So finally a new chapter, this one is much longer than the prologue obviously, due to that I'm sorry if there happens to be any minor mistakes, it's taken me forever to write this, to the point my eyes actually are burning.

Hope you're enjoying it so far and thanks to the people that followed/favourited that story! You're all amazing!

Also thanks to XxMikaelsonForeverxX for the review, it was very kind of you :)


"When it's in a book I don't think it'll hurt anymore ...exist anymore. One of the things writing does is wipe things out. Replace them."

― Marguerite Duras, 'The Lover'

The night came and went in a flourish of boxes and sleep deprived yawns; the most part of the night was spent sorting my books out into the proper shelves and making sure I had the right stuff in the apartment to actually make it livable. I wasn't too overly fussy about condition that the apartment was in; as long as I had the basic human needs I could happily situate myself here without a care. The home I picked wasn't one of the huge ones that were filled this street; it was just a medium sized apartment with an open plan kitchen and living space and an adjacent bedroom and bathroom, I didn't want anything huge seeing as I was living by myself so I gladly warmed up to the stark white walls and creaky wooden floors.

The home to me had some character to it so it instantly added another reason to why I was going to enjoy living here; I was barely in the apartment three hours before I set to work and was quickly checking the kitchen/living room and the bathroom and making sure I was placing the correct boxes in the correct places. The living room held the big bookcase that I wanted and longed for, upon looking it I smiled slightly, I would say that I was a well-read person; I read anything from the classics of the Victorian era to the Modern classics of today. I had accumulated quite a collection of books and I was quite upset that when it came to moving as I didn't have the space to take every book that I owned with me, a large sum of them having to be left back at my parent's house, but never the less I was glad and pleased with the books I got to bring with me.

Somehow in between sorting booking and sitting on the couch for a few seconds I had managed to fall asleep on the thing, I based it purely due to the sheer exhaustion I was feeling by the time everything that was meant to be in the living room and kitchen was put away; my average sized frame was hanging limply off the edge of the couch as the bright morning peeked through the glass of my large window and onto my eyes which winced in response the beams that were poured over my face, and it was at that moment I made a mental note that I was to invest in curtains. My eyes adjusted to the light that filled the blank you and my mind shook awake, my tired orbs blinked the sleep out and tried to welcome the morning.

Groggily and almost robotically my body sat itself up, my eyes casting out to the light blues hues in the sky that was filled with the morning sun; at first glance I thought it was maybe six or seven o'clock in the early morning but my eyes bulged out my skull slightly as my hand reached out and clicked the home button of my phone that was charging not too far from me; '10;45' the screen read as I ran my hands through my thick matted down hair, groaning inwardly I thought about how I was in dire need of a shower after the long day I had endured yesterday, the heat from the sun and the car making my body almost sticky to the touch.

I cringed slightly as I stood up from the couch, my legs aching with being stuck in a tight curled up position for a few hours. In my mind I was already trying to plan out my day as I gazed around the room mindlessly; I figured it would be a good idea to explore the Quarter to see if it fueled any inspiration in myself to write, I figured on the off chance that maybe I'd get a chance to explore some of the shops around here and maybe get a chance to meet some of the locals to the area. My mind and body were almost tired thinking about it all, but somehow I managed to coax myself actually getting ready, my sluggish legs already walking to the bathroom.

My shower was sadly short lived and my body was still filled with a small amount of tiredness, the warm water didn't make the situation for me much better; most days I'd often spent my time in the shower just thinking over things that I had to do for the day but I realised as soon as I walked into the stream of warm water that my mind wasn't in the mood to put too much thought into the day.

Like the rest of the house my bedroom was the same stark white colour, it was pretty empty except for maybe a few large boxes and the double bed that was pushed into the corner of the room. The window above the bed streamed the light in with its small beams and they were just enough to light the room with its warm natural glow; my tower clad body was shivering slightly with the coldness of the bare room, I struggled a bit to get the boxes open that contained my clothes, my mood flattering slightly as I just ripped the box open. Everything was a blur of dark clothing as I searched through the boxes to find something that catered to the 90° F weather that was currently just outside my door. A groan passed my lips as I soon grew frustrated and just grabbed the first thing I found which happened to be a black sundress, I quickly grabbed my underwear as I scurried back into the bathroom to get dressed.

~O~

Trying not to lose your own, boxing up everything, you've got
All you ever knew of home, you're scared, scared to see
Your mother there in the door, you wonder where did the years go…

It didn't take me too long to finally get myself out of the house and into the warm Louisiana weather, with every step that my feet took away from my front door the sun warmth radiated over my body and a small redness developed on my cheeks from its heat. Like last night there was still a large crowd that filled the street; however I gazed my eyes past the people and onto the small booths and tables were lining the streets, the noise of it all however was mute to me as my earphones like always were sat in ears, the soft songs of my favourite bands drifted into my mind as my feet fell in step to the beat. My hand was tightly wrapped around the strap of my bag as I stood out onto the main road of the street and weaved my way through the people, everything was bright and colourful to the point I almost felt like a sore thumb sticking out from it all; my black attire contrasting harshly with the vividness of it all. My eyes were scanning all the shops on the street looking for something of my interest when they set a sight on a dinky shop that bore dark colours and was canopied under a striped fabric; 'Jardin Gris Voodoo Shop'.

My brow quirked slightly in amusement at the mention of a voodoo shop and a small chuckle surpassed my lips as I remembered that somewhere online it mentioned that the city was big on tourist gimmicks. Never the less I forwarded my legs to the side of the street anyway and soon pulled up to at the shop, the consideration of going in playing in my mind. The shop was pretty in a creepy way if I was speaking honestly; muted coloured beads hung in curtains from the windows and the inside of the shop barely registered through them, crystals on cord strings hung down from the windows as the small amount of light hit them in a way that shadowed their light onto the beads behind them. Huge cabinets also lined the large bay windows of the shop; the shelves lined with candles, skulls, and overall weird trinkets.

Just standing at the window sent a chill running up my spine as it felt like cold fingers tracing under my dress. I almost would have jumped in place because of it, but I quickly came to my senses and thought it was probably just a gust of the wind, my mind writing it off. I was standing in front of the shop with my lip between teeth as I thought about going it, I didn't have a reason to be in there or even stop to look at the shop but it looked like and interesting place so my reasoning subdued to my curiosity and I took a couple careful strides to the door of the shop, taking my earphones out in the process; the door almost felt light in my hands as I pushed it open, a small bell ringing through the quiet shop as I stepped inside, the view of little vials of herbs and different trinkets flooding my vision.

The air was stuffy in the shop as I gazed at the different things that lined the shelves and the counter; the owner wasn't in sight as I wandered up to a display of necklaces that were placed on the counter. The different gems and stones were hanging on black cords and had labels adorning them, my hand lightly graced the items as they felt cool under my fingers; I was looking at them carefully and glancing at the tags when a certain one caught my eye. A stone towards the back of the display; on its black cord was a murky grey-silver stone with traces of deep blood red running through it, my fingers plucked it from its perch as I felt the cool smooth stone beneath my fingers, I was just about to read the label on what it meant when I heard a calming yet smooth voice speak behind me.

"Alunite or commonly as it's known as; Angel Wing..." The voice sent me jumping in the air and swirling around instantly to see who it belonged to, also in that moment my other hand flew to my chest to try and ease my frantically beating heart, my probably wide as plate light brown eyes scanned the woman in front of me; she must have been no less than 24, her curly dark hair framed her face and her frame was just a tad smaller than my own. Laughter danced in her warm brown eyes as she verbally chuckled at my freaked expression.

"Sorry about that, didn't mean to scare you." She chuckled slightly as I noticed a broom resting by her side; she gazed at the stone in my hand with a small smile before continuing talking again. "I'm Katie; I can ring that necklace up for you if you wish to buy it."

"What exactly is the stone supposed to do…?" My hand lowered from my chest as I gazed back at the stone then to Katie briefly, my eyebrow slightly raised in a gesture of wonder.

"The stone is beneficial in the arts, heightening creativity while at the same time grounding that creativity in current reality." She chuckled again moving towards the counter, lifting the panel to it and walking behind it, my body moved with her as I turned back to the counter.

"It's works well in balancing physical and emotional energies as well as environmental energies, bringing unbalanced or dysfunctional energies into harmony…It's sort of cool really" she continued with a small smile as I quirked a small smile too at the mention of the creativeness that was behind the stone but as always somewhere in the back of my mind I heard the same voice that everyone possessed speak; It's just a stone.

"Not a believer then?" She smirked slightly as if almost she could hear my inner thoughts, again my eyes widened slightly as I didn't try to argue with her. "You're new to town aren't you?"

I kept the small sigh in my as I placed the necklace down on the counter and scratched the back of my neck out of habit, the awkwardness almost radiating off my body.

"You can tell?" I nervously chuckled.

"I make a habit of remembering every face in the Quarter, and I've never seen yours before, you can connect the dots…What's your name child?" She quirked an eyebrow at me and smiled almost like she knew something that I didn't. I internally cringed at the mention of the word 'child' the mention of the word bringing memories back of my grandfather and his horribly old fashioned ways.

"Samantha Coleman…Call me Sam if you want" I nodded slightly, creeped out slightly by this seemingly nice woman.

"Well Sam, you gonna buy that necklace there or not? I'll toss in something else if you do." She smiled charmingly at me; I looked down at the necklace slightly with a small sigh. It couldn't hurt to play into some myth for once, even if it was something as ridiculous as this.

"Fine…How much? And what's the extra?" I laughed almost breathly as I reached my hand and rummaged around my bag for my wallet, my hand hitting my notebook and pen slightly as I grabbed hold of the cold leather of my wallet.

"Normally? Twenty-five, but seeing as you're new and I like you I'll lower it to ten." She grinned as she grabbed a small bag to place the necklace in; the brown paper had the shops name on it in fancy red curvature, soon enough my money was placed on the counter next to it. "The extra is this..."

Her hand quickly reached under the counter and pulled out a small white and gold box, she had a small smile spreading across her face as she placed it on the counter next to the bag; my eyes scanned it slightly as I hummed slightly at its supposed contents.

"Vervain and Lemon White Tea..." I mumbled out thoughtfully with a slight look of approval.

"Aids moods and brightens it; it's also great for putting you to sleep, safe to drink before you think I'm gonna poison you" She chuckled slightly as she soon placed the tea in the bag too, I gave a small chuckle to it too as I graciously accepted the bag as she held it out to me.

"I'll take your word for it" I grinned slightly at her, she merely laughed at me as I placed my wallet back in my bag and prepared myself to leave, the day still ahead of me as I tried to work out where to go next. "I'd love to stay and chat with you Katie, but I fear I had to go, it was nice to meet you though, I'll be sure to come in at some point."

Katie looked like she was about to say something but bit her lip as I quickly sorted myself out and headed to the door of the shop with a small smile thrown back at her, I heard a small sigh pass her lips as my hand touched the cold metal of door' stopping slightly when I heard her speak.

"Sam…" she begun with a bit lip, her voice wavering slightly towards the end, I stopped and turned to face her politely as I waited for her to speak. She puffed a breath out her lips and stared at me with an almost pitiful yet sad smile. "Be careful in the Quarter…Things aren't exactly as they used to be…"

~O~

My brows were drawn together in a confused frown as my feet shuffled on to Bourbon Street, Katie's previous words running through my head as I gazed slightly at everything surrounding me; what did she mean by be careful, that things aren't exactly how they used to be…? This part of town doesn't exactly scream crime infestation or murderers everywhere.

My inner debate ringing slightly in my head as I focused my gaze on the details of the hectic street, my earphones were long forgotten as I really focused on at all; colourful fabrics were draped over the balconies of people's home, the signs of shops jutting out onto the streets, the brickwork of nearly every building painted in some abnormal colour, jazz music filling the air, it was all somehow simply beautiful. Her question was almost hanging in the air in front of me as I saw nothing wrong with what was in front of my very eyes, I know I hadn't been in the city any less than a day but everything seemed normal; simplistic in a way, the Quarter seemed nothing shy of what a district in a town should be. Suppose I wasn't exactly one to judge, I barely knew the city and before yesterday I had never even been here before, none the less I shook my head at the messaged she left for me and decided that I needed to clear my head. I was getting confused at something that could be meaningless.

A small sigh escaped my lips as I gazed further down the street, a largish sigh sticking out onto the street; Rousseau's. For the umpteenth time today my brows quirked at something somewhat interesting to me, from what I could see on the sign it was a bar and grill and currently had quite a lot of people going into it. My feet neared closer to the place as my nose picked up the scent of some form of spicy food that I could only guess that it was Gumbo remembering that I was in the Deep South. I pondered slightly if it was worth going into the place, like the apparent voodoo shop I was slightly conflicted about to going in, sensing a weird chill in the place again.

"Oh my god…You're as bad at decision makings as mom is..." I drawled in my head slightly, I always had some knack for out weighing my reasons for going places, it was partly the reason I didn't actually go a lot of places. Along with the obvious trying to talk myself out of it, I also groaned inwardly at having to use the fake ID my older brother Brandon gave to me as a joke birthday gift; if I was still in Richmond I would just be able to walk down the stairs from my room and pour myself a drink of a bottle that belonged to my parents or go to the bar that was on the campus of college, either way I was doing something illegal, not that I entirely mind too much.

Braving it I craned my shoulders back slightly and prepared to enter the bar, praying in my head that I wouldn't get flung out for being underage; as the door opened beneath I was greeted with warm smell of food and the ominous chatter of locals, a brief of confident demeanor on my face as I shuffled into the bar looking around at all the dark browns and greens that covered the interior. The bar was elegant and tables filled the space around it as my legs progressed forward towards it and my eyes catching hold of the dozens of glass bottles that littered the back of it in a tasteful non-messy way, the light glinted off the multi-coloured liquids that filled the bottles making them glow slightly.

My eyes flickered over slightly to a blonde that was serving someone in the far corner of the bar; a slightly passive look on her defined face ad by the looks of it the person she was serving clearly irking her. I deciding to be patient and wait for the bartender to come over to me; I sat down on one of the high wooden stools the went with the dark bar, my hand instantly reaching into my bag to grab my reading glasses and notebook as I saw now a fit time to write down some possible ideas; slipping the black rimmed glasses on I flipped the leather book open.

Instantly I was greeted with the sight of parts of my clearly rushed and tired handwriting from nights passed, the normally neat curved structure ruined in the franticness of 4am idea rushes and tiredness; the rather fancy pen in my hand tapped against the wood of the bar in a unknown rhythm as I glanced over everything that I wrote, my college lecture brief written at the top of a page in blood red. Looking at the book you would think that it was a scribbled mess of notes but somehow the chaos of it all made sense to me, my glasses were resting on the edge of my nose lazily as I looked at the parts of the brief that I circled and continued in tangents of my own personal rambling.

'Mysticism - self-delusion or dreamy confusion of thought, supernatural. Something unordinary or seen as a myth, mythical?' My notes were rather badly taken as I huffed slightly at sheer annoyance at myself for not really paying attention; my lip was drawn between my teeth as I flicked through the pages with careful eyes, noting down things that came to mind which my hand soon drawing up to a new clean page. My hand drifted carefully and effortlessly to me as I wrote at the top of the blank page my location and my new ideas, as always I was in a trance as I failed to notice a pair of legs stopping in front of me.

"College student?" I heard a small understanding laugh from in front of me as I flicked my head up quickly, sliding my glasses off in the process; my eyes locked with that of the eye of the blonde that was serving earlier, her annoyed attitude washed away as she smiled slightly but understandingly at me.

"You can tell?" I laughed with her as I gestured to the book in front of me, her stance was strong and her head was held high as looked down at the book in front of briefly.

"Yeah, and if I can guess right you're a…English Literature Student?" She squinted slightly as she analysed me in the open, I smirked a little noticing clearly she is/maybe was a psychology student.

"Creative and Fiction Writing, but I do minor in English Lit…And by the looks of it, you're a psychology student, I'd recognise the look" I explained slightly with a small smile, placing my pen down on the bar, giving the woman my full attention. She looked impressed slightly with my guess as I briefly glanced down at her name tag; Camille

"What can I get you?" She placed a small towel down on the bar as she leaned forward on it slightly; I bit my lip briefly as I scanned my mind for something to drink, my thought soon enough landing on my favourite.

"Vodka with lemonade and lime please" I gave a friendly smile as she quirked her brow at me bemusedly, clearly seeing I was underage, unlike a bartender I'd seen she leaned forward to me slightly and dropped her voice to a whisper.

"Normally I don't serve minors but understanding what college is like I'll change my mind for now, next time, bring a fake ID." She grinned slightly at me as she turned to make my drink, my jaw dropped slightly at her, but there was still amusement dancing on my features as I chuckled slightly at the bold bartender. Cami was pretty to say the least; her light blond locks hung in loose curls that framed her face, her strong jaw suited her and she dressed in a casual yet still sophisticated manner, instantly I knew I could respect the type of person she was.

Before long she was placing my drink on the bar and I was sliding money over to it; adding tip that she deserved as I laughed a little. The small burn of the spirit sliding down my throat was numbing me a little as I took a sip. There was a brief silence as she looked around the bar to see if there was anyone else for her to serve but soon enough her green-blue eyes landed back on me with a soft smile.

"I've never seen you in here before, I'm Camille, but you can call me Cami" She spoke politely to me as she leant on the bar to give her full attention to me.

"Nice to meet you Cami, I'm Samantha but you can call me Sam" I laughed slightly at us both shortening our names and clearly Cami found it funny too as her laugh blended with mines slightly, I smiled lightly as I continued "You've never seen me here before cause I'm actually new to the city, it's sort of writers get away for me" I nodded slightly licking my lips, the sweet and bitter of the drink mixing on my tongue.

"Writers getaway huh…Well, you've picked a fantastic city to write in, how long are you staying?" She asked me kindly, genuinely interested in what I had to stay, a smile faintly painted my lips at that.

"Seven months, it's actually my last year of college so I thought my final project needed something special" I explained slightly with a small grin, her eyes bulged out at the mention of seven months here, but she laughed it off, her laugh trailing at the end.

"Seven months? You're certainly dedicated to the cause." I laughed with her as I leaned my weight on my elbows that were firmly placed on the bar.

"Oh the beauty of online college courses, I get to be lazy and I barely get to see my lecturer or even be on campus" I grinned like the Cheshire cat as I relished slightly in my laziness, Cami merely shook her head and laughed at me as she glanced at the side of the bar she was on before, her smile flattered as she stared at something. As always my curiosity broke me as I turned my head too, and my eyes widened at what she was staring at; a was man sitting at the other end of the bar smirking mischievously at Cami, as if he was toying with her, this would probably be just another weird encounter if the man wasn't gorgeous.

The man I was staring at to describe him briefly was Roman like but in a modern classy way; he had short curly blonde hair that was a dirty blonde, a strong cheek to jaw structure with stubble gracing his jaw, his skin was pale ivory as he blue iris' held their cocky stare with Cami, a smirk painting his pale pink lips. If I actually had some confidence to talk to him I would have but no one needed to endure my horrible attempts at trying to charm people, a blush merely spread across my cheeks as I scolded myself for staring.

Quick enough my eye flicked back to Cami who looked slightly angry with the man in front of her, I would had asked her if she was okay but we'd only met and I didn't want to overstep into something that could be personal. I bit my lip slightly again as I finished off the remainders of my drink, jumping slightly as Cami flicked around and grabbed a notepad from her apron. She scribbled something down on it before ripping it from the pad and placing it in front of me with a grace of a smile.

"My number, I want to get to know you more." She smiled nicer and acted nicer than anyone ever probably had before. If I could see myself at that moment I would had witnessed my eyes softening at the kind gesture that I wasn't used to having. A grin pulled itself in my lips as I nodded slightly.

"I'd love to stay and chat to you Sam but work calls, I hope to see you again soon." She smiled apologetically at me, but it was almost sad at the same time.

"It's no bother, Cami, I'll be sure to come in tomorrow." I smiled courteously at her while placing the bit of paper in my notebook for later. After a brief goodbye and a hug over the bar, Cami left to go out the back and probably do her job; I was smiling like a child as I packed my things away into my bag, normally I didn't really get on with people I just met but there was something sincere about Cami that put me at ease and made me feel less tense.

My stuff was safely in my bag and it was back on my shoulder with the shopping back in my hand as my legs stood up from the seat, I glanced over the bar out of habit; my eyes flickered over everyone and I saw a diverse amount of people, as my eyes dragged back to the bar in front of me I locked eyes with the man who had been talking to Cami earlier. My light brown iris' locked to his piercing blue ones as he smirked in my direction, his hand raising his drink to me in an almost kind yet at the same time still mocking manner; it took me a couple seconds to shake his gaze as I turned hastily towards the exit of the bar, my legs finally leaving the place.

I could still feel his gaze on me as I walked out, the shiver spreading up my spine; I smiled thought as I reached the warmth of the sun again, mind thinking about what just happened.

Had I just made a friend..?


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