"𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭―𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭."
―𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐤𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫 𝐇𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧
𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲
𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐈𝐏, eyes flickering to the bar window. Despite its dark tint, she could make out what looked to be darts and Ray chained to the wall. She winces when a howl of pain enters her hearing. Her fingers quickly moved to turn up the music, but no matter how loud it was, she could hear him. It took every nerve in her body to stay put in the car because knowing Ezekiel, he would just make Ray's punishment worse. Her chest rose and fell frantically as his screams grew louder, her eyes watered and it seemed like the radio had gone quiet. It was all she could hear. His wails. Refusal to give away his pack. His cries of anguish. It grew louder and louder and louder.
She pulls her knees to her chest, hugging them in an attempt to comfort herself. It was her job as Mother Nature to nurture and care for those who deserve it. Guilt crept up her spine, tracing its cold fingertips onto her skin, burning her with the icy touch. Resting her chin on the caps of her knees, she stared off into the street hoping to find a way to distract herself. But there was nothing. Just an empty street with a few sad streetlamps.
It was then she felt him growing closer. Her lips pursed in irritation at his presence, her stomach curling into dread. And as much as she tried to ignore him, she knew she couldn't, not when he had Stefan as leverage. The car door opens and Ezekiel leans down to view. Renee forces herself to blink back her tears, weakness was something she refused to show Ezekiel right now.
"You need to eat," he says with a soft edge to his voice. His eyes glittered in regret, and Renee could care less. She had put up with too much of his bullshit to care about his emotions. He knew this too when Renee's normally soft and loving eyes were looking at him coldly. He swallowed thickly, seeing the red rims that surrounded her eyes—she was crying or had been crying.
Her eyes narrow onto his stupidly perfect face, "can't. Lost my appetite." It was blunt, but she didn't want to say any more words to him than she had to. Her heart jumped when his jaw tensed and a dark look took over his face. She had only seen that look a few times, but it was never aimed at her. She was privileged to not see this side of him—the cold, ruthless, and cruel side of Ezekiel Mikaelson.
His hand gently holds her jaw, his thumb on one side, the rest on the other. He leans down closer, his breath fanning her lips and eyes visually eating her up. Waves of anger crashed off of him as he spoke, "I will not let your health suffer due to your stubbornness, Renee. Now—you will either get out of this car and go inside to eat, or I will throw you over my shoulder and feed you myself." Renee's eyes were glossy with boundless anger, and he was aware that she was strong enough to refuse and fight back. "Don't try to fight me, sweets, because the only one that will pay is your precious little Stefan," his head tilts, a sarcastic smile and hum on his lips, "what do you think his heart would look like on a platter? Or even better, how would a werewolf bite look on him?"
Renee felt her heart pound, the beating of her heart so loud, in fact, she heard it herself. Every part of her that thought there was any good in him had vanished, even if they were buried deep down in her soul. He was an irredeemable monster. She couldn't change him, no one could—not even himself. Her hand grabs his wrist and shoves it off of her face. Ezekiel stands up and takes a step back so she has room to get out. Getting out of the car, Renee doesn't bother turning off the car or taking the keys out, instead, she goes straight inside with a scowl.
A ring echoes throughout the bar as she walks in. Klaus grins as he sees her, "look who decided to join the fun. Want to play with us, pouty?"
"Don't forget, I can kill you without that stupid white oak stake, Niklaus," her voice was unfamiliarly cold. She walks past him and to the bartender. The bartender looked at her with a sweet smile, beckoning for her order. "Can I have a spicy chicken sandwich?"
"Alright," they write it down and ask, "anything else?"
"Yeah," Ezekiel comes over. He looks at Renee with a stern look, "that's not enough food, you haven't eaten since four—it's twelve." And whose fault is that? Renee wanted to say, but she already knew if she pissed him off anymore, it might be Stefan's heart on that plate instead. Turning back to the bartender, Ezekiel added, "a small fry and a Sprite."
"That'll be right out," the bartender goes to the back.
Renee rolls her eyes and looks back. She immediately regrets it. Her stomach churns in unease and a heavy dread sits on her chest. Her wide and panicked eyes meet the pained and pleading eyes of Ray. She looks away, suffocating in the guilt that bubbled in her stomach. She wanted to help, but Ezekiel's words echoed in her mind. It was him or Stefan. A choice that she didn't want to make, but had to. Selfishly, she chose Stefan.
"Ignore him," Ezekiel says, taking a seat next to her and placing a hand on the small of her back. His lips curl upward when he hears another shout in pain, while Renee does the opposite. It was quite ironic how the two had connected, albeit not on the best terms now. One was the closest thing to the devil, the other was the closest thing to an angel. One enjoyed others' pain, their begs, and pleas for mercy, their fear—the other healed others' pain, nurtured them to perfect health, and made them feel safe.
"Yes, I'll just ignore the screaming man who's being tortured right behind me," Renee shoots, her eyes moving to the bartender who came back with a tray of her food. She truthfully had no appetite to eat but it seemed that Ezekiel had given her no choice. She felt the anger inside of her bubble, and as much as she tried to control it, she couldn't. The wind outside grew stronger, the howls of it shaking the ceiling, Leaves hit the window before speeding off to wherever else the wind took it. Rain began pelting down at the ground with an immense force, one close to hail. And soon, thunder strikes.
That's when her hands began to tremble and she grew nauseous. The last time she felt like this was when her mother died and that had ended horribly. Her vision blurred, her breathing and heartbeat the only thing she could hear clearly. She curls her fist in a pathetic attempt to stop its shaking but it had only proven to make it worse because soon her whole body trembled. It was like her power was spilling out of every pore in her body, leaving her a shaking and dry leaf on a tree clinging for dear life.
"I have to—" she whispers breathlessly, stumbling to her feet, "I have to go to the..." A long pause as she struggles to keep her breath. Ezekiel stands too, eyebrows furrowed in worry. He'd never seen Renee out of control with her powers, and he could tell that it hurt. The sweat that built at her skin, the winces and hisses in pain she let out every once in a while. She swallows thickly, "bathroom. I'm going to the bathroom."
"Angel—"
But before he could finish the sentence, he flew back, crashing into the wall behind them. A few pieces of artwork fall to the ground with him, the glass shattering and the frames splintering. A large hole was left where he was thrown. He groans and quickly gets back to his feet.
Her eyes widen and she stumbles back. Her head echoed his words, 'what do you think his heart would look like on a platter? Or even better, how would a werewolf bite look on him?' She backs up quickly, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—please don't hurt him. I'm sorry."
And then she ran—stumbled, really—to the bathroom, locking it behind her. She had lost control.
𝐢 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐟𝐫
𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐢 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥/𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐳𝐞𝐤𝐢𝐞𝐥 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞
𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐚𝐚𝐚𝐚
𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲'𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭!