| THE STAND:
CHAPTER SEVEN |
(a/n: Rhea's dress above)
Rhea had just put her earrings in when Tristan knocked on the bathroom door, guests had been arriving for a while now. She was trying to stall. Her anger hadn't lessened.
"Rhea, you have been getting ready for two hours, I don't mean t—" he paused when Rhea opened the door, revealing herself, Tristan had always found Rhea enticing, of course. Today, however, she looked like a goddess in her own right.
"Sorry." She mumbled, putting her previous clothes into her bag, "I'm ready now." She told him, although her tone of voice told him that she was anything but ready to go downstairs.
He didn't argue though, arguing with Rhea Monroe is something that many men wouldn't dare do— and after her actions earlier, he didn't want to anger her further.
As they descended the stairs, Tristan nodded to someone nearby, and servers with champagne flutes circled the room, tapping their glasses the gather the attention of the guests. Tristan went to take Rhea's hand but refused, "I'm here for one reason only, Tristan. Don't make it complicated."
He obliged, and as soon as they entered the room, all eyes were on them, and the Tristan that Rhea secretly knew was gone. Tristan, the leader of the Strix, was all that remained.
"Distinguished friends, welcome. It's so rare that we're able to come together like this to revel for one night in the company of true equals. Now, I'd like to take a moment to welcome a very special guest-- Marcel Gerard." Marcel stepped forward, nodding in acknowledgment as the crowd clapped their hand in applause.
"Thank you, I'm honoured. Thank you." He hadn't noticed Rhea's presence yet, she was thankful, she knew Marcel was not going to like what Tristan was about to tell him; he would find a way blame her, somehow.
Tristan gave Marcel a menacing smile, "Of course, before we tell Marcel all of our secrets, there's one small piece of business to which we must first attend. We must determine his worth."
A frown of confusion appeared on Marcel's face, "That's funny, I seem to recall you being the one knocking on my door."
Tristan's smile didn't falter, in fact, he looked even more amused by the second, "You'll notice, Mr. Gerard, that over the course of the evening, someone has managed to take something quite dear to you... Your daylight ring."
Marcel looked to his right hand, seeing that Tristan had been in fact, telling the truth. Worry flashed across his face, looking back to Tristan, he noticed Rhea by his side— only adding to his confusion.
"The test is quite simple. First, you need to deduce the identity of the thief. Then, you are simply to take back what is yours... Although, I doubt the prize will be easily relinquished. After all, despite our refinement, we're still a rather violent bunch." Tristan started, Rhea saw Marcel physically gulp, but he maintained his composure, something she admired him for. "In victory, you become one of us. In failure, you meet your death. You have a few hours until dawn. I wish you the best of luck."
The crowd started to disperse, and Rhea pulled Tristan to one side, "You still sure the right person is going to die tonight?" She hissed at him, making sure no one else heard her.
"Rhea, I assure you, you will have your vengeance by the end of the night." He reassured her for what seemed like the hundredth time that time.
She sighed but nodded, he guided her to the bar, where Hayley and Elijah were conversing about the recent developments.
"These vampires are ancient, how is Marcel supposed to beat one of them?" Hayley had asked Elijah, Rhea had seen the look on the hybrids face when Marcel had been made aware of the true nature of tonight's events, she was not happy.
"With guile, courage, perhaps a bit of trickery... Admittedly, it's a long-shot, but then, sometimes the new candidates surprise us." Tristan joined in, the two turned towards him, Elijah's eyes were instantly on Rhea, wondering what had changed her mind— she had seemed quite focused on killing Tristan just hours ago.
Tristan turned to Hayley, "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tristan de Martel, and you must be the famous Hayley Marshall-Kenner, Alpha to the Crescent wolves." He took her hand and kissed it softly. Hayley, clearly not impressed, jerked her hand away, it didn't faze him, though.
"The pleasures all mine, I see. Elijah!" He turned to his sire, "When I sent your invitation, I didn't dare think you'd come. Tell me— as our founder and patriarch, what do you make of our latest candidate?"
"Well, let me see. Marcel... He's arrogant. He's stubborn. Prone to self-aggrandisement. He should fit in perfectly!" The sarcasm in Elijah's voice was something that wasn't heard often, only a chosen few knew just how sarcastic Elijah could really be.
"They must get that from their sire." Rhea teased, Elijah rolled his eyes at Rhea but a smirk did creep on to his features.
"If he survives." Tristan alerted Elijah, upon seeing Hayley's angry glare in direction, he asked, "I take it Mr. Gerard is a friend of yours?"
"Mmmhmm, we're friends... And, even if we weren't, I don't much like bullies." Her eyes slightly glazed over to Rhea, she couldn't one hundred percent believe that Rhea was here of her own accord, and was almost adamant her meeting with Tristan hadn't gone well on her part.
"A bully? My dear, you barely know me." He paused, he had seen her glance over to Rhea in concern, "And rest assured, Rhea would never come to any harm in my presence. Allow me to remedy this, in doing so, I can explain our methods." He held out his hand, an invitation to dance, both Hayley and Elijah looked at him warily.
"Please, just one dance. If it's not an intrusion." Hayley and Elijah shared a look before the former sighed, taking a long sip of champagne. Elijah smiled with fake politeness at Tristan, "Why, of course."
Hayley reluctantly took Tristan's hand, allowing him to lead her to the dance floor. As soon as they were out of sight, Elijah raised a questioning brow.
"Spare me the overprotective dad lecture, Elijah. I haven't had a parent in a thousand years, I don't need one now."
He merely chuckled at her statement, shaking his head at her stubbornness.
"I'm simply looking out for your best interests, Rhea. Clearly, you didn't go through with your plan. What changed your mind?" He inquired, curiosity cursing through his body.
"If you must know." She grabbed a new glass on champagne, taking a sip from it, "It was your psycho ex-lover, Aya, who got my brother killed. I'm going to kill her, sooner or later. And as for the vampire who actually killed my brother?" She leant up to whisper into Elijah's ear, "He's not going to be alive by the end of the night." She pulled back, swigging the rest of her drink, leaving Elijah at the bar.
She had gone to the bathroom, needing to take a break from the atmosphere downstairs. It wasn't helping her. Luckily, she hadn't bumped into Aya, and she hoped for Aya's sake, that she wouldn't.
She was about to rejoin Tristan, who was still dancing with Hayley, when a commotion at the entrance of the ballroom caught her attention. Klaus, Ares and Lucien had entered the room, with a large group of people wearing Halloween costumes, and not the usually scary ones..
Klaus howled drunkenly like a wolf as Ares let out his own howl of laughter, Lucien and the women all laughed along too, they had attracted the attention of everyone in the room to the point where everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at the gate-crashers.
"What a beloved occasion!" Klaus shouted out through his laughter.
"My god, it's a room full of Elijah's." Lucien mocked horror, Rhea could tell, they were all wasted.
"I had that exact same nightmare once, mate." Ares fired back, the whole group laughed hysterically as Lucien turned to a woman in a corset and bright pink wig.
"Go and grab us a drink, love! Feel free to fetch one for you self."
"One for me, please!" Klaus slurred, "And one for her, and her, and her, and her.." He trailed off, Rhea rolled her eyes, he was a mess.
The woman broke off from the group and snuck towards the stairs, Rhea narrowed her eyes upon closer inspections, was that who she thought it was?
"Tristan? Tristan! Come out, come out, wherever you are! Unless, of course, you're afraid!" Klaus shouted, Rhea stepped towards Klaus, fully intending on escorting him out before he started something.
Tristan beat her to it, however, he had started to walk towards the three men with a patronising smile.
"You should uh- move along, you're not welcome here." He told them, Ares let out a baffled laugh.
"Oh, oh, we're not welcome here? Your lot killed me, and I'm not welcome here?" The Monroe witch was quite blatantly wrecked, and Rhea inched closer to him, prepared to get him out of there without a second thought.
Klaus plucked a champagne flute from the nearest serving platter before walking up to Tristan, "Or maybe you should move along, before I make you cry in front of all your little friends!" He ended his statement with a laugh. Rhea didn't understand why they were here, or what they were up to, but whatever it was surely wasn't good.
"My concern is for your companions. They appear out of sorts without a shiny pole to writhe upon." Tristan said, amusement laced into his every word.
"Ohhhhhh, he's suggesting that you're exotic dancers. Which, to him, is an insult—" Lucien gestured to the burlesque dancers working for the nights festivities, "If not hypocritical. But, don't take it personally, love. He finds all work demeaning. The only dignified way to accumulate wealth is by birth." He walked towards Tristan but Rhea tuned out, latching her hand onto her brothers, and pulling him out of the room with a sharp tug.
She didn't stop until they were outside of the mansion, she pulled her phone out that she had to tuck into her bra, and called Davina— the witch answered instantly, and once Rhea told her of the situation, Davina agreed to come and pick the older Monroe up.
"What the hell are you doing?" She hissed, her brother swayed slightly, the alcohol still taking its on him.
"I can't believe you're asking me that, when you're the one who's spent the day with Tristan!" He shouted accusingly, pointing a finger at her, although his lack of aim had him pointing at a nearby tree.
"I made a deal with Tristan, you moron! He didn't order your death, I know who did. And as we speak, one is them is getting seconds closer to his death. Now you're going to go home, and sober up. You're a mess." She told her brother who only huffed in response, crossing his arms.
"Who even are you anymore? You're so cold and calculating all of the time, Rhea, this isn't my sister." His admission had shocked her, drunken words obviously spoke sober thoughts.
"Ares, stop."
"No, you know what, you're not the only one suffering! You're not the only one to experience pain and you damn well won't be the last. I was dead for two hundred years, and then I came back, and I've only just learned who killed me, and you're shacking up with Tristan De Martel? Really? Is that the type of person you've turned into? God forbid Kol is ever bought back, even Kol Mikaelson can do better than you." His words had hit her like a slap in the face, he seemed to sober up more as he spoke, and she knew he was telling her what he really thought of her. She was hurt, so deeply hurt by her brothers words that she didn't even reply to him, the tears pooled in her eyes but she didn't let them fall.
She wouldn't let them fall.
As if by magic itself, Davina Claire pulled up a moment later. Ares instantly stalked towards the car, pausing momentarily, "You're playing with fire, here, Rhea. You're going to get burned. As far as I'm concerned, you and Tristan deserve each other. You're both messed up to the point of no return."
Rhea didn't even take the time to greet her friend, only heading back into the mansion. If Ares saw her as cold and calculating, then that's what she would be. She wouldn't be that scared little girl ever again, she would mould herself into the person so many thought her to be, she would be unstoppable.
As she entered, Tristan had been by the door, clearly, he had heard the exchange.
"Your brother didn't mean those things, he loves you dearly." She didn't even acknowledge his statement, her thoughts went to the unwanted gate-crashers from earlier.
"Klaus left?"
He nodded, "Marcel's time is up, shall we?" He gestured to where the guests seemed to be congregating, she followed him, taking a place in the crowd.
Aya went to fetch Marcel, Hayley appeared next to Rhea a moment later and took note of her expression— she looked utterly unaware of her surroundings, like she was lost within her own thoughts.
Rhea watched on as the events unfolded, Marcel successfully named Mohinder as the thief of his daylight right. They started to fight and Rhea really did fear for Marcel's life, until he revealed he had a werewolf bite after Mohinder had drank from him, she looked up at Hayley who just winked at the witch— they were clever, that's for sure.
Marcel aimed a stake at his opponents heart before addressing him and the rest of the room, "I don't know why they want you dead, but clearly they do." He let go of him, turning to Tristan and Aya, "Why else tell me all about his little feeding habits, or give me a taste of his technique when you came into my gym the other day? All I had to do was be observant." Tristan and Aya shared a look of interest, but Marcel just looked annoyed.
"But, I'm done picking up your bread crumbs. You want him dead? You're gonna have to do it yourself. As far as I can see, the only thing he's done to deserve it is picking his friends poorly."
Marcel was getting weaker by the minute, stumbling before Hayley reached forward and held him up— Tristan locked eyes with Rhea, gesturing to Mohinder who was laid on the floor, he was telling her to go for it.
Raising her hands up, she used magic to pull him off the floor and hold him up so that she could face him, stepping over to him, she said, "You tortured my brother for three days before allowing him to die. That was a mistake on your part. I won't show you any mercy, and you will not find peace, the place you're going will be something only your darkest nightmares could conjure up." She hissed, she took a step back, watching the fear unfold on the ancient vampires face.
With a flick of her wrist, his heart had flew from his chest and into her hands— she dropped it and left the room instantly, all eyes on the witch who had left everyone present feeling utterly inferior.
Rhea should've felt good about it, she should've felt some sense of relief, but she knew, she never would. She would never be happy until it was Aya's heart in her hands.
▽▲▽▲▽
So we had a title change,
I felt like it needed to have
a darker feel, so war of hearts it is.
This chapter is going to be a turning point for so many reasons, I can't wait for you to see how it pans out.
Until next time,
-Meg✨