Finally Belle managed to wake up. She pulled herself up into a sitting position, crossing her legs Indian-style at the edge of her bed. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand; it was just past 10:30. As she had been told many times, mostly by Klaus, Belle slept much longer than the usual six or seven hours most other vampires preferred. She couldn't help it, she loved sleep, except when nightmares plagued it.
She groggily got out of bed and grabbed a dark blue tank top and a pair of black skinny jeans from the back of the chair that was in the corner of her room then quickly changed out of her pajamas and threw her hair up into a messy bun, not bothering with the hassle of curling or straightening it.
The tank top showcased the roses she had tattooed on her left shoulder and down her upper arm and with her hair up, her tattoo of the fluer de lis on the back of her neck was visible. She had other tattoos that where currently out of sight; she usually kept them covered.
After flipping on the light in her bathroom, she brushed her teeth and put on a little makeup. Belle normally didn't feel the need to wear a lot of makeup. In her words, she didn't "give a rat's ass" about what anyone thought about her. She didn't live to please others.
She turned out the light and padded over to the door. When she opened it, she was greeted by the unpleasant voice of one of her "frenemies", more enemy than friend, Rebekah Mikaelson, Klaus's annoying younger sister. She groaned as the blonde Original came into view. "What are you doing here, blondie?" she mumbled.
Rebekah sat on the couch with her legs crossed next to Max, who looked almost as annoyed as his sister. She turned her head to glance at Belle, sneering slightly. "Do I need an invitation to visit an old friend?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
Belle scoffed as she walked into the small kitchen area, making a cup of tea. "You do realize you're still not funny Beks, right?" She filled the tea kettle with water and placed it on the stove, turning it up on high.
Rebekah rolled her eyes. "I just wanted to stop by, see how you were." As always, her sarcasm was thinly veiled.
Belle mockingly squealed and slapped her hands over her mouth. "Oh my god, really?!" Her eyes narrowed. She dropped her hands and gave Rebekah an annoyed, and slightly pissed off, glare. "We both know you just love bugging me, almost as much as I love bugging you, cupcake." She grinned at an angry Rebekah, before turning to the tea kettle as it started screaming. Steam shot out of it like it would out of Rebekah's ears if they were in a cartoon. She picked it up and poured the boiling water into a striped mug and dropped in a teabag.
Setting the kettle down, she rummaged through the cabinets below the counter before pulling out her personal supply of vervain oil. She poured the tiny vile into her tea before taking a sip, barely wincing. It only burned her a little, no more than a shot of tequila really. She had been on vervain for nearly all her life. When hanging out with Originals, she couldn't be too careful.
"You're still on vervain." Rebekah mused.
"Yup." Belle sipped her tea. "You can go now. I don't really do small talk." She swatted at Rebekah like she would a fly. She padded over to a chair and sat down, her unwavering glare trained on the blonde Original.
Rebekah rolled her eyes before getting up and heading toward the door. "Your manners haven't changed at all. And I assume you'll be by later." She opened the door and walked out, closing it harder than necessary behind her. She didn't bother to say goodbye either.
"Your manners are no better than mine, bitch," Belle called after her, knowing she would hear.. "God, I still can't stand her," she mumbled into her mug as she took another drink.
Max scoffed in agreement. "Yeah, tell me about it. She still kind of creeps me out." He cringed.
Belle rolled her eyes. "You're such a pansy. Rebekah's no scarier than a clown or a spider." Belle had never been intimidated by anyone really, not in this life at least.
"Clearly you don't know the meaning of scary." He got up and went over to the kitchen. "You want a blood bag?" He opened the fridge and bent down to the bottom shelf, hoisting up a blood bag for her to see.
"Sure." She set down her now empty cup of tea on the coffee table on which her feet were propped. He tossed it to her and without turning around; she caught it with ease. She pulled the cap off the tube and drained it quickly, wanting to finish it so she could leave. She had a busy day planned. She got up and tossed the empty bag in the trashcan as she passed it on the way to her room.
Belle put on a pair of black combat boots that were on the floor by her bed, too lazy to search for another pair of shoes. Then, she picked up her phone from her nightstand and shoved it into her white leather bag before slinging it over her shoulder and walking out. "I'm leaving. Wanna come with me or not?" she asked, now standing by the front door with a hand on the handle.
Max was now lying on the couch, watching a rerun of Supernatural; he had a huge crush on Jared Padalecki. "Nah, I'm good." His eyes never left the screen as he waved his hand at her to leave.
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You do know he's straight, married and has small children, right?" Max had a soft spot for men with dark hair.
"A guy can dream, can't he?"
She scoffed before opening the door and leaving. Each step echoed in the stairwell as her boots clicked again the concrete stairs.
When she got outside, she was greeted by the warm midday sunlight and the usual sticky humidity that clung to the southern air. She pulled out a pair of black cat eye sunglasses from her bag and slipped them on.
The city was wide awake and the streets bustled with life, as usual. As she walked down the sidewalk, her phone started ringing. She pulled it out of her purse and, to her delight, saw Klaus's name on the screen. She answered, putting the phone up to her ear with ease. "Hey Nik! What's up, buttercup?" She only called him Nik when it was just them talking, never around anyone else.
Klaus let out a throaty chuckle. "Would you be interested in joining Marcel and me for drinks?"
She laughed under her breath. "Getting drunk before noon? Honey, you know that's what I live for. Same place as last night?" Her eyes scanned the road before she crossed it with a mass of people, all bustling about like a herd of sheep.
"Yes."
"Great. I'll be there soon," she replied before hanging up. She put the phone back in her bag and turned down the street to the bar.
A few minutes later, after pushing her way through the traffic, she walked through the door at Rousseau's.
She spotted Klaus and Marcel sitting along the bar with a few other day drunks and reluctantly took a seat by Marcel since the one by Klaus was occupied by large, sad man who had at least five empty beer bottles in front of him.
"Good morning gents." She swiveled around the face them and rested her elbows on the bar.
"When did you get back in town?" Marcel asked, looking over at her while taking a drink of his scotch.
"Last night."
A blonde bartender walked over to them. Her name was Camille, according to her name tag. "What can I get you?" she asked, setting aside the rag she was using to wipe down the bar.
"Whiskey, neat." Belle propped her elbows up so she could rest her chin in her hands. She smiled in what most people would assume was a polite way, but it looked a lot more menacing when you were on the receiving end.
The bartender gave her a small smile in return, not looking as terrified or skeptical as a lot of humans did in the old vampire's presence. She filled up a glass and set it down in front of her.
"Thanks, Camille." She tried not to chuckle at the girl's name. It was pretty old school.
The bartender chuckled. "Cami, actually. Camille's more of an old woman's name." She shook her head dismissively.
Belle scoffed. "Don't worry. I say the same thing about my name."
Cami raised an eyebrow at her. "What is your name? If you don't mind me asking."
She smirked. "Please. You just met me. You'll have to earn it," Belle said slyly, taking a sip of her whiskey.
"It's Belinda." Marcel rolled his eyes.
Belle punched him in the arm, not hard enough to knock him down like she wanted to, but hard enough that it would hurt. He winced as they exchanged annoyed glares. "Belle."
Klaus cleared his throat. "Will you two ever stop bickering?" His annoyance was all too obvious.
"Does a bear shit in the woods? Both are stupid and obvious questions." If it were just them, Klaus probably would've laughed, but since they weren't he just rolled his eyes.
He had always been like that, rigid. She was one of the few people he ever let in to see his fun, carefree side. Well, what was left of it. A thousand years of hurt and misery had morphed him into someone completely different than the man she had met all those years ago. Then again, she wasn't the same either.
Belle glanced over at Cami, who seemed to just notice the large lapis ring on Belle's right middle finger, her daylight ring. A look of recognition and realization filled her eyes. "Oh. You're a,"
"Vampire?" Belle whispered, leaning in a bit for dramatic effect. She was a lot of things, and melodramatic was definitely one of them. Cami nodded. "So, you're in on the loop? Fantastic." She huffed.
There were several seconds of tense, awkward silence. "Well this has been fun, but we have some things to do, right?" Marcel turned to Klaus.
"Yes. Well, I do," Klaus said, smirking. "You're just tagging along." He took every chance he got to put other people down in what he saw was their place: below him.
Marcel growled under his breath, about to shoot something back. Belle stopped him. "Hey, how about I tag along with you. Three's company, right?" She pulled $10 from her purse and put it on the bar, finished her drink and got up. "Let's go."
The two men exchanged slightly heated looks before listening. The paid for their drinks, got up and walked out. Belle trotted off after them.
A small part of her, the more childish one, was actually sort of relieved that things were once again tense between Klaus and Marcel. In her eyes, it meant that Klaus would spend more time with her. She refused to admit to herself why spending time with Klaus was so important to her. She just couldn't.
A.N.- Sorry this was sort of uneventful. Next chapter will get into a little action. Plus I'm thinking about including a flashback ;) Please review!