"𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧, 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬; 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞."
—𝐄𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐖𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫
𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐄
𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲
𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐀 𝐅𝐄𝐖 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐒, in terms of violence. She was still human after all. Her version of violence always ended in casualties, one of the downsides of being supernatural. As a result, she concealed all of her emotions that could lead to her becoming violent—anger, humiliation, disgust, and betrayal. But she could only conceal so much.
Violence was something she was far from a stranger to, she was Ezekiel Mikaelson's ex-wife after all. That, however, didn't mean she liked it. The whole time she was stuck with the boundlessly bloodthirsty vampires, that was all she had witnessed. And now that the two brothers were sure that Renee wouldn't leave without Stefan, they had decided to rope her in on the deception.
An old home stood tall among a string of woodland, isolated so perfectly that it was as if the world knew who was coming. The white paint was new, but the trimmings and architecture of the house were that of the older eras of Tennessee. There were two doors, one of solid wood, the other was a net and plastic protector. Both open as a beautiful dirty blonde comes out of the home, whistling for her dog to come back to her as she bends down to pick up one of the toys the dog played with, "Rudy! Rudy. Come on, it's too hot to make me come looking for you."
Just as she stands and turns around, she flinches as she notices Ezekiel and Renee behind her. They were both in casual clothes, Renee in a pair of shorts and a cropped tank top, Ezekiel in a cotton shirt and jeans. Renee held a bright smile, though it never reached her eyes, she knew what was bound to happen to this poor girl. Ezekiel's arm wraps around Renee's waist, pulling her tightly to his side.
"I'm so sorry, we didn't mean to scare you," Ezekiel smiles politely in his best American accent, his jaw subtly clenching when he hears the quiet scoff from beside him. His fingers curl around Renee's hips, squeezing tightly as a warning. Renee smiles wider when she sees the skeptical look on the girl's face—please, just go inside and don't invite them in, she thought to herself.
"Can I help you?" the girl pants a bit, still a bit startled.
"My husband's car broke down a few miles back," Renee lies, her heart clenching in guilt as she sees the girl relax in her presence. She swallows thickly as she continues, "it feels like we've been walking forever. This was the first house we saw. Could we use your phone, by chance?"
"Don't you guys have phones?" the girl says, looking skeptically at Ezekiel. The hybrid was growing a bit impatient, Renee could tell. She needed to get the girl in the house fast.
"My battery died," Ezekiel lazily lifts up his phone, which was in fact dead. "And hers—"
Renee cuts him off with a mischievous smile, "he threw it out the window because of an argument we had. Boys and their anger issues, right?" A forced laugh slips her lips. If she played her cards right, the woman would grow more skeptical of Ezekiel and let her in the house with her to get information without hurting anyone.
Ezekiel glares at Renee, unknowingly helping her plan. The woman watches this exchange carefully before speaking to Renee directly, "you can come in and use the phone." The woman turns to Ezekiel, "sorry, but my family would freak out if I let a random man in the house."
"Perfect," Renee smiles before Ezekiel could protest. The two women make their way up the porch steps unbothered—only because Renee was using her magic to keep Ezekiel and the other two vampires still and unmoving. She could practically feel the angered glare being bored into her, but she didn't care, she was about to save someone's life for the first time this whole summer.
Upon entering the home, Renee let go of the magic and in seconds Ezekiel was standing at the door. The blonde turns around in panic, frantic eyes moving to Renee. The raven-haired woman's eyes dilate as she compels the blonde, "go to the kitchen. I'll be there in a second."
The girl mindlessly obliges and Renee turns to face Ezekiel. The hybrid was seething, his jaw taut, eyebrows furrows, arms crossed. He looked hot, she would give him that. His voice was dark as he spoke, "call her back and invite me and the other boys in, angel, or so help me god."
"Baby, you would never hurt me. Plus even if you tried, I would rip out your pretty little heart before you could bat an eye," Renee smiles sickeningly sweetly before backing away from the door and into the kitchen where another girl was sitting next to the previous one. Her hair was black and curly, her complexion was dark and flawless. In her shaky hand, a gun was pointed right at Renee.
Renee puts her hands up carefully, her voice soft as velvet as she reassures them, "I promise I'm not here to hurt you. The three vamps outside, however, are a different story." From her super hearing, she could hear the sounds of all three of them discussing what to do—it was quite comedic, honestly. The women share a look, the two examining Renee closely to see any signs of deception. With reluctance, the dark-haired girl puts the gun on the table.
"What do they want with us?" the blonde asks in a shaky voice, her watery eyes connecting with Renee's green ones.
"They want to know where Ray Sutton is," Renee explains, leaning back to peek into the hallway in which the front door was located. There, she made direct eye contact with Ezekiel's ablaze eyes. She turns back to the girls, "that's why I didn't want you guys to invite them in, because they would've killed you the second they got the information. Tell me and I'll get them out of your hair." They both looked skeptical. Renee sighs, "I understand that you guys don't trust me, but they won't leave until they get an answer and they are crafty. We only have limited time."
The blonde sighs, dropping her shoulders in defeat, "we tell you, and you'll make sure they don't bother us again?"
"Yes."
"Alright."
━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━
𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐃, Ezekiel had made his way to the car. He knew that Renee would get the information, whether it was in a violent or nonviolent way. She knew the hybrid brothers' rage; if they didn't get their information, they would throw a fit. Opening the passenger side door, she sits in the seat with a grin.
Klaus wastes no time attempting to grab her arm, however, he was too slow. In a matter of seconds, the loud sound of a sickening crack echoes the otherwise silent car, followed by a low groan. Renee rolls her eyes and sits back in her seat, relaxed, "don't touch me."
"Where is he?" Ezekiel asks, eyes still heated from her previous stunt. The look made Renee smile because she knew damn well that if it were anyone else that had done that, they would've been dead. When she merely shrugs and looks out the window, his ring-clad hands gently hold her jaw and turn her face to look at him, "angel..."
"Relax, I'm messing with you," Renee rolls her eyes, shoving his hand off of her face. She looks at the house with pursed lips then back at Ezekiel. The life of an entire pack was on her hands, if she told him then they were as good as dead. The feeling of Ezekiel's hand on her thigh pulls a guilty sigh from her lips. Her eyes began to burn and her vision blurs as she whispered, "Toll, it's near the border. He's at a bar on Highway 41—Southern Comfort."
"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Ezekiel says, turning on the car. His eyes linger on Renee, frowning when he sees her refuse to turn her head from the opposite window. The guilt she felt was suffocating, they all could see and feel it. It was in her nature to save, help, and guide people, so right now, everything that she had been a bystander to and witnessed made her feel like a failure.
"Just drive, Ezekiel," she scoffs, resting her head on the glass window. She forced her eyes shut, focusing on only the overplayed songs on the radio. She needed to leave for her own mental health, but she couldn't without Stefan and risking everyone in Mystic Falls's life.
𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲'𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐨
𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐢𝐜 𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐢 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐥
𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲'𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭!