely contained and buried deep. He had a plan he needed to focus on. He couldn't allow himself to feel the way he felt about her, yet he couldn't stay away.

He managed to get his feelings under control again and twenty minutes later walked back into Rhiannon's room with grilled cheese sandwich and ice tea. He managed to maneuver around the house without anyone noticing his presence since the only person, who could hear him, was preoccupied upstairs with the latest doppelganger, no doubt making up for the time they spent apart.

Rhiannon was sleeping soundly and he didn't want to wake her, so he sat on the edge of her bed, watching her and contemplating his next moves. Things got undeniably more complicated ever since she appeared in his life few days ago, but for once, it was a complication he didn't mind one bit.

The next morning when Rhiannon woke up, she was still a little shaken. Elijah was gone, but on her nightstand, there was a tray with delicious looking grilled cheese sandwich, ice tea and a note that read:

Dear Rhiannon,

I apologize for my early departure, but I had some business that required my presence. I know that what you've been through last night was extremely traumatizing, but you managed to get through it with flying colors. I know we don't know each other all that well, but I am really proud of you. I want you to take plenty of rest today and, PLEASE, try and stay out of trouble. I will stop by later to check up on you. Until then, take care.

Your friend

Elijah

Reading this made a wide smile stretch across her face. So they were friends now? She grabbed the plate and devoured the sandwich within minutes, washing it down with some tea. She was about to get up and go shower, considering she was still butt naked and covered in dirt, and her head was one wild tangle of auburn hair, leaves and twigs, when Elena knocked on her door.

"Hey, can I come in?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure," Rhiannon mumbled loud enough for her to hear.

"Hi, how're you doing today?" Elena asked, clearly concerned.

"Peachy," Rhiannon bit back before she could stop herself. "I'm sorry, it's just, these past two days have been one giant emotional rollercoaster and I'm still a little edgy."

"It's perfectly understandable," Elena said and sat next to her on her bed. "So I came in early this morning to check up on you. Stefan told me he saw Elijah took you home last night after you've, you know…"

"Yeah, he's been with me the whole night," Rhiannon said. "He's been watching me, making sure I don't hurt anybody. I don't remember much of it. Honestly, the whole time I was a wolf is a total blur, but I felt his presence nearby, somehow. I can't explain it. But yea, after it was over, we went to free Stefan and then he took me home."

"Wow, that's actually very sweet of him," Elena said. "I wouldn't think he would go to such lengths to hold his end of the deal."

"What deal?" Rhiannon asked, confused.

"He promised to protect everybody I care about if I help him kill Klaus," she elaborated.

"Oh wow, that's generous of him," Rhiannon couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. She thought he helped her because in some weird way, he cared about her, but now it seemed it was all just because he made a deal with Elena, so everything he did for her last night was just means to an end. She knew she should be thankful and deep down, she was but she just thought his motives for helping her were a little different.

"Anyway," Elena started, snapping Rhiannon out of her thoughts. "There's another reason why I came to see you."

"Yea?" Rhiannon asked. "What reason is that?"

"Last night, a werewolf got inside the Salvatore boarding house and attacked Rose," Elena elaborated. "She got bitten. It healed at first, but then it got back and it doesn't look good now."

"Oh man, that really sucks," Rhiannon mumbled. "But there's gotta be a way to fix it, right?"

"I hope so," Elena retorted. "Damon's working on it. But um… Are you sure Elijah was with you the whole night? Is it possible he might have lost you for a moment and you happened to—"

"Bite Rose?" Rhiannon couldn't stop herself from snarling at her. "No, Elena, I didn't bite her and if you have any more doubts, I suggest you ask Elijah. Now if you excuse me, I need to shower."

"No, Rhiannon, I'm sorry—"

"Yea, I know," she cut her off again. "You needed to make sure. I get it."

"I'm headed back to Stefan's to look after Rose." Elena said. "Are you sure you're gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine, Elena," Rhiannon shot her a small smile. "Give Rose my best, will you?"

Minutes later she was standing under scorching hot water in the shower, trying to relax her muscles. She was really sore and not in mood for anything else other than bed and some comfort food. She felt much better once she got out, combed her hair, put on some black leggings and an oversized Johnny Cash T-shirt topping it off with the coziest hoodie and socks she managed to find.

She went downstairs and made some chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes. After she was done with that, she left the mess in the kitchen to deal with later and climbed back upstairs thinking about a movie marathon to distract her from the real world. She was watching The Godfather for the bigillionth time when a familiar voice she'd been subconsciously expecting to hear all day said: "And what pray-tell made you choose this particular cinematographic masterpiece?" making her almost jump out of her skin.

"You scared the hell out of me!" she protested weakly.

"I do apologize for that," he said giving her that stupid lopsided smirk that started to have a very bad effect on her. "How do you feel tonight?"

"Um… better I guess," she mumbled sheepishly, sitting cross-legged on her bed. "Thanks for the grilled cheese by the way."

"You are most certainly welcome," he smiled at her, looking around her room with interest, then sat into an armchair by her bed.

"And not just for that, for everything you did last night. I knew you were with me the whole time, I guess you could say I sensed your presence, or whatever," she said looking down at her hands. "I know you only did it for Elena, but um still… I really appreciate it."

"Again, you are welcome," he said leaning forward, propping his elbows on his thighs. "I'm curious though, what makes you think that what I did for you last night was because of Elena?"

"Well you made a deal with her to protect everyone she loves," she continued, still not looking at him.

"That is true," he said standing up and started pacing around her room again. "However, that had nothing to with me helping you last night Rhiannon. I did what I did, because I care about you."

"You barely know me," Rhiannon retorted.

"That's true as well," he agreed. "Nevertheless, within that short span of time, you've managed to intrigue me. And not just because your resemblance to Brenna. You are strong, independent, beautiful young woman and you deserve the best. You deserve to have somebody to look out for you, and I would very much like to be that somebody. I want to be your friend," he said sitting on the far edge of her bed. "That is if you let me."

"Um… sure," was all she managed to blurt out at that moment. "Thanks?"

Wow, she certainly didn't expect that, but she couldn't say she wasn't happy about it. "So… you wanna stay and watch the movie with me friend?" she asked patting the bed next to her.

"I would like that very much," he said smiling and stood up, heading for the armchair again. Rhiannon couldn't help but giggle at his chivalry. Always the gentleman.