[ THE RISE: CHAPTER TWELVE ]
Rhea had been adamant, that Esther was lying to her— that she wouldn't keep her end of the deal, but once Esther had shown her the spell and ingredients that she planned to use; Rhea thought she was telling the truth.
Which had put her in a predicament, because Esther then proceeded to tell her that the body she wanted to protect, was indeed the blonde bartender that Niklaus had taken a liking too.
Now, Rhea couldn't care less about the bartender. Other people did. She knew Davina cared about the blonde; and Klaus would surely have her head for it. Did she care? This was her brother, Ares, she couldn't pass up the opportunity to be with him again.
Which led to her to Rousseau's, where she knew Camille was.
"Sorry, we're closed." Rhea heard as she entered the restaurant— Camille hadn't even looked to see who had entered, the witch wondered if she was often this careless.
"That's too bad, I hear you serve the best whisky in this town." Cami looked up, instantly moving away from the witch in fear— for she had seen a painting of Rhea during one of her appointments with Klaus— added with what Klaus had told her about the witch, she was frightened.
"Cami, right?" She asked as she approached the blonde, "Klaus seems to have taken a liking to you."
And as she held up a bundle of herbs, Cami gasped.
"Funny, you look just like Caroline Forbes."
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It hadn't been until the next day, that Rhea finally caught up with Davina, curiosity flooded her veins as she found her, in the Mikaelson compound.
It looked as if she had walked in at the right moment, for Marcel was seemingly temporarily dead on the floor. Klaus, was choking on what seemed to be blood, until he too, fell unconscious.
"Impressive." Rhea noted, causing Davina to look up. Surprise spread across the younger witch's face upon seeing her friend.
"I thought Klaus had you?" Davina questioned, causing the Monroe witch's eyebrow to raise in confusion— realising that Davina had done, all of this, to try and save her?
"Unfortunately, I was battling another demon, other than Niklaus." This caught Davina by surprise, as well as Kol, who had just entered the courtyard— free from the shackles that had prevented him from doing magic.
"What exactly did you do to him?" He questioned, deciding to question Rhea on her whereabouts at a later time.
Rhea, who had only just noticed Kol's presence, visibly lit up— she had wanted nothing more than for him to wrap his arms around her and keep her close— ever since the ordeal with Esther, and Camille.
"I channeled dark objects through my blood to poison him."
Both Rhea and Kol had looks of pride on their faces, clearly the younger witch was learning from them.
Rhea then turned her attention back to Kol, "How did you get free?"
"Oh it's a long story, better question is," he paused, turning to Davina, "If he's not dead, then what are you gonna do when he recovers?"
"We have an hour, maybe less. Enough time to chain him, bleed him, dump him in the river." Davina told the two, Rhea let out a low whistle, impressed at her friends idea.
"That's a bit harsh, isn't it?" Kol questioned, causing the two girls to give him a look of confusion.
"Since when do you care what happens to Klaus?" Rhea wondered what had happened since he had been with Klaus to make him switch sides all of a sudden.
They were interrupted by Marcel, who gasped upon his coming back to life— pulling himself to his feet, he rubbed his sore neck before informing the two girls.
"Kol is with us now. We're going to be going up against Esther, assuming Klaus is upright." Rhea felt slightly betrayed at the fact that Kol was now on Klaus' side— considering all of the times he had screwed Kol over in the past.
Davina let out a noise of disbelief, obviously showing her confusion too, "Look, Nik is a pain in the ass, but, well.. she's a problem for us all." Kol informed the two.
Davina took a step toward Marcel and Kol, alarming them of her anger, "Klaus is the problem! I don't give a damn what happens to Esther."
"Yeah, well I sure do." Came the voice of Camille O'Connell, Rhea became tense at her presence— something Kol noticed straight away.
Upon noticing Klaus' unconscious body, she asked, "Should I even ask?"
Marcel shrugged, rolling his eyes towards Davina, the latter stepping towards her blonde friend.
"Cami, you should go. It's not safe." Rhea had unconsciously took a step back from the situation unfolding. Her movements were halted, however, when Kol placed his hand in her own.
He sensed her distress within seconds, and if his assumptions were correct— there was going to be a kick off very soon and Kol, was more than prepared to get her out of there without a second thought, if he needed to.
"No kidding! I woke up with puncture wounds all up and down my spine and no idea how they got there. According to my uncles files, they're part of this ancient spell, and I don't know about you guys, but when I see ancient and spell in the same sentence, I think Esther."
Oh how wrong she was.
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Camille had taken a seat on the couch, chugging the water that Marcel had fetched for her— while Davina and Kol examined the puncture wounds on her back. Rhea, however, was stood slightly away from the group, gnawing at her bottom lip, undecided on whether to tell them the truth or not.
"That's mothers work, alright. She must have wiped your memory." Kol informed Cami, who didn't even seem surprised.
"Not the first time it's been done by a member of this family. What does it mean?" She questioned, Kol chose his next words carefully.
"It's a byproduct of a.. Preparation spell."
Davina, worried for her friends safety, asked, "Preparation for what?"
"To make her a vessel." And when Kol's eyes met Rhea's, she knew. She knew, that he had figured her out perfectly— however, there was no sign of judgement or anger on his face, instead— it was silent promise, he would protect her, no matter what.
Upon seeing Cami's confused and scared face, Marcel told her, "He means Esther prepared your body for someone to jump into."
"Likely herself. I mean, knowing mother." Cami looked overwhelmed upon Kol's admission and asked one thing, "Where's Vincent?"
And as she headed to the ballroom where Vincent was still shackled to the wall, Davina and Marcel followed after their friend to make sure she was okay.
That left Kol and Rhea to themselves, the latter feeling like she was going to throw up— the fact that Esther hadn't followed through with her end of the deal making the guilt of what she had done creep upon the witch like a slowly brewing storm.
Standing up, Kol went to stand in front of the smaller girl, "I won't tell anyone." He reassured her in a hushed whisper, still aware that Marcel may listen in, she let out a breath she didn't even realise she was holding.
"Kol, she played me." She whispered back, the tears filling her eyes, and for once— she let them flow.
Wrapping his arms around the petite girl, the gesture being so much more than what one would normally perceive as a hug. It was a sign of protection, and as she wrapped her arms around him— something she had desperately craved over the past couple of days— she knew they would always protect each other, no matter what mistakes they may make along the way.
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A little while later, the five of them were discussing their plain of action.
"How long do I have?" Cami asked, a question she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to.
"Well now that Esther knows where Rebekah is hiding.. Not long. The only way to stop it, is to stop her." Clearly, it wasn't the answer that Cami was hoping for, but she kept a brave face.
Taking a deep breath, she suggested, "Then, let's do this. Marcel's a vampire, you three are powerful witches."
Rhea spoke up for the first time since Cami arrived, surprising all of them, "Esthers stronger than I've ever known her to be, we go up against her." She paused, looking towards Klaus, and reluctantly continued, "We're going to need Klaus."
Davina stood, shocked that her friend would suggest such a thing, "No. No, we can do this without him!"
"Uh, Rhea's right. I'm never gonna say this again, but we need the bastard." Kol would always stick up for Rhea, of course, but he was worried what would happen if Klaus were to find out who really prepped Cami's body.
Davina sighed, unhappiness a prominent emotion on the girl, Rhea stepped towards her, taking her hands in her own— "D, I know this is a lot to ask, and if it were under any other circumstances, you know I'd let you dump his sorry ass in the river, but please."
Understanding that they did in fact, need Klaus, Davina walked over to the hybrids body. Kneeling by his head, she placed her fingertips on his temple— starting to chant an unintelligible spell under her breath. Klaus suddenly gasped as he awakened, rolling onto his side before finally getting to his feet.
"What did she do me?" He questioned the others, littered around the courtyard.
"All you need to know, is I beat you. Again." Davina retorted, the hybrids face lit up as he grinned.
"And yet, you relented. You need me, don't you?" His grin didn't falter as Davina rolled her eyes— he questioned,
"Did I really lose?"
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Kol had made himself at home, eating the breakfast food he was unable to eat earlier in the day— him, Davina and Rhea were upstairs while the others were sitting around in the courtyard— waiting for a plan to thwart Esthers plan to be thought of.
Eating a croissant, Kol nodded to Davina, "Quite nice of you, coming to my rescue like that."
Davina simply laughed, "I thought Klaus had Rhea, so technically— I was trying to save her. It's a good thing you didn't steal that stake though, or I may have been the one torturing you."
"I would've paid to have seen that." Rhea stated with a grin, earning a look of mock hurt from Kol.
"Does that mean you both trust me then?" He asked, looking between the two. Neither of the two replied, instead they looked at each other before giving Kol an almost identical look which made him laugh— clearly the two of them had been spending too much time together.
Klaus joined the trio in the room a second later, "Providing you're not too busy concocting a new paralytic to use against me, I'd like a word with these two." He said to Davina, Rhea's heart spiked in her chest, did he know?
After a look of reassurance that she would be okay, from Rhea to Davina— the younger witch turned back to Klaus, "Well, to be honest. I can't stand being around you anyway."
As Davina left, Klaus couldn't help but laugh.
"For the record, I didn't know a bloody thing about mothers plan for Cami, I swear." Kol told his brother, Rhea stayed quiet, eyeing the floor.
"Well I think I can judge myself which of her schemes she would entrust to you, and this she would not." He took a step towards the two, "No, for this was done when both you and Finn were here. Esther was too busy finding Rebekah, which leads me to my next question." He stopped in front of Rhea, the latter finally looking into the hybrids eyes.
"Rhea, I'm going to ask you once. Did you do this?"
She didn't even need to answer— for he knew the truth, he had spoken with Marcel whom had mention the witch's bizarre behaviour; her disappearance too, which caused the confusion of Davina thinking Klaus had her.
"Yes."
Before Kol could even blink, Klaus had grabbed Rhea and dragged her down the stairs and into the courtyard, where the other three were waiting.
"Undo it!" Klaus said to the Monroe witch, he kept a tight grip on her arm, "Undo it!" He roared, confusing the other three.
"I don't know how to! Esther only gave me the spell to do it, she wouldn't have trusted me with the one to undo it!" She said through gritted teeth, realisation dawned on Davina's face— a look of betrayal soon taking over.
"You did this?"
Kol came running down the stairs, seeing the situation unfold, he kept his distance from his brother, knowing if he got too close, he would surely do something to her.
"You expect me to believe that do you? What possessed you to side with my mother?" He was pretty much screaming in her face, truth be told, she had never been on the receiving end of this level of Klaus' rage— and on the other hand, Klaus felt upset that the witch would do his mothers bidding.
"Ares!" His eyebrows rose at her admission, "She told me, if I prepped Cami's body, she would bring back Ares. Wouldn't you do the same? If Rebekah had died, and someone said, 'hey, just go and do this to a stranger and I'll bring your sister back!' Wouldn't you?" She knew she had struck a nerve, she just hoped it would be enough for him to see she was telling the truth.
"And where pray-tell, is this miraculous dead sibling of yours?" When Rhea looked down, he knew what he needed to know, "Right, Esther didn't fulfil her promise, hardly a surprise."
"Nik, stop." Kol's voice cut in, Klaus let out a sarcastic laugh.
"Your girlfriend is just as treacherous as you are brother, now, she's going to undo the spell or I'm going to rip her bloody head off."
"I don't know how to reverse it! That was ancient magic Klaus, I barely understood how to do the spell!" She cried out, Klaus had enough of her telling him she couldn't do it— so he pinned her to the wall, hand wrapped around her throat, within seconds.
"I'm warning you Nik, let her go. Or I'll make you let her go." Kol had been starting to enjoy his brothers company, but Rhea would always come first, and he didn't care if he lost that slow building relationship with his brother— as long as Rhea was safe.
"She played me, Klaus." Rhea said through struggled breath, "She used my weakness, my brother, she lied to me." At seeing her distraught state, he let his hand fall from her neck— leaving her on her knees, gasping for air.
"She didn't bring him back." Her voice was just above a whisper, but the raw emotion in her voice made Kol stepped towards her instinctively— wanting nothing more than to take her away from all the problems that they faced in New Orleans.
"On the contrary, little sister. I'd say I'm pretty much, back."
Ares.
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