[ THE RISE: CHAPTER TWO ]
If you had asked Rhea Monroe if she would still be in the french quarter months later, she probably would've laughed in your face. But yet, here she was.
"I just don't understand why the old man can't catch up with the time and listen to some music from this century, you know? I mean, he's not much older than me and even I have good music taste, for an older woman." Rhea whispered to Davina as the record shop owner, Joe, went to fetch the record the girls had asked for.
Davina chuckled and shook her head, truth be told, the two girls had become quite close, at first it was because they had one common enemy, Klaus Mikaelson, but over time they had come to be more than acquaintances that shared a mutual hate and more like close friends, something rare for both of the girls.
Joe arrived back at the till soon after and handed Davina the record, "Here you go, Davina, Rhea," he nodded to both witches, "Now, sometime you're gonna have to give me the lowdown on why you're both so hooked on ancient Icelandic folk music!" He exclaimed, eyes focused on both of the girls.
"We're apart of a cult that can only relax to the soothing sounds of Icelandic folk music." Rhea deadpanned, Davina snorted but nudged her arm upon seeing Joe's creeped out face, looking to the shop owner apologetically she said, "Ignore her, they're for someone else."
"I sure hope so!" Joe replied with a grin. The two girls turn to leave but Rhea halted – stopping herself from walking straight into a tall, curly headed boy with striking blue eyes.
Tilting her head slightly to the side, if she wasn't still so hung up on someone else, she may have actually found herself flirting with the guy. Said guy, gave her a charming grin which she returned before he left the shop.
Before either of the girls could leave, Oliver, who Rhea recently learned was a werewolf, walked into the shop, blocking both girls pathway.
He smiled at the two girls, "Davina," he then looked to Rhea, "Hey there, cutie." The older witch's face turned to one of disgust.
"Call me that again, and I'll end you, you filthy mutt." She snarled, Oliver held his hands up in mock defence, before he turned back to Davina.
"So I heard you left your coven, and made your own with this one," he pointed to Rhea as he examined a record he had picked up, "that's too bad, that other harvest girl, Cassie? She has been super helpful to all us wolves."
"She's making you moonlight rings, Oliver. I wouldn't call that helpful, I'd call that an alliance." Davina retorted, standing her ground.
Davina had caught Rhea up on all of the happenings in New Orleans, and her first thoughts when she walked into the quarter months ago were right, she had stepped into a war zone.
"Well, you can call it whatever you want. As long as we don't have to turn on the full moon anymore, it works for me," he then leant into the middle of the two girls and whispered, "Look, I'd take off if I were you, things are about to get a little ugly in here."
He raised his voice, shouting to the rest of the customers littering the store, "Hey y'all, stores closed, get out, now!"
Joe looked at the wolf, confused, "Hey, what are you doing?"
Oliver stepped towards the counter, "Joe Dalton, right? You see, I've been studying up on this store. It's been a staple of the Quarter for ninety years... It was run by you, your daddy and then his daddy before him?" Oliver questioned.
Joe visibly tensed up, "That's right." He replied and Oliver smirked.
"Yeah, you see, the thing is, Joe, there just ain't many photos of anyone in your family," he then pulled out a black and white photo of a young man.
"...But you."
Both Rhea and Davina looked warily at each other, realising that Joe was just outed for being a vampire.
"Oliver, NO!" Davina shouted as Joe tried to use his vampire speed to get out of the shop but was blocked by two more wolves, both of whom were wearing moonlight rings.
Rhea nodded at Davina; who handled the two wolves blocking the door while Rhea gave Oliver her own mystical migraine, putting her all into making him suffer.
"Joe, get the hell out of here!" Rhea shouted, Joe fled the scene, once the two witches knew he was long gone, they released the wolves from their hold. Oliver winced as he glared at both girls.
"Lets go, D." Rhea said, pulling Davina out of the shop with her.
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As Rhea and Davina entered the attic, the infamous indestructible white oak stake imbedded itself into the wall beside Davina's head, both girls rolled their eyes.
Davina sighed, "I don't know why you keep on showing off, you know you can't hurt either of us."
"Oh, but the desire I have to do so." Mikael, the vampire hunter himself, grumbled.
Davina walked over to the older man and held out her wrist in front of him so he could feed from her, he just looked down at her like she was absolutely crazy.
"I am Mikael, the vampire who hunts vampires. Your young -thing blood does little to sustain me." Davina rolled her eyes and looked over to Rhea, who looked directly at Mikeal and uttered one word with a smirk on her face.
"Feed." Mikaels veins and fangs involuntarily protrude, he reluctantly bit down on her wrist and fed from her.
Rhea could see that Davina was getting weak, Mikael having had his fill, she stepped towards the two, "Stop." She commanded, Mikael pulled away, annoyance written all over his face, wiping the blood from his mouth with his hands, he spotted the bracelet around Rhea's wrist and touched it.
"Oh, I wish I could rip this from you, break that which binds me to you, and complete the task for which you resurrected me - kill the bast*rd who calls himself my son." His voice was full of dominance and clearly, he had never been in a position where he was the weapon, and not the person using one, before.
Rhea sighed, frustrated. "You can't take off the bracelet and you can't kill Klaus."
"Not until I figure out how to save my friends from dying, too." Davina clarified and went to kneel by a large trunk, fetching Esther's grimoire.
"We've been studying Esther's spell book for weeks, we are getting close. Once we unlink my friends from Klaus' sire line, we will unleash you to be the monster that you are so eager to be." Davina assured him, the vampire just smirked in reply,
"We'll let you take him to hell," Rhea confirmed.
"Music to my ears, my little witches."
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The next day, Rhea walked over to the record shop and noticed it has been closed due to Joe's death, she felt a pang of sadness as she read the sign, an emotion that the witch knew all too well.
"Aw, this sucks," Rhea turned to see the boy from the previous day stood behind her, "No trades today. I mean, it's worse for you of course - guy had the market cornered on the ancient Icelandic folk scene for you and your friend." He said with a smirk and Rhea let out a genuine laugh— a rare thing.
"Those weren't for us!" She explained, the guy chuckled and held out his hand, "I'm Kaleb."
She shook his hand, "Rhea Monroe."
"Wow. Beautiful name! Terrible taste in music though, obviously you need me." He said with a smile, Rhea smiled back, feeling like the blue eyed boy was a breath of fresh air she hadn't had for a long time.
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