"𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐲."
― 𝐀𝐯𝐢𝐣𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐃𝐚𝐬
𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟏𝟗, 𝟏𝟕𝟏𝟖
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐆𝐘 𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅𝐅 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐅𝐔𝐋 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓. The decorative ornaments and trinkets were bright and colorful, the people were all happy and seemingly drunk, and the whole environment was fun. Renee Winters lived for areas like this–so full of life and friendly.
What she didn't account for was the large population of vampires that lingered throughout the streets. None of them killed civilians, just a few sips here and there to fill their appetite.
Despite her looking like an easy target with her beautiful skirt and sleeveless corset, no vampire dared go after her. They were threatened, and in his words exactly, "if even a pretty little hair on her head gets hurt, I will rip all of your hearts out and feed it to your living relatives." It was a cruel threat but they knew that he'd follow through with it, he was Ezekial Mikaelson after all.
Unbeknownst to the girl, New Orleans was run by the Mikaelson's. Each little corner had the go-to 'M' sign as if marking the territory as theirs. Too immersed in the scenery around her, she had yet to notice the piercing blue eyes that stayed glued to her–a naive mistake on her part.
Her eyes light up when they land in an open bakery. She was starving and parched from her long journey, and the sight of a food choice open late in the night had brought her too much joy. Her long legs carried her to the shop, and the sweet smell of freshly baked bread and other delicacies greeted her with open arms.
The shop was adorable. It was small, yes, but festive. Christmas decorations still hung over the open hearth, the dancing and cackling fire illuminating the shop with its bronze light. Lined up along the see-through counter were hundreds of pastries, some sweet, others savory.
"Welcome in," a beautiful woman greets Renee with a warm smile. The girl grins back, looking over the different options she had. The woman looks over at the treats, "our go-to is the beignets. Everyone seems to enjoy them."
Renee looks up, eyes twinkling with pure glee, "I'll have one of those, and if you could add a glass of water to my order."
"Of course, sweetheart," the woman writes down the order on a notepad, adding up the total, "that'll be 0.32 cents."
"On me," a familiar voice calls out from behind Renee. She looks back to be greeted with the holy sight of Ezekiel Mikaelson. He flashes her his signature grin as he carelessly hands the woman the money. He was wearing one of his suits, his hair messy on his head as if he had just gotten out of bed and threw on some clothes.
"Long time no see," the girl grabs the beignets from the lady, along with the jugs of water. Noticing her hands too full to eat her treat, the Original holds the water jug for her as they stroll out onto the street. "I'm guessing you're behaving because nature hasn't made a fuss about you yet."
"What can I say? I'm a good boy," Ezekiel winks, guiding her towards the French Quarters. It was run by them, and that's where they made their home. It was the safest place to be for Renee, especially in New Orleans which was overrun by the supernatural.
"Mmm," Renee hums, taking a small bite of her beignet causing a tiny bit of the powdered sugar to spill off onto the ground, "I highly doubt that."
"I am not a bad guy," he scoffs playfully, one of his hands reaching for the small of her back and signaling for her to turn left. His hand never left that spot afterward, and Renee noticed, she just didn't say anything.
"Right," she sarcastically nods, looking up at him, "because the first time we met you totally weren't terrorizing town or anything."
Ezekiel slowly nods, "okay, would you believe me if I said I changed?"
"Nope."
"Smart girl."
━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━
𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲
𝐄𝐙𝐄𝐊𝐈𝐄𝐋 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐄 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐈𝐌 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄. Everyone had described him as cold, ruthless, a monster even, yet to her, he seemed like a great company. Maybe that was because he was just being kind to her, but Renee was growing to like his company, but then again, she liked almost everyone's company.
"So you have six siblings?" Renee looks at him with a soft smile, picking at the soft grass that lay below them. Ezekiel had taken her to a small spot that had a beautiful view of the stars in the inky black sky. He had amazing taste, Renee had to admit.
"Had," he shrugs, watching her intently. It seemed as if whenever she was around, he couldn't keep his eyes off of her, and this was their second time meeting. "One of my brothers was killed centuries ago."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Renee looks at him with genuine sympathy. Every emotion she had shown to him tonight was all so genuine and real. It was refreshing to see. "I'm an only child if that makes you feel better."
"I wouldn't mind that, honestly," he sighs, his hand moving so it barely brushes against hers, "my siblings are a pain in my ass."
"They can't be that bad," the girl looks up at the waning gibbous moon. It was almost a full moon, which meant the wolves were getting angsty and some would inevitably go to her for some help and guidance for their shift–and she would help them every time.
Ezekiel chuckles and shakes his head, "you'll say the opposite when you meet them."
"I highly doubt that," Renee laughs, looking back down at the vampire who was already looking at her, "if I can deal with your annoying ass, I definitely can deal with theirs."
"Take that back" he scoffs, his hands creeping forward. Renee eyes them playfully, he was about to tickle her.
"Absolutely...not."
He lunges forward, hands tickling at her waist. Renee lets out melodic laughter that seems to make the moon glow brighter and the stars twinkle more frequently. Ezekiel watches blissfully as he makes her laugh. At this point, he was hovering over her, while she lay on the ground–he didn't mind this position.
The sound of her laughter was music to his ears. He could never grow tired of it. And that is when he realized that he was already beginning to get attached to her. Never in a million years did he think he'd be wondering these thoughts, yet here he was, with the literal Mother Nature.
This was definitely a change for him, he'd never grown attached to a woman romantically. It was always a casual hookup and then he'd never see them again–partially because he'd kill them or he'd compel them to forget. The warm pit in his stomach, the rush of blood to his cheeks, the feeling of overprotectiveness over her–it was all unusual.
This was all unusual.
𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠! 𝐢 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭! 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤!