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Part 2

An Unfortunate Incident

"Come here, Rosa…. It's alright, sweetheart, papa's here… I know you miss your mama, but you'll always have me, I promise. I'll never leave you… My little girl…"

"I love you, papa."

"I love you too, sweetheart."

I blinked my eyes, but I couldn't really see anything. I was weightless, floating in the air. Was I dead? Not yet, but soon, I could feel it. The thought didn't really frighten me as much as it probably should have, the fever made me too disoriented to be afraid. The room was dark, but I could see some light, Elsa had probably lit up few candles. The lights were dancing on the walls, just like little fairies from the stories Uncle Stefan had told me. His stories had always been exciting, full of adventures.

When I had been a child, I had dreamt of an adventure of my own. There were so many things I would have liked to experience, so many places I would have liked to see, but I never would. The thought made me sad, but there was nothing I could do except accepting the fact that my time was up. I only wished that I would have had a chance to say goodbye to papa. I sighed and was about to close my eyes when I heard footsteps.

"Elsa?" I muttered and blinked few times in order to clear my vision. Someone was standing beside my bed. "Elsa?"

"No," a male voice said. "She's not here."

For a moment I was confused, I turned my head in order to see who this man was.

"Good evening, Rosalie."

"Mr. Mikaelson?" I muttered disbelievingly. "What…what are you doing here?"

He sat down on the edge of the bed; I could see his face now.

"Still so formal," he stated. "As I have said several times, you may call me Kol."

"A-and as I have said se-several times, I don't call strange men by their first name. Mr. Mikaelson," I taunted, although I had to struggle to form a sentence so long.

I could see the amusement in his eyes before his lips curved into a grin.

"You still consider me as a strange man? Should I be offended?"

I tried to smile, but I didn't think that I succeeded so well.

"Ma-maybe. You shouldn't be here, I-I'm sick."

"Yes, so I heard," he stated. "That's the reason why I came here."

"What?"

He huffed and crossed his arms.

"This was not how I planned this, but unfortunately you don't leave me much choice, darling."

"I-I don't understand," I muttered, his words made no sense to me. He didn't have time to reply when I started to cough.

"Easy now," he said and lifted my head onto his lap. "Here, allow me."

I didn't protest when he brought a glass onto my lips, I thought that he was giving me some water, but the liquid tasted terrible and made me cough even more. He lifted my head up and tapped my back until I stopped coughing.

"Wha-what was that?" I finally managed to ask.

"Wine," he replied and lied me down.

"Wine?"

"Yes, some very special wine."

I couldn't understand why he had given me wine, but I was too weak to ponder about that, I couldn't even keep my eyes open. Just before I lost consciousness, I felt him caressing my cheek and heard him whispering something in my ear.

"Rest now, darling, I will see you again very soon."

2 months earlier

The French Quarter seemed to be quite crowded this morning, but I didn't mind, I enjoyed running errands for Elsa. Hopefully I had remembered everything from the market, the fish, the eggs and the spices. We had our own little vegetable garden, which Elsa took very good care of. I often helped her and she had taught me a lot about different herbs. Absentmindedly I stopped and looked around; I needed to cross the street. There was a carriage approaching very fast, but I didn't pay much attention to it, not before I saw two playing children running in front of it. The driver wasn't going to stop or even slow down. When the children saw the carriage, they froze in terror and clung to each other, they were going to be trampled to death.

"Stop!" I shouted and dropped my basket. I didn't think, I simply acted on instinct and ran in front of the children, hoping to shield them with my body. What was I doing, I was going to die… The next seconds felt like hours, I closed my eyes and covered my face, but I wasn't trampled, the driver managed to stop the horses just in time.

"Crazy harlot!" he shouted. "What the hell you think you're doing!"

I opened my eyes and lowered my arms; my shock was slowly being replaced by anger.

"What am I doing? What were you doing, you almost ran over these children!"

From the corner of my eye I saw that the children, a boy and a girl, were moving behind my back, clearly the driver scared them. He glanced at the children loathingly.

"I didn't see them and who cares about some filthy little ragamuffins anyway. Now get the hell out of my way!"

"No!" I shouted back. "I demand you apologize!"

Was I crazy? Apparently. The driver's eyes darkened, he lifted his whip.

"I'll teach you manners…"

Fortunately he didn't have time to teach me anything when the carriage door opened and a man stepped outside. He had dark brown hair and dark eyes, judging by his clothes he was wealthy.

"What seems to be the problem here?" he asked calmly. The driver lowered the whip immediately, but I managed to speak before him.

"The problem, sir, is that your driver almost ran over these children," I snapped. The man raised his eyebrows and looked at the driver, who suddenly seemed very uncomfortable.

"She's lying, I didn't see the little ragam… children."

The man didn't seem pleased at all; he took a step towards me and looked at the children.

"Are they injured?"

"I don't think so," I muttered and turned to look at them. "Is everything alright?"

The boy nodded after a brief hesitation.

"Do you live somewhere near?" I asked.

They both nodded. The man walked over to them and gave them few coins, the children looked stunned. So was I.

"I apologize," he said calmly. "Go home and be more careful for now on."

The children looked at the coins in wonder; I doubted that they had ever seen that much money.

"Thank you, sir," the boy said and took the girl's hand before they ran away. The man turned his eyes on me.

"How about you, miss? Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine," I replied. "That was very kind of you."

He smiled.

"I'm not the one who saved those children. You are quite a brave young lady."

"Not really," I muttered. "Anyone would have done the same."

"I doubt that." He paused and gave me a polite bow. "Elijah Mikaelson, at your service, miss."

"Oh… Rosalie. Rosalie Aberdeen."

Aberdeen was Elsa's last name, but it had also been mine for the last 10 years.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Aberdeen. I would like to make up this unfortunate incident…"

"No, I don't want your money," I cut in, knowing how angry Elsa would be if I would accept any money from him. "I mean… I didn't mean to be rude, I just… The children are fine, that's all that matters."

He smiled and took something out of his pocket.

"Perhaps I can give you this?"

I frowned and took the piece of paper from him. It was some sort of invitation. For the annual Mikaelson ball. I had heard about those celebrations, just like everyone in New Orleans, and I knew that many people would have done almost anything in order to receive an invitation.

"I know this comes at short notice, but I hope to see you tonight," he said and bowed briefly. "Until then, Miss Aberdeen."

He turned around and walked back to the carriage. "You and I will have a little talk later," he said to the driver before getting into the carriage. The driver gave me a murderous look, but I was too distracted to even notice. I picked up my basket and headed home. The little girl in me was jumping for joy; I had never been in any kind of ball. How would have I been, Elsa and I certainly weren't the upper class. Our home was modest, but I would have never complained about that, I was grateful to have a home. Yet I couldn't help but to feel excited, I almost ran home.

"Elsa!" I cheered as soon as I opened the front door. "You never guess what happened!"

Her expression was cautious when she appeared from the kitchen.

"What?"

Eagerly I started to explain the whole thing; I was so excited that she didn't have an opportunity to say a word, not before I mentioned the name Mikaelson.

"What?" she snapped. "You met one of the Mikaelsons?"

"Yes, Elijah Mikaelson, he invited me to their ball…"

"No."

The harshness of her tone surprised me.

"But…"

"I said no," she snapped. "You are not going to that ball or anywhere near those people."

I was stunned, for a moment I couldn't do anything except stare at her.

"What are you talking about…"

She stepped in front of me and grabbed my arms.

"I'm serious, Rosa, you are not going to that ball."

"Why not?"

She pressed her lips together and looked at me tensely.

"Those people… They are bad news, trust me on this. You will not go anywhere near them and that is final."