CHAPTER 9 – THE DINNER PARTY

It took a good half hour to calm Rhiannon down enough to convince her to get in the car so he could drive her home. Elijah still had no idea why she was crying so much after he told her he had a way to spare Elena's life contributing it to the fact that she'd been through a lot that day. He sensed there was more to it but didn't want to push her.

The drive to her house didn't take more than ten minutes, but within that time she managed to fall asleep so deep that he didn't have the heart to wake her, so he carried her to her room, where he put her on the bed and covered her with blankets after taking off her combat boots. He stayed there for a while watching her sleep, and then went back to his own apartment. He had a busy day ahead of him.

He was walking with Jenna along the old property lines, hoping to find the place of the witch massacre when Alaric showed up.

"Alaric Saltzman," Elijah addressed him after Jenna went to her car for some more reference. "You're one of those people on Elena's list of loved ones to protect."

"Yea, so is Jenna," Alaric retorted.

"You don't have to be jealous. I don't really pursuit younger women," he said although didn't manage to do so with a completely straight face. It also wasn't entirely true considering the young werewolf that had occupied his mind ever since he got to Mystic Falls. He wasn't exactly pursuing her either so… Rick however didn't seem amused at all.

"It's a joke Rick, lighten up," he said walking past him patting him on the shoulder. After they were done, they went to the Grill to grab a lunch.

"Oh look, there's Jenna with her new boyfriend," Elijah heard Damon say teasingly.

"Stop being a dick," he heard Rhiannon chide him with a hint of an emotion he couldn't quite puzzle out. Could it be… jealousy? No, he was making assumptions. Snap out of it Elijah! he scolded himself.

"Stop being melodramatic," Damon bit back waving at them saying: "Hi!"

"Hey guys!" Jenna waved back and walked towards them closely followed by Elijah. As he got closer he could hear Rhiannon's heart racing. What was going on with her?

"So I hear you two had quite the meeting of historical minds today," Damon continued causally. Elijah dismissed that with a polite smile and looked over at Rhiannon sitting next to Alaric making her blush wildly. She had never reacted in such manner before. Something was definitely up.

"Yea, I guess you can say that," Jenna said.

"Well as much as I'd like to continue this, I - I've got papers to grade," Alaric chimed in throwing some change on the table.

"No, you know what?" Andie started. "We should continue this. Let's have a dinner party!"

"Uuu, my girl, full of good ideas," Damon chirped way too casually. "I'll be happy to host. Say tonight, maybe?"

"It's good for me," Andie joined in. "Jenna?"

"Nah, I don't think tonight—" Alaric started but was cut off mid sentence by Jenna saying: "Yea, I'm free."

"Rhiannon?" Damon asked way too innocently. Elijah knew he was inviting her only to try and distract him. Damon, although often reckless, was very intuitive and sensed there was something going on between him and Rhiannon.

"I… umm, sure, why not?" she mumbled, genuinely surprised.

"It'd be a pleasure," Elijah said smiling and looking at Rhiannon.

"Great," Damon said getting up. "I'll see you all tonight at say eight o'clock at my place. C'mon honey, you need to go back to work and I got some shopping to do."

They all scattered and Elijah was left with Rhiannon who was still sitting in the booth, picking at her salad, clearly lost in her thoughts.

"Do you mind if I join you?" he asked her making her almost jump out of her skin.

"Yea, sure, sorry, I thought you left with the others," she said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it," he retorted. "So I don't suppose you know what Damon's up to."

She snorted in response. "Sadly, Damon is about as much open with his plans as you are. All I know that something's up for sure. They stopped talking the second I sat down."

"I figured as much," he said smiling again. "So can I pick you up tonight at seven fifty?" he asked making her choke on her soda.

"Um, yea, that'd be nice, thanks," she mumbled embarrassed and started to get up as well. "I gotta go now, but I'll see you then."

"Alright," he said watching her get out of the booth and make her way out of the Grill. She was acting strange indeed. He was sure though that it didn't have anything to do with what Damon was up to. Well he was going to find out soon enough.

It was seven thirty and Rhiannon was freaking out. She woke up that morning not remembering how she got into her bed and absolutely exhausted. The last few days were a total emotional rollercoaster and she'd never felt so confused in her life. Yesterday, however, she realized that part of her confusion stemmed from the fact that she had feelings for Elijah. Elijah who apart from being sweet, gentlemanly and absolutely freakin' gorgeous, also happened to be a thousand years old vampire who may or may not wanted to sacrifice one of her best friends over a creepy ancient curse, so he could kill another thousand years old vampire for god knows what reason. Just saying that sentence in her head was too insane to handle.

She was sure he noticed her strange behavior today and that made her even more nervous. She was currently standing in front of her closet, trying to figure out what to wear. She knew tonight wasn't about her and Elijah and frankly, she was worrying herself sick with thoughts of what Damon was up to.

She chose her favorite black casual dress ( . %20Little%20Black% ), pairing it with black lacey tights, combat boots and leather jacket, putting her hair into a fishtail braid and keeping her make-up minimal with thin black cat-liner and some mascara. She was in the kitchen drinking water when Elijah knocked on the door, seven fifty sharp.

Elijah waited outside for Rhiannon to come out and the sight of her left him breathless. She looked gorgeous indeed.

"Rhiannon," he said as a greeting placing his hand on her shoulder blade and leaning in to kiss her cheek lightly watching for her reaction and he wasn't disappointed when her breath got caught in her throat and he heard her heart rate pick up an insane pace.

"Elijah," she said with a bated breath placing her hand on his shoulder in response.

"You look gorgeous tonight. Shall we?" he asked placing his hand on the small of her back and led her to the car.

"So how was your day?" he asked pulling out from the driveway.

"It was okay," she said looking up at him from the passenger seat. "Yours?"

"Pleasantly dull," he said with a small smile. The tension in the car was becoming more and more unbearable with every passing moment and Elijah almost crashed the car into the mural they sat on the night before when Rhiannon accidentally brushed her fingers against his hand on the armrest as he was pulling up at the Salvatore driveway.

He collected himself quickly and got out of car to open the door for her. He took her hand helping her out of the car and closed the door behind her but still not releasing her hand from his. She bit her lip looking down on her feet, then back up at him and it took everything in him not to grab her and kiss her senseless then and there. C'mon Elijah, show a little restraint! he chided himself. If he only managed to carry out his plan, he'd have plenty of time to pursue her. However, it seemed that being able to focus tonight would be a much harder task than he anticipated.

"We should go inside," she mumbled almost incoherently and backing up from him a little.

"Yes, we should," he agreed smiling and placing his hand over her shoulder blades he guided her towards the door and rang the bell. "Let's just hope that your friends will behave themselves tonight."

"Yea," she replied, the knot in her stomach tightening even more.

"Good evening," Elijah said courtly as Damon opened the door.

"Thank you for coming," he replied. "Rhiannon, you look stunning tonight."

"Thanks," she said and brushed right past him making it straight to the kitchen.

"Please, come in," Damon encouraged Elijah who remained standing outside.

"Just one moment," he said brushing his finger against the door frame. "Can I just say that, if you have less than honorable intentions about how this evening's going to proceed, I suggest you reconsider."

"No, nothing dishonorable," Damon said innocently. "Just getting to know you."

"Hm, that's good," Elijah retorted coming in. "Because, you know, although Elena and I have this deal, if you so much as make a move to cross me I'll kill you and I'll kill everyone in this house. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," Damon mumbled in response.

The dinner was in full swing, Rhiannon sipping at her wine was sitting right between Elijah and Damon, clearly serving as a buffer and a distraction. Nobody from the adults questioned her presence or the fact that she was drinking in spite of being only eighteen. Well only for a few more days actually.

"I hate to break it to you Damon, but according to Elijah your family is so not the founder of this town," Jenna said pouring him some more wine.

"Mhm, do tell," Damon said.

"Well as I mentioned to Jenna earlier a faction of settlers migrated from Salem after the witch trials in sixteen-nineties," Elijah elaborated. "Over the next hundred years they developed this community where they could feel safe from prosecution."

"Mhm because they were witches," Jenna added laughing at the notion. Oh only if she knew the truth.

"There's no tangible proof there were witches in Salem," Andie objected.

"Andie's a journalist, big on facts," Damon chimed in.

"Well the lore sais that there was this wave of anti-witch hysteria that broke out in the neighboring settlement," Elijah continued, sipping on his wine and glancing at Rhiannon from time to time. "So these witches were rounded up and they were tied to the stakes in the field together and burned. Some say you could hear the screams for miles around as they were consumed by the fire. Could you pass the…"

"I wouldn't repeat this to the historical society though," Rhiannon chimed in making people around the table chuckle and Elijah raise an eyebrow at her, looking amused.

"This is starting to sound little like a ghost story to me," John joined in the conversation making half the table roll their eyes in disdain.

"So why do you want to know the location of these alleged massacres?" Damon asked pushing Elijah's patience.

"You know, healthy historian's curiosity, of course," he retorted making Rhiannon snort into her wine glass inelegantly.

"Of course," Damon repeated and grabbing Rhiannon's glass he said: "Yea, I'm cutting you off."

"Whatever," she mumbled glaring at him warningly. The dinner was almost over anyway and nothing had happened yet, which made her all the more nervous. She knew Damon wasn't stupid enough to try anything in front of Jenna, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try anything. Her suspicion proved right when Damon said: "Does anyone care for some cognac? I have a bottle I've been saving for ages."

"Not for me thanks," Alaric said. "Nine bottles of wine is my limit."

"The gentlemen should take their drinks in the study," Andie suggested which only added to Rhiannon's suspicion that something was indeed about to happen.

"I have to say the food was almost as wonderful as the company," Elijah said throwing his napkin on the table and pushed aside Rhiannon's chair to help her stand up, offering her a small smile.

Rhiannon started putting glasses from the table on a tray after witnessing an immensely awkward moment between Rick and Jenna and then between Rick and John, when Rick's phone rang. It was Stefan getting him to stop Damon from whatever idiotic plan he had in mind and he made a beeline for the study leaving Rhiannon alone in the dinning room, confused and furious.

She sat down in her chair again and drank the rest of the wine straight from the bottle. She had no idea what was going on and she felt so helpless she thought she might start crying. Seconds later, Jenna was pouring them some coffee when Elijah emerged from the study and sat down next to her, giving her a reassuring smile.

"You look positively bored to death," he said jokingly.

"Nah, I've been through worse," she joked back although the knot in her stomach was almost giving her cramps at that point.

"So, I know this is a social thing," Andie started. "But I – I would really like to ask you some more questions about the work you're doing here."

"I'd love to answer them," Elijah retorted courtly.

"Great, well that's so great," Andie said joyfully. "Rick would you do me a favor and grab the notebook out of my bag?"

"Elijah, did John tell you he's Elena's uncle slash father?" Damon asked giving John a death glare that made Rhiannon shift on her chair nervously.

"Yes, I'm well aware of that," Elijah answered.

"Of course she hates him so there's absolutely no need to keep him on the endangered species list," Damon elaborated making Rhiannon snort in genuine amusement. She didn't like John at all. He made it very clear he wasn't happy that a werewolf living under the same roof as his daughter.

"What I'd like to know, Elijah, is how you intend on killing Klaus?" John asked ignoring Damon completely and making Rhiannon wince inwardly.

"Gentlemen there are few things we should probably get clear right now," Elijah started in a tone of voice that suggested his patience had run out. "I allow you to live solely to keep an eye on Elena. I allow Elena to remain in her house living her life with her friends as she does as courtesy," he said glancing at Rhiannon sternly, telling her to keep her mouth shut as he continued: "If you become a liability, I'll take her away from you and you'll never see her again."

"Okay," said Andie as she returned back, oblivious to the tension that reigned around the table. "My first question is when you got here to Mystic—" the rest of her question was cut off by Rick stabbing Elijah in the back with an ancient looking dagger making everybody at the table jump up. Elijah was screaming in pain as his skin faded into that grayish color Rhiannon had seen before in that abandoned house. She was crying hysterically and trashing around in Damon's grip as her vision sharpened as her eyes turned yellow in shock and immediate sorrow that followed.

"Now get rid of him, before Jenna comes back with desert," Alaric snarled at Damon, who let go of Rhiannon. She turned around and ran away to the study before anyone could stop her and picking up the most expensive bottle of alcohol she could find, she threw it into one of many bookshelves, then slumped down to the ground crying hysterically.

Elijah woke up on a dirty ground in what appeared to be a cellar of some sort and he was furious. He briefly considered killing every single person in the house like he promised but when he sneaked to the study and saw Rhiannon pinning Damon against the bookshelf, her eyes yellow with fury. He couldn't help but feel that twinge of satisfaction upon seeing that his (although temporary) demise was met with such strong emotional reaction from the young werewolf. He wanted to comfort her and tell her he was alright, but he had other things to tend to since it would appear that this little arrangement with Elena had outlived its usefulness. He decided it would be much easier to take her away from them for the time being and disappear from Rhiannon's life at least until this business with his brother was finished.

He managed to locate her and arrived to the lake house in a record time. She tried to negotiate with him again but there was no way of convincing him to renew the terms of their deal. It turned out she was well aware of that when she stabbed herself forcing him to agree to her conditions once more. When he finally convinced her to let him heal her, he ended up with the dagger in his heart. Again.