CHAPTER 8 – THE AMENDS
To say Elijah was in a foul mood the whole night and morning after Rhiannon walked away from him would be an understatement. He followed her and made sure she got home safe; he watched her cry herself to sleep contemplating upon his options.
After Brenna, he never allowed himself to fall for anybody so deeply. There were other women that entered his life and made him care again. There was Katerina, and of course Celeste, but when push came to shove, he had always chosen his obligations towards his family over them, ultimately losing them as a consequence. Celeste paid the price with her life and Katerina turned into a vicious manipulative monster he barely recognized anymore. Frankly, he couldn't decide which was worse. He was more and more sure that he didn't want to repeat the same pattern where Rhiannon was concerned. Maybe the time had come for him to put his happiness first again.
He didn't expect to see her at the tea party Mayor Lockwood held for him, but there she was standing next to Jenna, wearing a leather jacket over simple black dress with a floral pattern, talking to Jenna. He barely even registered what the Mayor was talking about and when the young vampire approached them, she followed him with her gaze and for a moment when she locked eyes with Elijah, he could see all the hurt and confusion in her beautiful hazel orbs before she directed them back to Jenna, to excuse herself and walked away.
Rhiannon talking to Alaric, when she saw Elijah enter the study with Damon. She gave in to her curiosity and decided to leave Alaric and eavesdrop on the macho face-off that would inevitably happen between the two vampires. Boy was she right.
"What can I do for you Damon?" Elijah asked in an overly civilized manner. To everyone who knew him well enough, it would a sign they should tread carefully. However, Damon being Damon was completely oblivious to the fact that he was walking on a very thin ice.
"I was hoping we could have a word," Damon replied.
"Where's Elena?" Elijah asked. He couldn't help but notice the doppelganger's absence.
"Safe with Stefan. Layin' low, you know. We had a bit of a werewolf problem."
"Oh yea, I heard about that."
"I'm sure you did since it was your witch who saved the day," Damon said, leaning on the table casually.
"You're welcome," Elijah said, the strain in his voice becoming evident with every uttered word.
"Which adds to my confusion exactly why you're here," Damon pushed on.
"Why don't you just focus on keeping Elena safe and leave the rest to me?" Elijah said courtly turning around to leave the room before the temptation to rip Damon's head off would become too difficult to resist. The young vampire of course overlooked the thinly veiled threat and blurred in front of him hindering his way out of the room saying: "Not good enough."
Before he could do or say anything else, Elijah grabbed him by the throat and blur-shoved him against the wall behind the desk. Damon of course tried to retaliate by grabbing Elijah by his throat but that had about as much effect on him as if a toddler did it.
"Young vampires, so arrogant," Elijah said with a hint of emotion in his voice that made Rhiannon decide it was time to intervene. She barged into the room catching both vampires by surprise.
"Let him go Elijah! Please!" Rhiannon pleaded.
He ignored her pleas and turned back to Damon, saying: "How dare you come in here and challenge me?"
"You can't kill me, remember? It's not part of the deal," Damon rasped defiantly making Rhiannon face-palm inwardly.
"Silence," Elijah said sternly. That was the second time Rhiannon heard him utter those two syllables and it sent shivers down her spine that had only little to do with an actual fear. She was snapped out of her thoughts by the sight of Elijah stabbing Damon in the neck with a number two pencil.
"I'm an Original," Elijah said matter-of-factedly, handing Damon his handkerchief. "Show a little respect. The moment you cease to be of use to me, you're dead. So you should do what I say. Keep Elena safe."
Elijah turned around and walked out of the room without a word. He wasn't proud of his behavior and he knew that it wasn't going to win him any points with the young werewolf, but it would appear that demonstrations of power such as this one worked best with this particular lot of supernaturals.
"Are you okay?" Rhiannon asked Damon when they were alone.
"What do you think?!" he snapped at her cleaning the blood from the table.
"Well that's what you get for pissing off an Original vampire," Rhiannon bit back. "I mean what did you think would happen? Did you think Elijah will spill all his dirty secrets over tea and cookies?"
"Yea-yea, smartass," Damon retorted. "Are you gonna help me clean this up or what?"
"No can do," Rhiannon said putting her phone back to her pocket. "Apparently my services are needed at the Grill. Bonnie has a plan to find out more about Elijah's plans. Go and compel one of the maids to clean it for you."
"That's not a bad idea," Damon smirked at her. "Keep me posted on what she finds out."
"Will do," she said walking out of the study.
Thirty minutes later she was in Caroline's house placing candles around the living room.
"How does this work?" Jeremy asked.
"I'll put him in trance and ask him questions, it's like hypnosis," Bonnie explained.
"Are you sure you're strong enough for this?" Jeremy asked with a hint of concern in his voice.
"That's what the candles are for," she elaborated further. "I'll draw power from the flames."
"I'll get the matches," Caroline chimed in.
"I got it," Bonnie said lighting all the candles with her mind.
"Wow," Rhiannon murmured sitting down into the armchair behind Bonnie.
"Never gonna get used to that," Jeremy added.
"Oh c'mon, that's pretty hot and you know it," Caroline countered making Rhiannon smirk. It was so obvious Jeremy had a crush on Bonnie.
"I need a bowl of water," Bonnie said smiling sweetly.
"Yea, I'll get it," he said walking to the kitchen.
"Okay, what was that?!" Bonnie whispered, furious. "It's hot?"
"He's so crushing on you!" Caroline retorted.
"C'mon Bon, it's pretty obvious it's mutual too," Rhiannon added.
"Would you rather be with the traitor warlock over here?" Caroline asked with her typical attitude.
"No, I'm not into Luka," Bonnie protested. "It's just you know, he understood me and he was new and different."
"And you've known since forever and you only see him one way – as Elena's brother," Rhiannon added from her armchair.
"But you're a witch, I'm a vampire and Rhiannon's a werewolf," Caroline countered. "You know, it's not like we're in any position to—"
"Be picky," Bonnie finished for her making them all chuckle.
"No," Caroline countered. "To judge."
"She's right you know," Rhiannon murmured, but the conversation had come to a forced end when Jeremy got back with the water.
Bonnie managed to put Luka in trance and what they found out shook Rhiannon so deeply, she had to find an excuse to get out of there before she would break something. She murmured something about driving up to Damon's to let him know what they found out. Five minutes later she barged into the boarding house and almost tackled Alaric who was apparently on his way out.
"Oh hey Alaric, where's Damon?" she asked.
"In the study," I gotta go pick up Jenna. "I gotta go pick Jenna up. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Yea sure," she said walking to further into the foyer yelling: "Damon! Get your ass over here, we need to talk!"
Before she could hear Damon's very colorful response, she heard Alaric cry out in pain and when she turned around, a guy she'd never seen before smacked her across the face. She face-planted on the floor, and the last thing she saw before everything went black was Alaric down on the ground with a giant knife sticking out of his abdomen.
She wasn't out too long and she could feel someone tying her hands behind her back and dragging her to the study, then tossing her onto the couch. She looked at Alaric with horror but then realized he was wearing his ring. He'll be fine. Then she saw Damon chained to a wooden chair with a creepy-looking steel collar with wooden nail sticking out and prickling his neck.
"What the fuck?" she murmured under her breath. This was most likely going to get really ugly.
"Shut up," one of the men barked at her. "You're lucky you're a werewolf, or you'd end up just like your friend over here," he said nudging Alaric's body with his foot.
"Leave him be you dick!" she yelled at him trying to stand up, which wasn't an easy task with her hands tied behind her back, only to be shoved back by Jules.
"You really are lucky we don't kill our own," she snarled at her. "But I wouldn't push it if I were you."
Rhiannon was about to talk right back to her but was cut off my Damon waking up, wincing in pain. He also looked at Rick and his ring, looking moderately relieved, at least until he realized what deep shit they were currently in.
"Morning sunshine," the guy who attacked them said. "I saw this movie once, some torture porn flake. Anyway they had this collar device that was really cool, so I just modified it with some wooden nails," he said, wrapping the chains around his hands tightly: "And when I pull…"
Rhiannon though she was going to barf, this was totally fucked up. It wasn't so much the fact that this guy was torturing Damon in a really gruesome way, but that he seemed to enjoy himself a little too much. Probably for the first time in her life, she was rendered speechless.
"So I hear you have the moonstone," Jules said casually. Damon just rolled his eyes and laughed.
"Oh, if you only knew the irony of this moment right now," he said with his typical nonchalance in spite of the fact that his neck was ripped to shreds. "Let me tell you how this is gonna go. You're gonna torture me, I don't talk, someone loses a heart. Last time, it was your boy Mason," he spat viciously making all the wolves in the room furious.
"This time, it'll be you," Jules whispered venomously, nodding for the creepy guy to continue.
"You know what the great thing about bug shot is?" Jules asked couple minutes later. "Scatters through the body, maximum damage," she continued trying to scare Damon, but it obviously wasn't working. She pointed the shotgun at him asking: "Where's the moonstone?"
"Get over it honey," Damon said. "You're never gonna get it."
"You know, the bug shots may not do that much damage on you because of your pesky vampire healing," Jules started nodding towards the two guys standing next to Rhiannon. They picked her up and threw her down on the ground making her kneel in front of Damon. "But let's see if your little friend here can heal quickly enough."
"What happened to we're not killing our own?" she asked not able to hide the panic in her voice anymore.
"Well take it as your own personal contribution to the entire werewolf race sweetheart," the creepy dude torturing Damon said mockingly.
Rhiannon looked up at Damon and saw a genuine fear in his eyes. She may be a werewolf and possess the supernatural healing ability, but there was no way she could possible survive getting shot with a shotgun.
"This is your last chance," Jules said cocking up the gun holding it up to Rhiannon's head, who squeezed her eyes shut. "Where's the moonstone?!"
"Looking for this?" a nonchalant voice called out from behind causing them all jump up in surprise. Rhiannon looked over her shoulder and saw Elijah walking towards the couch causally with the moonstone in his hand. His face was calm and collected as ever, but his eyes were ablaze with fury, she'd never seen before.
He placed the moonstone on a dresser behind the couch, backing up and saying: "Go ahead, take it."
Rhiannon was curious whether they were seriously going fall for that and try to take the moonstone when the first one of the geniuses tried to blur towards it and take it right from beneath Elijah's nose. He tore the heart out of his chest before he could realize he was screwed, tossing his lifeless body on the couch. The two other guys tried to make a run for it, but Elijah was faster releasing them from their mortal coils.
Jules made a run for it and the dude that was torturing Damon was crouching somewhere beside them hiding his head in his jacket. Rhiannon might have even found that funny if she wasn't scared to death just a minute ago. She just slumped down on the ground, propping her head against Damon's knee to prevent herself from passing out from sheer relief.
Elijah strutted causally towards the creep asking: "What about you sweetheart? Hm?" He grabbed him by the jacket making him stand up. They guy was so freaked out he couldn't even look at him. "You wanna take a shot? No? Yes? No?" the guy just shook his head.
"Where's the girl?" Elijah asked. He had no patience left where this particular pack of wolves was concerned and wanted to kill every single last one of them. It seemed however that he would have to settle for the majority. At least for now.
"I don't know," Damon retorted.
Elijah looked down at him, then on Rhiannon and finally back at the guy saying: "Well, it doesn't really matter," before hitting him square in the face with his elbow and breaking his neck. He walked over to Rhiannon, picking her up from the ground and gently tearing the rope from her hands. She winced in relief trying to rub the feeling back to her hands that had become almost completely numb. He walked her towards the armchair and sat her down gently looking at her with concern, then walking up to Damon, breaking the heavy chains that were binding him to the chair as if they were nothing.
"You realize this is the third time I've saved your life now?" he said backing up, then turning around on his heel, he walked over to the dresser to retrieve the moonstone.
"Rhiannon," he said walking towards her and extending his hand to help her stand up. "I was hoping we could have a word, you and I."
She was still shaken and mute, but she took his hand and started walking towards the front door with him right beside her placing his hand on the small of her back. She turned around to see Damon looking at them quizzically.
She walked out and sat down on a mural across from the front door. She didn't feel like talking but she was willing to listen and for whatever weird reason, his presence calmed her down. She looked up at him waiting for him to start talking.
"Are you alright?" he asked brushing his fingers against a semi-healed bruise on her left cheek. That felt really good and before she could stop herself, she leaned into his touch. Then she flinched realizing what just happened and looking down, she murmured: "Yea, just a little rattled, but I'll be fine. Thank you."
"I'm glad to hear that," he said sitting down on the mural beside her. "I'm sorry I upset you last night."
"Well you saved my life today so…" she murmured not looking at him. Technically, she was still upset, because not an hour ago, Luka in fact confirmed that Elijah planned to kill Elena in the sacrifice all along. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
"I want you to understand why exactly I cannot reveal my entire plan to you," he started. She turned to look at him, waiting for his explanation. He continued: "While I realize that you're a werewolf and therefore can't be compelled by a vampire, and I trust your ability to keep my secret, there are, unfortunately, several ways to get the information out of you without your consent. A witch powerful enough might be able to get it from you. There's also a torture and countless other possibilities that I would not rather think of. People we're dealing with are capable of doing really terrible things in order to get what they want and I don't want you get caught in the middle of this simply because I told you too much."
"I appreciate you trying to keep me safe Elijah, but I'm already in the middle of all this," Rhiannon countered making him smirk and shake his head in frustration.
"I realize that," he said looking into her eyes. "But you knowing the things I know would place you in even more danger than you already are, and I don't want that for you."
"And what about Elena?" she asked sharply. "You're still going to let her die to get what you want."
"Not exactly," Elijah objected.
"Don't lie to me! Just stop talking like you care about what happens to me or my friends!" she yelled at him standing up abruptly, her vision sharpening as her eyes turned yellow in rage once again. She felt as if her heart was going to split in half. She'd never been so torn in her life and she didn't have the first clue what to do about it. She was crying now and she didn't give a damn about it anymore. He was still sitting on the mural taken aback by her abrupt change of mood.
"Rhiannon, I promise you that I'm telling the truth," Elijah said trying hard to stay calm himself. "Elena will survive this."
"How?!" she barked at him.
"All I can tell you is this, and I want you to listen," he said standing up and grabbed her by her shoulders. "Yes, Elena needs to die in the ritual, but I have the means to bring her back."
"Swear to me, you're telling the truth," she whispered looking into his eyes searching for any hint of deceit, but couldn't find any as he whispered: "I swear."
Upon hearing this, Rhiannon started crying even harder, this time from a relief. Elijah, who didn't expect this reaction, had no idea why she was crying and what to do to stop it. He hugged her cautiously, partially expecting her to try to claw his eyes out, but, surprisingly, she let him grabbing on the lapels of his suit jacket, so he wrapped his arms around her tightly, caressing her hair soothingly. It seemed like things between them were good once again.