René Matthews looked down towards her dress, scrunching the fabric between her porcelain fingers.

"Are you sure this is, erm, suitable?" She asked Bruno, who was lounging over the wicker armchair in the corner, messing on his phone. He glanced at her briefly before looking back at the device in his hand.

"Yeah sure it'll be fine, you might get laid" He laughed, seemingly excited at the fact that she would get lucky tonight.
René looked back at the mesh and reconsidered.

I do have a nice pair of trousers that would look great...

"No changes!" He yelled, briskly blocking her way into the closet.

"But-!" She started,

"No buts!"

"Can-"

"Nope were leaving!" He laughed, wrapping his hand around her wrist and dragged her to the door.

"Wait!" The brunette yelped remembering she forgot something. Her mother's string of pearls that were resting gently on the blue velvet of her jewellery box.
She had never gone a day without wearing them, ever since her mother gave them her on her 21st birthday, there was never a day that the brunette beauty would be seen without them.

"Can you?" She gestured towards the necklace, resting in her palm, and then to Bruno. Indicating she wanted his help putting it on.

His large hands grasped around the beads and placed them delicately around her neck, placing them just abound her collar bones.

"Thanks. Now we can go" She smiled, grabbing her purse and walking out the door.

•

Lights and colours littered the buildings and floor of the French Quarter. Confetti fluttered down around her, some pieces lading delicately in her hair. She looked towards the sky, the inky blue sky tainted by stars and the moon. She looked towards Bruno, his face mirroring the expression that was painted on hers.

As children they were heavily guarded by their parents, scared of things that went bump in the night. They were never allowed past the twisting iron gates at the bottom of the estate. Well, never alone.

Even at the prime age of 23, she still worried about her safety. But she had nothing to be worried about, the things that went bump in the night, were simply tricks made by their parents.

"Come on!" Bruno laughed grabbing her hand and twirling her. They danced in the street to the sweet sound of Jazz. They laughed with each other, the people on the streets mesmerised by the girl's purity and beauty. Her white dress flowed around her knees as she danced and danced.

The pair relocated to a small bar, Rousseau's, for what felt like hours.  René perched on the bar stool, one leg over the other as she sipped a glass of Whiskey. Bruno had drunk too many Vodka Tonics and was taken home in a cab.  René's finger, traced over the lip of the glass while she looked  out of the window.

"Strong drink for such a small girl." she heard a chuckle to the side of her. she slowly turned her head to see the man stood next to her. He was British from what she could tell, so was hers. She was never good at deciphering accents especially when attached to a handsome face. But this accent she was all to familiar, it made her feel like home.

"Surprised?" winking, before taking a long sip, René looked towards the man.

"From what I see love, you seem to be all alone." He smirked, pulling out the stool next to her and sat down. He raised his hand up at the bartender, who quickly slid a glass of, what she could only guess, as a strong Bourbon towards him.

"Well, my friend got a tiny bit too drunk, therefore leaving me by myself, to drink away my sorrows"  René sighed, downing the rest of her drink in one. She looked back to the man, who watched her with piercing blue eyes. She quickly uncrossed her legs, stumbling slightly as she did, before straightening out her dress and fiddling with her pearls.

"What brings you to Rousseau's?" She asked, playing with a straw on the bar, Niklaus chuckled looking towards the woman, admiring her face under the dimly lit lights.

"I believe someone is conspiring against me. This place is home to me and I don't particularly want someone uprooting my memories of this, wonderful place" He said, again looking back to the beautiful woman. She smiled, before tipping an imaginary hat at him.

"Well it was a nice surprise having such lovely company for the past five minutes, I never did get your name"

"Niklaus. Niklaus Mikaelson. Pleasure" He grinned, kissing her hand.

"René Matthews and the pleasure was mine" Waving as she went she exited Rousseau's, hair wafting behind her.

Mikaelson? Where had she heard that name before?

As Klaus watched her retreating figure, he smiled, after his thousand years on this earth, he had only met a few humans that sparked his interest, and she certainly did. His eyes dropped from her white dress towards his glass of Bourbon, drinking quickly before leaving.

He had business to attend to.

•

René hadn't thought about how cold it could get in New Orleans, sure it was still humid, but it was cold. She wrapped her arms around herself as she walked down the streets of New Orleans. She could just get a cab but had spent her last bit of money on Whiskey.

"Typical" She muttered to herself, eyeing the group of men walking down the opposite side of the street. She recognised one of the men at the front. Marcel Gerard, she had seen him on many occasions, and he often recommended many restaurant and bars, seen as she was a Whiskey enthusiast. Marcel sent her a quick wink as he took notice of her and turned the corner.

She too was taking a turn, through the alley that brought her towards a path, which led to her small apartment. Her heels were clicking as she walked briskly through the alleyway, hoping to get to the light quickly. A man too entered the alleyway, walking towards her. She expected him to ignore and walk straight past her. She smiled lightly towards him as she passed, he too grinned back.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, making  René whip her head around quickly. She leant against the wall, alcohol finally taking its effect on her. She looked towards the guy, who was eyeing her up and down.

An involuntary shiver ran down her spine, suddenly wary of the lack of light and people. "You're really pretty ma'am, come here" he grinned, reaching his arm out towards her, successfully grabbing onto her upper arm, in a vice-like grip. She tried pulling away, but it only made him hold on harder.

Tears started springing up to her eyes in fear, small whimpers came out of her mouth, as he pinned her to the wall, one hand creeping up her thigh.  René clenched her legs together, trying to buy herself some time. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

Her hands were clawing at his face and arms, as he was clawing at her dress.

Her eyes were scanning her surroundings manically, trying to find a weapon that she could fend him off with.

She gasped in pain, as her head was hit against the wall behind her. She could feel her heart beating faster and faster as he heard the belt buckle jingle. She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling completely defenceless, as he violated her body.

Her hands were weakly pushing against his chest as he dropped her to the floor, cutting the back of her legs on stones and glass on the floor. She looked towards his eyes and looked straight into them, as they smiled wickedly down towards her, as he thrust into her.

She screamed in pain, small sobs escaping her trembling lips.

"Shut up!" He whispered into her ear, his putrid breath, knocking her sick. She refused to stop screaming until he forcefully shut her up.

As his hand gripped tighter around her throat, she started losing consciousness, listening to the monster hovering above her, grunting over and over.  René felt weak, she wanted death to take her, she would rather die than let this man break her. She gasped when she felt pearls run down her chest. The bastard had broken her necklace. She whimpered as she thought of the disappointment in her mother's eyes.

She closed her eyes, praying to any God that would help her. Save her.

But God had not said a word.

  •

Elijah was stood, watching Marcel with Sophie Deveraux as they bickered between them, he could smell blood, it was sweet, but put it towards the dead body of Jane Anne that resided on the floor.

Marcel left, taking Jane-Anne's body, and left Sophie to walk away.

Even still he could smell blood, but what he realised now was that it was fresh, no more than five minutes old. He scanned around trying to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. He spotted a man, walking out of an alley, buckling up his pants and crossing the street. Elijah kept watching, as he wiped the blood off of his hands, the blood, however, was not his.

Elijah stopped in front of the man, looking him dead in the eye.

"Who's blood is this?" He questioned, rubbing the substance between his fingers. Compulsion was one of the many skills when becoming a vampire, he thought was extremely useful.

"A woman's" the man replied monotonously, never once breaking eye contact.

"And how did you happen to get said blood on your hands?"

"I raped her" he replied again.

Now Elijah was a man of dignity, he was also a gentleman. After hearing the foul confessions of the man, he didn't hesitate in breaking the human's neck and leaving him slumped on the street. Elijah quickly followed the scent of blood, leading him down the alleyway he had seen the rapist exit.

Elijah was quick to notice the feet and legs of a woman he looked towards the face and grimaced at the pained face she wore. His heart broke to see a woman in such a vulnerable position. her face was pale, and tear tracks were evidently pressed onto her cheeks. Her hair was matted with sweat and blood, and she was physically shaking.

Elijah scooped the woman up and lent her against the wall. He picked up his phone and rang Rebekah Mikaelson.

"Brother, what a lovely surprise, what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Now is not the time for fun and games sister, I need help"

"Why what's wrong Elijah?" She asked, worry evident in her voice. Elijah looked back towards the girl who was still knocked out, whether from shock or from a blow to the head.

"I need you to be at the house in New Orleans within the hour."

"I'll be there soon." She said before ending the call.

Elijah put his phone away and picked up the woman off the floor, and sped towards the Mikaelson house.

Leaving the pearls scattered on the floor.