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| THE STAND: CHAPTER NINE |
Rhea Monroe was wasted. Had it not been for Tristan getting members of his Strix to tail her after the events of the party, she would've drank herself to the point where she would surely have passed out.
She was about to down another whisky, neat, when it was taken out of her hands, pouting, she looked up at the party pooper.
"Well hello Tristan, fancy seeing you here." She said with a drunken giggle, the vampire didn't even want to know just how many drinks she had before he had shown up at the bar— but he could tell she was quite literally, obliterated. She had been okay that morning when the two had breakfast, he now knew, she was pretending to be coping.
"Come on, I'm taking you home." He told her, picking up her jacket, holding it out for her. She attempted to stand once she hopped down from the stool, but she failed, tripping over her own two feet— had Tristan not have caught her by wrapping an arm around her waist, she would've plunged to the floor.
"You know it's been a good day when you end up trying to hug the floor." She mumbled, Tristan shook his head in amusement before lifting her up, and vamp-speeding to her apartment.
Once he had let her down, she felt woozy, the room was spinning slightly and she was trying her hardest not to throw up.
"Why?" She asked with a frown.
"I am certain, had I left you in that bar, you may have drunk yourself into a coma, Rhea." He explained, but she shook her head, that wasn't what she was referring to.
"No.. Why do you care Tristan? Centuries later and yet you're still the same with me? You're such a different person around everyone else.. But with me, you're still the same." He sighed, knowing that her usual stubbornness, along with her drunken state, made sure he wouldn't be able to get out of this one.
"I guess, you are the one thing that stayed the same when I was both human and vampire. My sister became a vampire too, and we know what that made her turn into. You have remained the same, after all this time, in a way— you're what keeps my humanity intact." She was shocked at his admission, she thought he just had a hard time getting over her choosing Kol; she had never thought it would be anything more than that.
She walked slowly, over to him, coming to a stop just a few feet away.
"I'm a mess." It was a simple combination of words but the emotion in her voice told him that she was indeed, struggling, "I guess, that will be my excuse from now on." Her voice had changed, there was no emotion present, and she had a determined look on her face.
"What are you t—" before he could even finish his sentence, Rhea had attached her lips to his, he was momentarily stunned by her actions— but came to his senses within seconds.
Detaching their lips, he held her at arms length, "Rhea, I know what you're doing and while I'm quite frankly glad you have chosen me to take your frustrations out on. I know that you would regret this, you chose Kol. Although I have never been particularly happy about that, I care enough about you to know that this is not what you want."
His words had cut through her like a knife, and while she had been more than willing to go all the way with Tristan just moments ago. Now, she felt even worse than she had before. It would've been the first man she had been with since Kol, and don't get me wrong, Kol hadn't always been faithful to Rhea back in the day. She had to deal with many one night stands Kol had, but that was the way it was back then. She still never went near anyone else. She was having her own internal debate, the line of what was right and what was wrong seemed to be blurring more and more by the second.
Tears pooled in her eyes, "I'm sorry, God, Tristan. I am so sorry." He didn't say anything, just wrapped his arms around the smaller girl, pulling her into a much needed hug. She was well on the way to losing control of herself, she really was the definition of broken.
"You should get some sleep. You must be exhausted." He took her into what he guessed was her bedroom, and helped her to lay in the bed, she was still a bit disorientated from the alcohol in her system. He was about to leave, when she grabbed his hand, halting his movements.
"Will you stay? Just for a bit. Ares has moved out and I feel so lonely." After his own internal debate, he pulled a chair up beside the bed, getting comfortable in it before looking back down at her.
"Are you going to kill them?" She asked quietly, referring to what he said about his plans for the Mikaelsons that morning.
He shook his head, "No, I'm not."
She nodded, thinking to herself for a moment, "Is this still about them compelling you to think you were them?"
Tristan sighed, "The less you know, the less danger you will be in once the Mikaelsons are finally aware of our plans." She nodded again, getting more comfortable, before closing her eyes. Sleep came easily that night, because she wasn't alone, that was her biggest fear— being alone.
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"Marcellus, talk to me." Elijah said as he felt the presence of the vampire.
Marcel sighed heavily, "Yep, we got a problem."
Elijah turned, bracing himself for the inevitable bad news, "My guy stayed on Tristan's tail all day. He picked up a very drunken Rhea from a bar, and took her home. Couple hours later, he goes to this place called The Candide Royale. He goes in, never comes out. So, he's obviously using it as a way to get somewhere."
"How and where?" Elijah questioned, troubled by the news.
"The building has hidden passageways leading out the back. Now, bootleggers used them in the '20s to run booze to a secret storehouse on Dauphine, and you'll never guess who just bought that storehouse." Elijah shook his head once, so Marcel answered his own question.
"Kingmaker Land Development, owned by one Lucien Castle. Now, that sure as hell isn't a coincidence." Elijah looked stunned at the admission and his mind was racing with ideas of what this could implicate.
"Either they're brokering some sort of truce..." Marcel started.
"Or they've been working together the whole time." Elijah finished, Marcel nodded in agreement.
"And what about Rhea? Do we think she's in on it?" Elijah shook his head immediately at Marcel's question.
"I doubt she even knows what's going on. Although, I wouldn't put it past Tristan to try and get her on side. We need to keep an eye on her, Marcel, she's in a very dark frame of mind as of late, we don't need him taking advantage of that." Marcel nodded, although the two men acted calm, they were truly concerned about the rising situation at hand.
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All the editing from the first chapters is done, and some other bits I needed to clean up. I'm so much happier about this now.
