CHAPTER 16 – THE HOMECOMING
"Wow so Stefan's old friend Lexi showed up and told you how to deprogram him?" Rhiannon asked incredulously.
"Yea," Elena said. "He's locked up at the old Forbes jail cell."
"So what's next on the vampire rehab check list?" Rhiannon asked sipping at her coffee in the Salvatore kitchen.
"We have to starve him more but that's not what I'm here for," Elena said. "The cave we discovered is covered in symbols that tell the story of the Original vampires."
"What? And I'm learning about this now?" she cried out.
"Yea, sorry about that," Elena muttered. "We were busy taking pictures of all of it and trying to make sense out of it. You wouldn't be able to get inside anyway. It's vampire proofed."
"God this sucks," Rhiannon muttered.
"How're you dealing with all of that?" Elena asked with genuine concern.
"I'm doing what I can," she retorted. "I mean, my emotions are still all over the place, the bloodlust is sometimes difficult to handle, but if I get my fill regularly I can manage to go about my day without ripping innocent people's heads off so… And I don't think I'm sired like Tyler which is weird, but you won't catch me complaining about that. I'm still trying to figure out why though. Klaus seemed certain that I would be."
"Well maybe I can help with that," Elena said in a hushed voice. "We both want to learn as much about the Originals as we can so I say let's go straight to the source."
"Rebekah?" Rhiannon muttered. "Well it just so happens that I'm supposed to go dress shopping with her after school so I can ask her around."
"Wait what?!" Elena asked incredulously.
"Well yea, I mean we live in the same house so I can't avoid talking to her," Rhiannon defended. "Plus she's not that bad once you get through that tough bitch act. It also might have something to do with me being the carbon copy of her bestie from thousand years ago."
"Right," Elena said in a weird tone of voice.
"Let's just go to school," Rhiannon said trying to ignore the weird vibe. "I'll help you find out everything you want just try not to press Rebekah too much. She's got quite the temper and even with me as a bodyguard she'd be able to rip you to shreds while doing her nails at the same time."
Elena of course totally ignored Rhiannon's advice when she brought up the vampire hunter making Rhiannon face palm inwardly.
"So how'd you ended up friends with the latest doppelganger?" Rebekah asked Rhiannon browsing casually through the rack filled with cocktail dresses.
"I've known her since I was a kid. Our parents were really close but then we moved to Seattle when I was ten. And now I'm back here and my parents are in New Zealand," Rhiannon elaborated.
"It's funny because in Brenna's time, there was this girl Tatia, the original doppelganger if you will, and they hated each other. Or to be precise, Tatia wanted to seduce both Elijah and Klaus and Brenna was not having any of it. I'm sure you already know they were bound to get married, Brenna and my brother," Rebekah said.
"Yea I know that bit," Rhiannon retorted. "So you're saying Elena's bloodline comes as far as yours and mine?"
"Yes, and her bloodline also has a rich history of wedging itself between the members of my family. It all started with Tatia, who wasn't satisfied with Klaus' affections so she set out to win Elijah too but without success. He only had eyes for one," she added looking at Rhiannon with what could be described only as nostalgia.
"Wait so if Klaus loved Tatia how could he just tried to mercilessly sacrifice two women who look exactly like her in order to break the curse?" Rhiannon asked.
"Well as I'm sure you already know, Nick is a vindictive bastard. He learned about Tatia's intentions and he resented her for that. With Katherine and Elena, well he saw them both just as living reminders of a woman who broke his heart all those centuries ago," Rebekah elaborated.
"It must be exhausting to hold a grudge for so long," Rhiannon pondered. "Wouldn't it be just easier to let it go?"
"It would, but unfortunately Nik isn't programmed that way," Rebekah retorted. "C'mon, we can continue this conversation when we get back to the house. You can even invite Elena if you want to help her with her little fact finding mission."
"Yea I'll do that while you compel those poor girls for your runway show," Rhiannon joked making the Original sister snort at her inelegantly.
Later in the boarding house, the music was blasting and Rhiannon was opening third bottle of champagne when Elena walked in. She blurred towards her whispering pleadingly: "I got Rebekah to talk so please don't fuck this up by trying that girl power struggle crap from earlier."
"Okay," Elena replied looking around weirded out a little.
"Hey what's up?" Rebekah called out walking from behind the corner.
"You invited me over to talk," Elena retorted.
"Alright girls," Rebekah hollered. "Have at it."
And right there the half of the cheerleading squat walked into the foyer wearing various cocktail dresses.
"Alright now twirl please," Rebekah instructed further.
"You compelled your own private runway show?" Elena asked incredulously.
"I need a homecoming dress," Rebekah retorted matter-of-factedly. "So, pick one. Rhiannon sais go with the red. What do you think?"
"I'm not here to help you shop," Elena retorted looking at Rhiannon pointedly. "I'm here to talk about why you don't want me to wake up Mikael."
Well so much for "no girl power struggle crap", Rhiannon thought to herself. Was Elena really mad at her for getting along with Rebekah? She's Elijah's sister and she didn't do anything to hurt her or her friends so what would be the point in being mean to her?
Rebekah was having none of it either vamp-running towards the nearest girl, grabbing her by her throat and barring her fangs at Elena saying: "I said pick one Elena."
"The red one," Elena said in panic.
"Now that wasn't so hard was it?" Rebekah said sending all the girls home, unharmed. Then she turned around on her heel grabbing her glass of champagne and walked up to Elena saying: "You do not threaten me. You will learn what I allow you to learn. Is that clear?"
Elena just nodded to that finally realizing that messing with a thousand year old vampire with anger issues probably wasn't the smartest idea. Rhiannon just shook her head and followed Rebekah upstairs. She was getting more and more tired of everybody's shit. She got used to be the odd man out and her being a hybrid seemed to alienate her from the group even more but she hoped they valued her at least enough to consider her advice. But that was clearly another delusion. Well she was done trying to help them since they clearly didn't want her help anyway. It was time to follow her own agenda and try to see if Rebekah could help her get Elijah back.
The afternoon went by and Rebekah got cooperative again, telling them the whole story of how her family traveled from Europe to the New World, how they lived in harmony with their neighbors and how that all went to hell when their youngest brother got killed by the wolves and how their mother – the Original witch – turned them into vampires in effort to protect them. She also elaborated how Rhiannon's ancestor Brenna fit into all of it. Hearing about how Elijah's heart got broken by the hands of his own very father made her want to weep for weeks.
After Rebekah kicked Elena out, her and Rhiannon were sitting in the foyer, talking and drinking through Salvatore liquor supplies. That was one of the perks of being a hybrid – her alcohol tolerance was sky high now.
"So you think there's any chance that Klaus would undagger Elijah any time soon?" Rhiannon asked looking into the fire.
"I really don't know," Rebekah retorted. "He might undagger him tomorrow, or in fifty years or the next time he needs something from him. You really do care about my brother don't you?"
"I do," Rhiannon muttered. "And I miss him terribly."
"Well I'm not making any promises but I'll see what I can do to convince Klaus to bring Elijah back," Rebekah said solemnly making Rhiannon smile genuinely, probably for the first time in months. Then they hear the door open and Elena walked in.
"I thought I told you to leave," Rebekah deadpanned. "Twice."
"How do you know that Mikael killed your mother?" Elena asked.
"Nik was there. He told me," Rebekah retorted.
"He lied to you," Elena said walking towards the Original.
"And how do you know that?" Rebekah asked, sarcasm oozing out of her words.
"The cave where you've carved your family's names is covered in symbols," Elena started. "the story of your family, how your parents arrived, how they made peace," she continued placing individual pictures at the table. Rhiannon jumped out of her seat to take a look. "The spell that turned you into vampires and this. This is the symbol for hybrid. It's the combination for the werewolf and the vampire symbol. And this is the one for your mother."
"Her necklace," Rebekah muttered.
"And this is the story of her death," Elena continued showing one last picture. When Rhiannon saw it she almost felt sick.
"The hybrid killed the Original witch," Rhiannon muttered.
"Not Mikael, Klaus," Elena pressed on.
"No, no he wouldn't," Rebekah said, but she didn't sound so sure anymore. The look in her eyes was pleading for them to say it wasn't the truth.
"Think about it Rebekah, she put the curse on him. Made it so that he would be the only one of his kind and then she rejected him," Rhiannon chimed in.
"With the werewolf gene comes aggression and violence," Elena continued. "When he turned, all of that was heightened. He killed her Rebekah and then he made up this entire lie about your father so that he wouldn't lose you."
"These mean nothing!" Rebekah yelled grabbing photos from the table and chucking them into the fire. "They're just stupid drawings done by stupid people who had no idea who my family was!"
"Then why are you so upset?" Elena pushed.
"Why are you doing this to me?!" Rebekah cried out. "I've done nothing to you!"
"Klaus killed your mother!" Elena retorted.
"Elena I think that's enough," Rhiannon tried to stop her, but as usual, she wasn't listening.
"He has a hold on you, on me, on everyone. He has for a thousand years. He have to make it stop!"
"Shut up! Just shut up! Don't talk anymore! Nothing!" Rebekah screamed throwing Elena against the wall grabbing her throat.
"Rebekah, calm down please!" Rhiannon pleaded but knew better than to try and get her off Elena. "Bekah please, just let her go!"
After a moment she released Elena from her grasp and slumped to the ground, weeping. It was a heartbreaking scene. Rhiannon just kneeled down beside her and put her arm around her shoulders. When she saw she wasn't going to rip her apart, she hugged her as tightly as she could, letting her cry, turning around to Elena saying: "Just go, I got this."
Rhiannon stayed on the foyer floor with Rebekah for two more hours before she stopped crying. After that she grabbed her around shoulders and led her to her room where she sat her on her bed while she went to fetch another bottle of bourbon. They drank through the night and sometime around 4am Rebekah finally passed out, exhausted.
"Well Portland is fantastic once you get over all the whiny music and healthy looking people. It's literally a breeding ground for werewolves," Rhiannon heard Klaus chirp into the phone making her sick thinking how many people's lives he managed to ruin with his creepy sire bond since he left.
"Your father's dead," Stefan said into the phone sitting in one of the armchairs in the Salvatore study where they all gathered. Rhiannon, Rebekah, Damon and Elena were standing over Mikael's daggered corpse.
"What did you say to me?" Klaus asked, the shock from the news evident in his voice.
"Well my mistake, not your actual father, and not dead," Stefan continued. "Mikael, daggered. What do you want me to do with the body?"
"First I want you to explain to me exactly what happened," Klaus retorted.
"Well he wanted to kidnap Elena and use her as a bait but me and Damon managed to vervain him and found out he had a dagger on him so we gave it to Elena and she drove it through his heart," Stefan gave the rehearsed answer.
"I wanna see him. I want to see his rotting body for myself," Klaus snarled into the phone.
"Well, he's here," Stefan retorted. "Come by whenever."
"If you're lying to me Stefan your compulsion will expose you so swear tome on your life that what you're saying is true," Klaus insisted.
"It's true," Stefan said. "I saw it with my own eyes."
"I want to talk to Rebekah," Klaus continued, still not convinced.
"That's not a problem, she's right here," Stefan answered handing the phone over to Rebekah. Rhiannon stood right next to her rubbing her shoulder reassuringly and giving her a warm encouraging smile.
"Hello Nik," she muttered.
"Rebekah, love. What's this I hear about Mikael's tragic run in with the dagger?" Klaus asked.
"It's true," she said. "He's finally out of our lives for good. I miss you. I'm miserable here."
"I'll be home soon," Klaus retorted, finally convinced.
"Good, I'll see you then brother," Rebekah said and turned over the phone adding: "He bought it. He's coming home."
"So when do you think is my best shot at getting Elijah back?" Rhiannon asked Rebekah as they were making final touch-ups to her make-up and getting ready for the homecoming.
"Well he's always carted us around wherever he went so your best bet would be to wait until he comes back here. It shouldn't be hard for me to figure out where he's staying. Once I know the address, I'll text you and you go get my older brother. I have to say, he's lucky to have someone who's looking out for him the way you do. After all these centuries of misery, he deserves to be happy. We all do."
"Thank you so much Rebekah, I know it's not easy for you," Rhiannon said hugging the Original sister once more. "I'm gonna get some blood bags ready. I'm sure he'll be starving. I'll be right back."
She met Elena who was on her way to talk to Rebekah. After filling her backpack with enough blood bags, she was headed to her room to check out her appearance once more. After all these months, she's gonna see Elijah again. She wanted to look perfect. She was wearing her navy cocktail dress along with the silver strappy sandals and decided to let her hair fall down in loose waves. Her make-up was natural with smokey brown eyes and blush pink lipstick. She looked good. She was ready and went to Rebekah's room to see if she was ready too only to find Elena stand over her daggered body.
"You didn't," Rhiannon snarled, her eyes turning yellow-golden with rage.
"Sorry Rhiannon, we had to," Elena pleaded. "You know Rebekah wouldn't go through with this plan. She's not capable of letting her brother walk into a certain death trap."
"And you realize she was my only way of finding out Elijah's whereabouts?!" Rhiannon yelled at her not able to contain her emotions anymore. "You ruined everything!"
"I'm sorry Rhiannon," Elena said. "But I'm sure we'll be able to find Elijah after Klaus is killed."
"You don't know that!" Rhiannon screamed out even louder. "He's paranoid. He's carting them around wherever he goes. Even Rebekah didn't know where they are! She was gonna find out tonight! I'm so done helping you! I'm fucking done! Every single time I help you, you just turn around and betray me!"
"Oh stop being so dramatic," Damon called out from the doorframe.
"You don't wanna mess with me right now Damon," Rhiannon snarled at him and as she tried to push past him, she ended up with another syringe in her neck. Again.