5 years later…
Spring Break was in full swing in the French Quarter, and I always enjoyed watching people let loose in this city. I side stepped one of Marcel's vampires, who once again tried to invite me to The Abattoir. You'd think after the last five years, Marcel's vampires would know I would never go to one of their parties, I've turned them down ever since we moved here. Even Angela has refused, but we know Marcel keeps trying because of the crush he's got on Angela. Angela wouldn't give him the time of day, but that didn't stop him from trying.
As I walked through the doors of Rousseau's it's another busy night, just how I like it too. It meant it was going to be a good night, and I was glad seeing as Angela and I were left in charge while our grandmothers and aunt went on a year long trip to Greece. They were there searching for everything they could about our family, and the history of our ancestors. As I was walking towards the back, one of the waiters, Jared, saw me. He was a good kid, if not a little cocky. He is a freshman in College, and believes women fall at his feet all of the time.
He believes it's only a matter of time before Angela and I fall for his charm, and go out with him so he can show us what we are missing. It isn't ever going to happen, he reminds us too much of the guys back in Washington. He got good grades, and was doing his best to help out his mom with the bills. Which is why he is here working, instead out of town with his friends going all out for Spring Break. "Hey Bella! Didn't know you were working tonight."
"Cami called out sick, and I told her I would cover for her." Tonight was supposed to be a night off, but when one of our bartenders Camille O'Donnell called me, she sounded dreadful. She was at home with laryngitis, and could barely talk. Angela and I had promised to get all of her shifts taken care of for the next couple of weeks, until she felt better. I continued my way to the office, where I planned on putting my bag for the night. I had some paperwork to do, before heading home tonight anyways. "Hey Noah, keeping busy?"
"Bella babe, this town is always busy. Heard about Cami, she got that nasty bug that was going around Loyola. Hopefully, she gets better soon. But I can't say I ain't happy to be working with you, it's just been too long since we've got to work a shift together." I laughed at his response, knowing that he wasn't wrong. We have been working different shifts, and it was always one of the more interesting nights when we end up working together. He had to be one of the manlier gay men, I have ever met. Women flirted with him non-stop, and when they find out he is gay. They try to convince him that he just hasn't been with the right woman, and that he should give them a try.
He always tells them that the only woman he would turn straight for is me, and since he can't have me he refuses to try with anyone else. One of two things would happen, the women would be mad at me for denying the man or they would try and fight me. They quickly learned that attacking me led to them getting hurt and kicked out for life. Which would also be why we didn't work together often, Aunt Sophia liked to keep those incidents few and far between. Especially, while she was gone and wasn't around to take care of any problems with the cops.
We got into our normal routine, and things were going smoothly. When the atmosphere changed, in just a moment's notice. While the occupants of Rousseau's wouldn't be able to explain it, they all had a healthy dose of fear running through them. Me on the other hand, I was intrigued to know what caused the shift. I watched as a guy took an open seat at the bar, just a few seats down from where I was working. Taking my time making the drinks that one of our waiters ordered for a table, I took the time to look him over from my periphiles. I immediately knew he was a traditional vampire, and he was on the older side. The oldest in New Orleans these days, was Marcel and his second, Thierry.
I had to admit he was good looking, in his own way. He was well dressed, but you could tell it was just to hide what he truly was. No one expected a well dressed man, to be a cold-hearted murder. I have met a few vampires, who work hard at not being that way. But they are few and far between, Marcel isn't known for keeping good ones around. "Welcome to Rousseau's. I'm Bella, what can I get ya?"
"A bourbon please, Bella." His accent was unfamiliar, but it wasn't unsettling in the least. He didn't look like he was going to be causing any trouble, but I had a feeling he would be soon enough. At least for Marcel, the witches and werewolves. With the way Marcel runs things, it was only a matter of time before someone came in and took over his reign. Marcel has become cocky, thinking no one could beat him. But what he didn't know was that there are several people who could take him out whenever they felt like it.
Some just waited until the right time to intervene, it was all about doing things at the right time. Marcel Gerard, didn't know what would come knocking at his doorstep until it was too late. I grabbed one of our best bourbons off one of the shelves behind me, having a feeling that this specific gentleman didn't do cheap liquor. While I pour his drink, I ask simple questions that any bartender would ask. "What brings you to the Big Easy?"
"I used to live here." Was his quick response, as I placed his glass down in front of him. I began cleaning up the bar a little, to make sure I was close enough to talk to him. I asked him, how long ago it was since he lived here. He teased that it had felt like a hundred years ago, but something told me that was actually the truth. That would mean he is one of the Originals, because that's the vampires who 'ran' New Orleans back then.
For them to be back now, I can only guess the ancestral witches have something to do with it. I'm not sure what their plan is, but it can't be anything good. The older witches have been using dark magic, while the rest are following blindly. And the younger witches are just naive enough to not know what they are getting into. "I just moved here a few years ago, with my cousin. What brought you back?"
"Well, my brother is here somewhere. I'm afraid he might have gotten himself into a bit of a bind." Ah, so that would make this Elijah Mikaelson, which meant his younger brother Niklaus was roaming around New Orleans ready to wreak havoc everywhere he could. Hopefully, he will steer clear of causing trouble here. I would hate to have to start a small war with the Mikaelsons because we won't let them in.
"You say that, like it's a common occurrence." So, the stories had some truth to them. Niklaus was the big bad that his older brother Elijah tried to keep in line. Neither, realizing that Niklaus did what he did, out of love and misguided anger he didn't know how to let go of. Feeling betrayed will make people do things that they aren't always happy doing, but that they see as the only way to get the reaction they believe they deserve.
"Well, he's complicated. Defiant, ill-mannered, a little temperamental. See, we don't share the same father. Of course, that never bothered me. But my brother resents it deeply, never felt like he belonged. To be told, he has a long history of getting himself into trouble." He explains to me, with a little worry that he might be too late. As if he was, he would be failing his brother somehow.
But maybe that's the problem. Maybe somewhere in the past he did fail his brother, and this is how he repents. Or something like that. The writer in me, sometimes just flows with an idea once my mind has started going. "I'm guessing you have a long history of getting him out of it. What kind of trouble is he in?"
"He believes there are people in this town that are conspiring against him." Elijah looks happy with himself, as if he talked his way into the opening he needed to get the information he wanted from me. While of course he knows nothing about me, so he doesn't know if he just came out and asked for it, he would most likely have gotten the same answer from me. But then again, where is the fun in that?
I had a feeling the witches had something to do with this, and probably the reason that Jane-Anne was murdered in the streets of the quarter. While Angela and I kept away from vampire and witch business, it didn't mean we didn't keep tabs on what was going on in our town. Marcel was getting out of hand, leaving bodies just laying in the city streets."Wow! Sounds like he is a tad paranoid."
Now while it might be true, it seems to me like he has a bit of a right to be paranoid. From what I know, the witches here don't like Niklaus Mikaelson, or his siblings. So my best guess is they are attempting to use Niklaus to get rid of Marcel. While trying to find a way to get rid of the Mikaelson's forever. But that would unbalance nature's course, which has been set in motion for millenia.
"Listen Bella, I'm looking for someone who might shed some light on this current predicament. She works here, Jane-Anne Devereaux. Any idea where I might find her?" He pulls me away from my thoughts, to finally ask me where to find the witches. Vampires who look trustworthy, are sometimes the worst ones to trust. I've learned that lesson the hard way, and I don't plan on repeating those same mistakes.
I debate with myself, if I should tell him everything I know or let the witches plans unfold. I had a feeling that I needed to let this play out, to find out what the witches truly had planned. So, I needed to point him in the direction of Sabine Laurent. "No, but I might know someone who might."
He thanked me graciously, before leaving me a generous tip along with money for his drink. I shook my head, before continuing on with my night. Every so often, I would find myself thinking about Niklaus. On some level I think we might relate, though we might deviate on how we respond to our traumas. He was more violent, but then again he wasn't human. No one could hold him to the same standards of a human, when all they treat him as is a wild animal. If we were supposed to learn anything over time, it is that if you want to be treated a certain way you have to treat others the same way.
What I know of Niklaus' past, no one has treated him anything other than a dangerous crazed animal, in need of being put down. While that isn't the approach I would use, no one asked for my opinion on the matter. Before I knew it, it was time to head home. I can honestly say that the house my Gran gave me and Angela to stay in. Wasn't what either of us were expecting, but we absolutely loved it. The house was more like 2 homes in one, you had the main house which Angela insisted I have. The outside was a light green color with black shutters and doors, and we added a small potted tree to the front of the house.
Walking in you were surrounded by the history of the Quarter. With a kind of burnt orange color on the walls, with exception of the brick walls. I had the large kitchen of my dreams, that Angela came to eat with me often in. I have a guest room, for when my dad visited. I placed some accented swans in the corner of the room, to let him know I will never forget about him. I had a huge master suite, with a walk in closet and writing nook that was perfect for me to work. Off the kitchen there were french doors that led to a large courtyard, with a small water fountain.
Across the courtyard, was Angela's house. Instead of the light green color on the outside of mine, hers was all brick and had a wonderful balcony on the second floor. Through her french doors, she had a nice sized kitchen, to the left of it she had her living room. On the right she had a small table but the biggest draw in the room was a large wine cabinet that took up most of the wall. She had two guest rooms, one for dad and the other for her brothers when they visited. Her Master suite was quite large as well, with a large walk-in closet and office space for all of her artifacts.
When I walked into the house, I saw Angela in my kitchen re-heating some takeout Chinese food. Of course, she knew I didn't take the time to eat dinner while I was at work. She had some school books scattered around the counter top, which I'm glad she was getting some studying in. She is working on her Masters in Anthropology, while I'm working on a Masters in Romance Languages with a focus in French. I'm not sure it was a surprise to anyone, when we announced what we wanted to do.
Hell, Charlie told me he was surprised it took me 4 years of college to know. My head had always been in a book growing up, I might as well write the next best-seller. Honestly, both of our dads are just proud of us. I set all my things down on the counter before joining Angela at the island pouring each of us a glass of wine. "How was work?"
"Met one of the Originals tonight, seems two of them are back in Mikaelson, came into the bar, telling me he was looking for his destructive little brother." She was surprised by my admission, we had read up on them but never thought we'd actually ever meet them in person. I ended up telling Angela everything I knew about the supernatural, after we had both learned we had Greek magic running through our veins. When we had made it to New Orleans, and met our grandmothers. They explained to us the family heirlooms that we were given, weren't just heirlooms we inherited. It was also what released the magic gifted to us by our ancestor Hekate.
From what little our family actually knew, it had been prophesied that Angela and I would be the ones in our family lines that would change the supernatural world for the better, and with time change the world itself. We are natural born witches, who don't need spells or potions. Though we can use both, if we choose too. After learning about our heritage, we learned that the reason Angela's mother disowned her family. She had believed that her and her sister were the ones to hold all this power, and after she turned eighteen didn't receive any powers. She ended up resenting her sister and parents, blaming them for inability to obtain her birthright.
From what we can gather, Hekate and the other gods. Didn't find her worthy enough to receive the gifts they had passed on through our lines, that they found her to be petty and ungrateful with what she already had. Though, we won't know for sure, until our Grans and Aunt can find the old Greek journals in Greece. Angela had been really good, with taking all this in with little problem. She had always believed that there was more out there, there was too much from history to just take it as folklore.
"Do you think we should be worried?" Angela asked curiously, but I knew she already knew the answer to that. We could protect ourselves, we also had the biggest advantage. No one knew what we were, or what we could do. To everyone in the Quarter, we were human. We liked to keep it that way, it meant they didn't pay all that much attention to us. Our magic couldn't be detected by the witches here, especially by Marcel's little weapon he used to keep the witches in line.
It amazes me that Marcel had to use others to keep control, while when the Mikaelson were in charge they just had themselves. Not to say they didn't have other vampires working for them, but they didn't use them to get where they were. While they didn't particularly like witches after their mother, they were still better to them than Marcel is. There was a better way to bring peace to the Quarter, but no one wanted to be the bigger person. One day, it will happen. "Do you think we should be?"
"I haven't gotten any concerning feelings or dreams. Though I do know things are about to get interesting." Angela reveals, and I agree with her wholeheartedly. With the two Mikaelson's return, things were bound to get very interesting. Something told me that another would be arriving soon as well, and they would cause trouble for everyone. My best guess is it's the sister Rebekah, she was favored by the brothers and she loved causing drama.
Instead of thinking about all of that for now, I decided to tease Angela a little. Everyone who worked at Rousseau's, knew about the crush that Marcel had on Angela. He has been trying to get her to go out with him for a couple of years now, she always refuted his advances. "In that case, we sit back and watch what they have in store for Marcel and the ancestral witches. Unless you want to help Marcel?"
"Over my dead body, I hate how he runs the quarter. And how he thinks, he's a god and everyone including women should fall at his feet. Besides, after learning that he slept with Sophie Devearux and how he treats her and the other witches, no thank you." Yeah, sleeping with the witch didn't help his cause at all. Not that, Angela was even interested before that.
"You never know, he might be a god in bed. You could always take him up on his offer of a date, and find out." I teased a little more, knowing she wasn't desperate enough to find out. We had both had fairly serious relationships in the last five years, we had only been single for the last 6 months. The one thing we did know, was that the women of our line were also gifted their twin flame along with our gifts.
Maybe it was the hopeless romantics in us, or maybe it was because we heard all about the love shared between our grandparents. That our Aunt Sophia, was happily married to her own twin flame. While we held out hope for a love like theirs, we weren't putting our lives on hold either. We didn't know when we would meet our twin flames, and we didn't want to waste time waiting when it could be years from how. So, we have fun, and even on occasion find someone we truly like and have relationships.
Angela gave me a grossed out look, after thinking about my suggestion for all of a second. She quickly told me that it would never happen, but if I was curious enough I could ask him out to find out how good he was in bed. I laughed, and bluntly reminded her why that would ever happen. "Yeah, no. We both know how much he dislikes, how open I am about disliking him."
"So, no to hate sex. Got it." Angela says without thinking, from her spot at the kitchen counter. Once it registers in her head what she says, she sits there with a shocked look on her face. As much as we had grown, since moving to New Orleans. She was still mostly bashful, and didn't say things like that.
"Angela!" I couldn't help but lightly shout, before erupting with laughter. She quickly joined in with me, realizing the hilarity in it all. I might just be rubbing off on her a bit, and that isn't a bad thing. In all honesty, this was something I had gotten from our Grans and aunt. They weren't shy about speaking their minds, and I quickly followed suit.
At first Angela would just blush, and shake her head at us. But slowly over the last couple of years she would join in. But she had never been so bold, to say anything like this before. At least not to any of us, we all know she isn't a saint by any means. Though, I'm not sure you could say anyone born into the Gataki line ever truly was. Angela finally recovers, and I follow quickly. "Wow, that actually came out of my mouth."
"Yes it did, I'm actually kind of proud." I say proudly, as I pour us more wine before we move to the living room to watch a movie. The rest of the night, we joke around and just relax. Around 3am, we are both ready for sleep. I had classes in the afternoon, and it was Angela's turn at Rousseau's. Both of us unknowingly dreaming of a future that had been set in stone since before we were ever born, and without either of us knowing it. The events at Rousseau's with the Original, was the start of all of our lives changing forever.
Standing in front of the old mayor's mansion, that hadn't been used for a long time. I see both Angela and Elijah, deeply staring at one another. I could feel a difference in them, almost like their energy has combined in a sense. Only time would tell, but I believe this change is the twin flame. They are each other's other half of their souls. As I mentally acknowledge that, I see the ups and downs of their relationship. Elijah is so guarded with his heart, that it takes them time to fully accept their new destiny.
Their chemistry was volatile from the beginning, friends, lovers, and soulmates they were all of it together. They were connected by a fiery energy on a soulful level with an intense magnetic attraction to one another. Not only were their minds in-sync reading each other's thoughts but, he knew her body like the back of his hand. How she craved the fine line between pleasure and pain. He knew how to give her what she was afraid to ask for. They couldn't help but feel each other, their souls were always crashing into one another. And like twin flames that never die, it lives inside them burning them alive.
While he fought it, Anglea didn't. She was drawn to him in ways she didn't understand. His eyes ran through her soul following her, chasing her…they were the only eyes that stopped her dead in her tracks while traveling at the speed of light. She recognized him, as someone she has loved unconsciously for a thousand decades, and will love for infinite years to come. Their love was one that was reincarnated time and time again, until they were able to have their forever. While Angela has been reborn multiple times over the centuries he has been a vampire, they had always in some way found one another.
Maybe not always as lovers, as they were meant to be, but they were friends that much I know. If given the time, they would have made it to lovers. But someone always got in their way, and as much as Elijah would likely blame his brother. It was actually his mother, and some other witches that always stopped it from progressing. I wouldn't let that happen this time, any problems they are likely to have to become lovers will be by their own doing this time. They will overcome it all, that much I do know.
I see a shadow in the window, and I turn to see what it is. I don't see anything but his eyes staring back at me. And I freeze, as his eyes seem to be searching through my soul. I feel something deep inside of me, pulling me towards him. Almost like he is calling for me, begging me to find him and complete him. To complete us. Who is he?