[ THE RISE: CHAPTER FIVE ]
Rhea heard Davina on the phone with Camille, the bartender that Klaus had apparently taking a liking too. Although Davina had promised not to tell Cami where they are, Rhea was in a constant state of unease.
Looking out the window, she saw Mikael stood with a wooden staff, eyes closed. She could see that he was clearly still healing from his brush with the werewolves.
Heading outside to join him, she told him, "You don't look so good, those bites -" before she could finish, he cut her off.
"Werewolf venom is to be purged by force, not acquiesced to." He informed the smaller girl, she raised her eyebrows at him, clearly not understanding.
"Viking 101 with the vampire that hunts vampires? Just what I wanted to do in my spare time.." She deadpanned, Mikael ignored her, he moved the subject on to more pressing matters.
"How much longer are we going to be hiding here? Like cowards?" He emphasised his last word, Rhea rolled her eyes.
Davina, joined them and explained, "Elijah saw you, if he knows you're here, then Klaus does too. So, I'm sorry, but until I unlink him from my friends, you're stuck here with us." Mikael sighed, something he seemed to do a lot of.
"Confrontation is inevitable, child. Your fear will prove to be our greatest disadvantage," he paused and looked to Rhea, "You too, as angry as you are, you are still very much afraid." He informed the two, Rhea tilted her head slightly at his admission.
"We're not afraid." Davina argued, Mikael took a step towards the two girls, "Well you should be, you are both weak."
"I think you're starting to forget who's in charge here," Rhea held her wrist up, revealing the bracelet, "While you were purging, we spelled it to make sure it won't come off again." She warned the vampire who looked less than amused.
"Ah yes, magic." He paused, "How well did that serve you when those wolves attacked? Hmm? Magic can only fight half your battles, remember that." He turned to go back to his original spot but Davina called after him.
"Okay, fine. You're so tough? Teach us."
"Teach you what?" Mikael questioned with a raised brow.
"Teach us how to be strong, to your own standards, of course." Rhea mocked, Mikael smirked.
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Davina had already sparred with Mikael, much to his dismay, she was better than he would've like to admit.
But when he had taken it one step too far and told Rhea to get up on a possibly sprained ankle, Davina knew that play time was over.
"Your anger will be your downfall, Monroe, it blinds you, to the point where you won't even see your death coming." Mikael warned Rhea, who just glared at him in response.
He reminded her far too much of her own mother – the thought of the woman who gave birth to her making her feel physically sick, her hate for the woman was almost painful.
"Come on." Davina put Rhea's arm over her shoulder, and helped her limp inside the cabin, "Rhea, we need some supplies and neither of us can leave in case someone see's us.." Rhea sighed, looking to the younger witch.
"I'll call Kaleb and give him the address, with a list of things to bring." Davina nodded, stepping out of the room to give her friend space to ring the blue eyed boy.
He answered after the third ring, "Hi. Um, I'm sorry. I know I haven't called in a while, everything's just been really hectic.." She slightly whimpered when she tried to take off her boot, her ankle swollen and severely bruised.
"Don't be silly, love. Are you alright? Where are ya?"
"Um.. I'll text you the address, and a list of things you could grab on your way?" She asked, finding herself smiling at the thought of seeing the blue eyed boy again.
"Alright, I'll be there." She hung up; smiling to herself, feeling elated about seeing Kaleb again.
"He'll be here soon." Davina gave her friend a knowing smirk as she sat opposite her, getting a flip of her friends middle finger in return. Davina knew of Rhea's past with Kol, and although she was glad that Rhea was onboard with taking down Klaus, she wanted the witch to be happy. She deserved that, more than anything
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Once Kaleb had arrived at the cabin with all of the things that Rhea asked him to bring, he rolled the bottom of her jeans up and inspected her injury.
"I've heard about this, never actually seen it firsthand. It appears someone has quite literally knocked you head over heels!"
Rhea let out a small laugh, but stopped when his face turned serious, "And I thought I'd have that honour."
The grin returned to his face and Rhea rolled her eyes– although her rising heart beat said differently.
"Hmm, we'll see about that, blue eyes." The two stared at each other for a few moments, seemingly getting lost in each other before Kaleb reached towards a bowl, containing a herbal poultice he had already mixed together.
Rhea instantly scrunched her nose up in disgust, "Jesus Christ, it smells like-" Kaleb cut her off, "You've run into something quite dead? Yeah. It's just a little something I picked up from a shaman bloke in Uganda. There you go!" He announced as he finished up treating her ankle, Rhea felt nostalgiac after his admission of picking the mixture up from Uganda, familiarity seeping into her bones. She knew that place all too well.
Brushing it off, she sighed in relief as the pain started to subdue, "Is it fixed?" Davina asked as she entered the room, looking at the two, she doesn't trust people easily— but Rhea seemed to trust Kaleb, so she might as well try.
"It's magic, not a miracle, it may take some time." He informed the Claire witch, setting Rhea's ankle on a chair before nodding towards all the vials, herbs and parchments containing magical writing on the table.
"That's quite the spell you've got going there."
The two females chuckled nervously, looking towards each other, "I mean, not to pry. I figured you had secrets after our last date ended in a werewolf brawl."
Rhea looked at the lanky boy apologetically, "Yeah, I'm sorry about that.. But hey, who said it was a date?" She questioned with a teasing smile on her face, making the boy roll his eyes.
"Playing hard to get I see! It's alright, never really liked dull girls anyway. That said, what exactly is going on here?" Rhea was shocked at his question.
Looking to Davina for help– the younger witch shrugged, removing herself from the room to leave the two alone, but also to make sure that Mikael stayed out of the way.
"You're still not the trusting sort," Kaleb voiced his observation, making the girl sigh. "Do you trust me?" She asked.
The smirk on Kaleb's face let her know that what he said next was a joke, "Are you slicked? Those sad, tortured eyes might fool some people, but not me. I know what you're after, you've got cruel intensions with me, Rhea Monroe! I won't be used for my pretty blue eyes, my body nor my medicinal herbs!" Rhea burst out laughing, making the boy give her a genuine smile, the sound of her laughter being like the sound of music to his ears.
"We can hold hands, but that is it." He stared at her for a moment, "Whatever it is you're up to, well, you can tell me when you're good and ready."
She gave him a grateful smile as he moved towards her, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, never once taking his eyes off of hers.
Rhea never thought that she would get to a place where she would be able to easily flirt with another man— she never thought she would have such intimate moments with another man other than him. Was this the beginning of something good? Of course it wasn't, for the odds were never really on Rhea's side.
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