Hello loves!
I can't believe the support this story's already began to get over the past week alone, I'm so grateful you have no idea!
In an answer to one question I got, no I haven't got an actress in mind for Aria. I never usually do with these things. I will at some point be describing what she looks like just like I'll sometimes describe what she wears but so far, I haven't got an idea.
Now let's get on with it! I own nothing.
~*•°•*~
Aria observed one of the witches from the French Quarter Coven as she led the tourists around the street curiously. She sensed something was going to happen. Something big. And for some odd reason, it involved the witches. Surely they weren't stupid enough to attempt another spell after Jane-Anne? Well, they were stupid but not that stupid. She shook off the thoughts and continued watching the witch,
"Welcome to New Orleans, and the crown jewel of the Crescent city, the French Quarter. Jazz and jambalaya, romance, poetry, not to mention the things that go bump in the night. Monsters that feed off human blood, vengeful spirits of the dead, and my personal favourite, the witches. Here we have the voodoo shop, Jardin Gris. Go on, browse for a hex." The witch announced as Aria rolled her eyes at the exaggeration.
She watched as the tourists walked into the shop before bristling as a familiar aura filled the air. The young girl looked around her, waiting for something to happen before her eyes narrowed as the witch said an all too familiar name.
"Are you going to continue following me, Elijah, or do you wanna talk?"
"You know who I am." The Original - Elijah - stated as he moved closer to the witch.
"Original vampire, always wears a suit," She pointed out as Elijah smiled slightly, "You and your family are famous amongst the witches, especially with your… brother back in town."
"Well, Niklaus is here because he learned that a witch was conspiring against him. Someone by the name of Jane-Anne Deveraux." Elijah stated as Aria smirked. He was a little too late.
"Well, if he's looking for Jane Anne, he's a little late." The witch said, her tone suddenly saddening as Elijah looked surprised.
"Are you telling me she's dead?"
"Come on, her sister Sophie's gonna want to talk to you."
Well this would be interesting.
Aria followed the Original and witch to the street where Jane-Anne had been killed the night prior and observed from the shadows as the witches all crouched around the dead body. She felt a flash of sympathy for Sophie, the few times she'd talked to the girl had been rather pleasant but none the less, Jane-Anne had done magic. A rather questionable spell but magic none the less. It went against the rules.
Besides, she didn't owe the witches a thing. She'd asked her father once to reconsider killing Jane-Anne, but he'd decided to do it anyways.
She had tried.
Failed, but tried.
Her attention went back to the witch, she should probably put a name to that face… Sabine, she remembered her name being and Elijah as they stopped a few meters away from the mourning witches.
"That's Jane-Anne? Killed in public for anyone to find…" Elijah trailed off as Sabine took over.
"Only people that come around here are the witches. Now her sister has come to take her body. Her spirit can't rest until it's been properly interred in the cemetery."
"Please tell me that my brother had nothing to do with this." Elijah pleaded.
"No. Jane-Anne died because she got caught doing magic."
"What do you mean she got caught doing magic?" Elijah asked as Aria rolled her eyes. Did he really come to the Quarter with no knowledge of… well… anything?
"If you're thinking about the fact that my brother has returned home without actually knowing about Marcellus still being alive as well as his rather restricting rules for the witches, I'd say you were right." A voice from her left said, breaking her out of her thoughts. She silently cursed herself for getting so distracted that she hadn't felt the cold aura she'd begun to associate with Kol appear beside her.
Aria rolled her eyes, "Mikaelson. I'd say it was a pleasure but, I'd be lying."
Kol chuckled, "All you're doing is making me more curious about you, Darling. In case you didn't know, I like pretty little things with sharp tongues."
"Well I'm afraid I don't go for dead Original vampires." Aria replied as Kol pursed his lips to stop a small chuckle that was threatening to break out. She was a funny little thing that was for sure. Before he could reply, there was a loud whistle and Aria grinned.
"What's that?" Kol questioned as Aria, for the first time, turned to him with a smile on her face.
"Fun." She stated as the vampires all approached the witches, each with dramatic flair.
"I'm asking you, stay hidden. If Marcel finds out that a witch lured the Originals back into town, my people will be slaughtered." Sabine stressed as Aria rolled her eyes, slowly moving across the building's roof and closer to the ground with each jump. She watched as Elijah sped upwards to a balcony and smothered a laugh at the thought that the witches actually thought she of all people didn't know Elijah was in town. But she'd let them have their fun. They could play secret for as long as they wanted.
"So, what exactly is your version of fun?" Kol questioned as she jumped down from the top of the low building and down into the alley way, "No, no wait. Let me guess: Beheading witches? No, no, no… killing witches? Harming witches in any shape or form?" He teased as she rolled her eyes.
"Close. Dad likes showing off. As for me, I like scaring the witches. I haven't killed one in a long time. Apart from the fact that he's just executed one last night so they'll all be pretty pissed at him. Ergo, I would be the perfect target. I have to stay in the shadows for now. Until they cool down that is. Then I will be free to go back to doing whatever the hell I want with them." She responded, her tone slightly annoyed but turning more sarcastic with the last remark.
Kol looked at her curiously before walking to the edge of the alley and observing, "Marcellus is your father, correct?"
"Found me when I was a baby. Nothing else to it." She said simply before watching Marcel.
"Well, well, well, what have we here? I gotta tell you Soph, this street corner is not proving the luckiest spot for your family tonight. Not half an hour ago, we had to teach your sister a little lesson." Marcel announced in an annoyingly joyful tone.
Sophie turned to Marcel, hatred covering her expression, "We're putting her to rest Marcel. Leave us alone."
"I never said you could move the body. Matter of fact, I left her here for a reason, to send a message. If anybody is thinking of joining some kind of rebellion, my rules state that witches can't practice magic in the Quarter and yet, a little birdy informed me that Jane-Anne was cooking up something magically delicious. Oh, yeah. While I have you, quick Q&A. My old friend - the hybrid, Klaus - just happened to show up out of the blue asking for, of all people, Jane-Anne. Any idea why?"
"I don't know. Witches don't get involved in vampire business." Sophie spat.
"Hm. That would be pretty stupid, that's for sure," Marcel chuckled, "Tell you what, go back to the restaurant, cook up some of that famous gumbo, and keep the tourists happy," He said before looking over to the vampires, "Take the body."
"What? No! Stop! Stop! Marcel!"
"I'm gonna hold on to your sister's body in case maybe you remember why Klaus is here." He explained slowly as if talking to a child as she stared up at him with wide, pleading eyes.
"Marcel please. Her body won't be at peace."
"Not my problem." Marcel called back, not even bothering to turn around as the vampires walking with him took Jane-Anne's body and sped off, ignoring Sophie's begs for them not to as well as the other witches.
Aria tilted her head up to look at the balcony Elijah was standing on, continuing to watch the scene unfold with clear curiosity and smirked.
Yes, interesting indeed.
~*•°•*~
Aria leant on the wall of the Abattoir and watched the vampires below her in the courtyard dancing and… feeding she added in her mind as she closed her eyes with a small grimace. It wasn't the nicest sight, especially when she was technically human herself. Although the humans did want to find something darker in New Orleans, they reaped what they sowed. Her head moved to the side slightly when she, once again, felt the familiar aura take over her.
And again.
And again.
She shivered and placed a hand on the railing to steady herself. Three Originals. One dead one… alive, kind of, and one Hybrid. Brilliant. Across the room, she saw Elijah on a balcony observing the feedings, and someone she assumed to be Klaus if his stance was anything to go by as he walked into the Abattoir like he owned the place.
"I know what you're thinking, Darling and yes, my bastard brother technically did used to live here and he never ended up giving it to dear old Marcellus…" Kol trailed off as she sent him a less than impressed look over her shoulder.
"Just because I've gotten used to having you around, Mikaelson, it doesn't mean that I would like to continue listening to a running commentary whenever you'd so damn please."
"Aria, you are the only one I can talk to for whatever reason that may be. Don't be so naïve as to think I'm just going to stop when you ask nicely. No matter how nicely you say it."
Aria rolled her eyes and looked back down to the courtyard, not even bothering to remind him that whilst she could hurt him, very easily, he could not hurt her. That thought brought a small satisfied smirk to her face, the look quickly disappearing when she noticed Klaus walking up to her father purposefully.
And angrily.
What had dad done? Aria wondered, trying not to sigh.
"Oh, looks like Nik's in a bit of a mood. Wonder why." Kol murmured.
"Hey, man, where'd you run off to?" Marcel asked. When Klaus didn't answer, he spoke again, "Someone put you in a mood. What can I do?"
"What you can do is you can tell me what this thing is that you have with the witches." Klaus snarled as Aria narrowed her eyes at him. Just what had he been up to since last night?
"Calm down, Darling." Kol warned, an underlying and dangerous tone to his voice once he heard her quiet snarl.
"You're dead, remember? You can't tell me what to do." She bit out. If the witches had managed to get Klaus on their side… not only would they have to hold significant leverage over him-something that had to be incredibly powerful but most importantly…
They would be absolutely insufferable now, she wouldn't be able to take a step into the Quarter without having one rub it in her face!
Pesky witches and their egos…
Kol continued, ignorant to her thought path, "Yes, you're right I can't. However, I know what my brother does to witches who try to harm him. Well you are the only one I can talk to and whilst I would rather someone that doesn't apparently hate me to talk to, I'd take you over the silence any day." He said as Aria rolled her eyes and looked back down to her father and Klaus.
"We're back to that." Marcel sighed.
"Yeah, we're back to that." The Hybrid snapped.
"You know I owe you everything I got, but I'm afraid I have to draw the line on this one. This is my business. I control the witches in my town. Let's just leave it at that."
"Your town?" Klaus scoffed.
"Damn straight."
"That's funny, because when I left 100 years ago, you were just a pathetic little scrapper still trembling from the lashes of the whips of those who would keep you down, and now look at you. Master of your domain, prince of the city," He mocked as the music stopped and Aria dropped down the side of the banister, noting to herself that it wasn't actually that much of a distance so that she was now standing behind Marcel, "I'd like to know how."
"Why? Jealous? Hey, man, I get it. Three hundred years ago, you helped build a backwater penal colony into something. You started it, but then you left. Actually, you ran from it. I saw it through. Look around. Vampires rule this city now. I got rid of the werewolves. I even found a way to shut down the witches. The blood never stops flowing and the party never ends. You wanna pass on through? You wanna stay a while? Great. What's mine is yours, but it is mine. My home, my family, my rules."
"And if someone breaks those rules?"
Marcel scoffed as if the answer were obvious. In some ways, it was. After all, he learnt from Klaus, didn't he? "They die. Mercy is for the weak. You taught me that, too. And I'm not the prince of the Quarter, friend. I'm the king! Show me some respect." He announced as Klaus observed him for a moment.
His lips curved into a smile and before Marcel could take another step, he had sped towards one of the vampires beside him and bit him in the neck. Viciously.
He broke away from the vampire to look at Marcel, a seemingly victorious look in his eyes at Marcel's anger.
"Your friend will be dead by the weekend, which means I've broken one of your rules. And yet I cannot be killed. I am immortal. Who has the power now, friend?" He sneered before smiling pleasantly at the crowd and beginning to walk away.
Aria pursed her lips and clenched her jaw then, without warning, Klaus went flying out of the courtyard and out of the doors before they slammed shut.
Marcel let out a slightly forced chuckle and turned to her with a raised eyebrow, "He was getting on my nerves. And he hurt Thierry." She snarled.
Thierry had known her just as long as Marcel. He was like her uncle and whilst she didn't like all the vampires in New Orleans, not to mention a decent few in the Inner Circle, if anyone even dared hurt Thierry or Marcel, she would happily kill them. Heck, she had killed for them before.
Unfortunately as Klaus had so eloquently pointed out, he couldn't die.
Well she'd just have to rectify that, wouldn't she?
"You have just signed your own death warrant, Darling." Kol murmured, a strange edge to his voice that had her pausing for a moment. Aria broke free of her surprise and rolled her eyes at his dramatics and ignored Marcel's raised eyebrow.
"So," She mused, drawing out a long breath and pursing her lips, looking around the room as if waiting for something, "I believe a certain Original would like to speak with you. Why don't you come out and play, Elijah?"
"You know who I am." Elijah murmured, walking out of the shadows as Aria dismissed the other vampires in the room, the ones who remained and typically took more convincing leaving under her glare. They all knew full well that she wouldn't hesitate to curse any one of them despite Marcel being her father, she'd done it before.
"I know everything about you, Elijah Mikaelson. More than you'd ever be able to imagine." Aria smiled innocently, ignoring both Marcel and Kol's warnings to stay silent.
"Either way, I think it's time we had a little chat."
"Well if you're gonna talk Mister suit and tie, talk." Aria shrugged.
"You're a surprisingly confident little thing, aren't you?"
"I'd say it's your brother who got cocky, coming into our town like he owns the place. News flash: he doesn't. And just to clarify, neither do you."
"Well we did own this place once. We were all quite happy here as I recall. But we never could control those pesky witches of the French Quarter."
"And you want to know how Marcel does it." Aria summarised with a tight smile, "Sorry to disappoint Mr Mikaelson but your brother asked the very same question. We gave him the same answer. It's our business. In fact, everything in the Quarter is our business. So, when Klaus comes into town all 'nice and friendly' and then decides to bite one of our Inner Circle because he's having a little temper tantrum like a five year old, forgive me if I get slightly protective over my home."
"Well I do give you my sincerest apologies for Niklaus' poor behaviour little witch. I assume you know that the bite will kill your friend here in a matter of days," He said as Aria winced slightly, "Of course, my brother's blood will cure him."
"What?" Marcel interrupted, eyes widening as Aria's narrowed.
"Yes, apparently the blood of the Hybrid will cure a werewolf bite. Quite a handy little thing when one needs leverage in negotiation."
"How convenient," Aria scowled, gotta love mother nature she reminded herself before sighing, "Alright. What kind of negotiations are we talking about? Tell me the witches haven't already stolen your heart with their lies they call promises?" She pouted.
"Return the body of the witch Jane-Anne. Allow her people to put her to rest." Elijah spoke, ignoring Aria's mild insult.
"And I was right. Tell me, what have the witches offered you?"
"Well that's my business now isn't it, little witch?" He smiled; head cocked to the side as the side of Aria's mouth twitched downwards at the thoughts she was having.
"And what stops me from knowing you'll keep your word? -Stay out of this Marcel." She added as she saw her father move closer out of the corner of her eye.
"I can do nothing but swear I won't break it." He replied, sincerity suddenly being reflected in his eyes albeit a rather small amount.
Aria's mouth twitched upwards into a pleased smile, "Then we have a deal Elijah Mikaelson." She announced as he gave a short nod before leaving. It was as if he had never been there to begin with.
So of course, her dad begun to speak.
"Aria…"
"Come on dad! It's a win win. Why do we really need Jane-Anne's body?"
"It's leverage."
"We already have leverage!"
"We can't keep using Davina."
Aria scoffed, "We haven't been using her. She wants her revenge, we are helping her get it by stopping the witches from using magic! And… I wasn't talking about her."
Marcel sighed, "Aria, I've told you before, we have no idea why the witches want you dead. We can't use you as leverage, Jane-Anne's body, now that would certainly work."
"Dad, this way, Thierry gets healed. Mother Nature is a bitch for having the cure be Klaus' blood but what can we do? He's the Inner Circle," Her tone turned quieter, "He's family. We can't leave family behind."
"Aria, you have just made a deal with an Original vampire!"
"What would you have done?" She retorted as he pursed his lips and looked away, "Exactly what I thought," She said, "Elijah Mikaelson is known to be noble so unless we give him a reason, he will not break his word. Alright?" She snapped before moving over to a chair and picking up her jacket, "I'll be at Davina's."
~*•°•*~
Aria walked through the church, quickly exchanging a smile and a greeting with Father Kieran and up the stairs until she arrived at the small corridor, she walked over to the door and knocked before opening it herself. She smiled when Davina waved her hand and de-lit the candle she was sitting in front of.
"Nice work D." Aria smiled as Davina looked up and grinned, "Hey 'Ari."
"I assume it's all quiet out there?" She guessed as she set her jacket down on a chair.
"The witches know better than to use magic. They know I can sense it when they do. What about the old ones? They're dangerous, and I don't want them to hurt you or Marcel."
"The Originals? Davina, as powerful as you are, they don't stand a chance. So as long as Elijah Mikaelson keeps his end of the bargain and has his Hybrid brother cure Thierry, I have no reason not to trust him."
"Don't tell me you're going to start to? They're dangerous, Aria."
Aria smirked, "Davina, the minute I trust an Original is the day I go to hell, although, I will admit that something's coming. I feel something and… it's dangerous," She mused as she collapsed down onto a chair and crossed her legs, "But enough of that, I'd like to ask for some advice."
"For what?"
"Tell me, how would one go about ridding themselves of a spirit?"