Marianne sat on a swingy bar stool. Her elbows pressed against the varnished wood as she waited for the attention of the bartender. Her bag stuffed under her feet, which just skimmed the zip.
Unfolded on the bar Infront of her lay a map. Her fingers trailed along the small wording that spelt out the city New Orleans. Marianne touched the place where she'd find him, her fingers in creases as she felt in a distant and dark place.
Laughter penetrated her silence as drunken men played pool and darts. they sat at tables and spoke, all of their voices moulding into one big noise.
She dragged her finger to where she was. A small town in Houston, Texas. It seemed such a short motion; only a few centimetres now, but in reality it was hours away.
"What can I get you?" The bartender finally came up to her, a towel thrown over his shoulder.
Marianne looked up from the map, her eyes adjusting to the light. "Uhm, can I have whiskey" she chose. Really, she never had tried whiskey, but she thought it looked good, a young girl on her own drinking what would be classed as a mans drink, it added a sense of mystery.
That was until she took a sip and felt like throwing up. But instead, she swallowed the feeling and just put the glass down. "And one more" she said.
"I haven't seen you around before" the man lifted a glass and started to polish it with the towel before pouring a shot of whiskey in. "I would've remembered a face like yours"
He slid the glass to Marianne, she caught it in her hands and held it. The almost full glass sat beside it, making him silently question why she wanted another.
"I travel mostly" she replied to him, waiting for the perfect opportunity when he was looking away "I've been on the road for a few weeks now, maybe a month, I've lost track of the time"
"You thinking about going to New Orleans?" He pointed down at the map and where she had circled, causing her hands to cover it and screw the map up quickly, not caring about the already creased folds. "I heard it's nice during Mardi Gras season"
"It's where I came from" she smiled "not originally, I was born and raised in the south of France, but it's where my family are"
"So you're a French girl" he said "interesting"
Marianne went back to silence, wanting any distraction for the guy to look away. Anything. Not even the drunk men intercepted his gaze.
"You know, nothing is stopping you from going home" he broke the silence
Marianne peered up again, her eyebrows furrows as to ask why he was telling her this. "I don't think I can; it's complicated"
"Spill" he demanded "I'm a bartender, I'm sure I've heard a hell of a lot worse" the blonde haired man winked.
"The reason I can't go back is that my ex husband might be there, we both tried to kill each other" Marianne had decided to divulge her secrets just as fun, to watch the mans smile drop, and then to see him go through denial as he decided not to believe it.
"That would be pretty messed up" he replied "but I doubt it's that bad"
"My ex husband stabbed me in my side, I stabbed him in the stomach and almost killed him. I then fell in love with another man that pretended to be someone he wasn't, then his girlfriend died and he blames me and now I'm on the run from someone that wants to kill me and someone that just wants me gone" she listed, going into detail on every little thing. "And right now I'm a mixture of very happy and very sad. I'm trying to figure all of this out, all of these emotions, these words, these thoughts, I'm trying to figure out what they all mean. Everything I'm feeling right now is like a contradiction of itself and I just cannot make sense of it all"
Even though she was having a bit of fun, the last bit she said was actually true. But she knew that those words, that story, would definitely put the man off for long enough for her to slip whatever she needed to into that drink.
"Well if all of that is true, you are a very interesting woman" he said. Marianne just wanted to stand up and ask him what the hell was wrong with him. Unless she was coming across as a crazy woman, making all of these stories up in her head to make her life seem a little bit better.
"and you are a very persistent man" she replied
"What can I say? I work here 5 days a week and serve only men above the age of 50. This bar is in the middle of nowhere, we never get any fresh faced, young girls like you" he explained
"What if I told you I wasn't as young as you assumed; what if I told you I was a thousand year old witch" Marianne raised an eyebrow and watched as the man nervously laughed.
"Then it would be quite strange..."
"... What if I told you that there was a man that's been waiting about 10 minutes to be served and he is rather agitated" she continued, pointing to the middle aged man down the bar.
"I'll be right back" he nipped Off, giving Marianne the perfect opportunity to unscrew the lid and pour some liquid into the untouched whiskey.
"For you" Marianne slid the drink back as soon as the man returned to his normal space, speaking to her. He looked at the drink before staring at her
"You haven't spiked this, have you?" He asked, lifting it and swirling it around to see
"Do I look like that kind of girl?" She asked
"You sure sound it" he replied "but what the hell" he drank it and slammed the glass back on the table "thank you my lady" he winked.
Marianne leant forward "now you've drank the elixir; I don't want you telling anyone about our little conversation here" she whispered; watching the man almost hypnotised by her words "if anyone comes asking for a Marianne- they'll probably be in a suit, or if they ask for a girl with brown hair and blue eyes, I need you to call this number"
She slid him a ripped piece of paper "don't text; I haven't quite figured that out yet" Marianne informed him "but if anyone asks, please send them in the opposite direction"
The bell rang at the door, indicating someone walking in. "A man in a suit?" He asked
Marianne nodded, just to clarify.
"Like the one that has just walked in?"
Marianne widened her eyes, she didn't care to turn and look back. It was either Elijah or Tristan. And if she saw Elijah, then she'd run into his arms, if it was Tristan, she'd be a goner.
"Remember what I said" she whispered as the fridges began to whir, she knew that the vampire wouldn't be able to hear her voice underneath the sound "is there a back exit?"
"Down there" the man pointed.
Marianne lifted her hood and grabbed her bag; not making any effort to turn and look back. She kept moving forward, that's all she needed to do.
Keep moving forward.
YOU ARE READING
Mind over Matter ↠ Elijah Mikaelson
Fanfiction"Tristan is a king, but he lives under her thumb" When Elijah had fled his home in Mystic falls with his family, in a desperate bid to escape a torturous death by their father's hands, they all stumbled upon a little town in southern France. There t...
