Portland, Oregon, 2065

He'd finally done it. After the debacle that had ended his reign in New Orleans, Marcel was once again where he had always wanted to be. Well, where he had wanted to be since he'd realised the kind of life he could have after being adopted by Klaus.

Once he had been well and truly banished from New Orleans by what ended up being Elijah's compulsion, Marcel had headed north. He had had no destination in mind, but Elijah's compulsion made him get up every morning and put more distance between himself and his former kingdom. Eventually, one morning he woke and felt no further need to keep moving.

Marcel couldn't remember what Elijah had said to him, but it appeared a distance limit had been included in the compulsion, and that distance was pretty damn far away. He kept himself busy for a decade, moving into cities and feeling out their differing hierarchies, looking for gaps to move in to and establish himself as a major player. Nothing had panned out until he landed in Portland almost 40 years ago, and Davina had tracked him down.

He had been mildly successful at ingratiating himself into the local vampire society, and after a few months was in on the lower level of one of the factions that ran the city. He was returning from a night of trading insults with members of the other four that ran Portland, and spotted Davina on the other side of the street. She was staring right at him, head slightly down and squinting just a little, as if to make sure she was really seeing him.

By that time, Davina was 26 and had been in living in Portland for nearly five years. She had left New Orleans after she had finished school and finished learning everything she could about magic from Bonnie. Portland was a new place, away from everything she had known, but also away from her old coven. Despite never regaining their magic, her coven had tried to force their way into the supernatural politics of New Orleans. Kol had been amused by them and Bonnie was happy to know what they were doing without having to expend any effort in finding out. When Caroline and Klaus had returned to take the city from Kol and Bonnie, the witches had turned to Davina to protect them from Klaus, and had been growing to be an increasing nuisance to her. She had left New Orleans and never looked back. Though she made sure her presence was never felt in any of the supernatural circles in the city, she kept an ear on what was happening around her. The arrival of a new player on the scene, one who was a couple of hundred years old, spoke with a southern accent and had a smile that had already charmed his way into membership with one of the ruling factions interested her.

Davina hadn't known if it was him, if it was the vampire that had promised to look after her and then abandoned her, but she was curious enough to find out. It had taken little effort to find him, and little time for him to beg her forgiveness. He could not have looked after her nor looked out for her after he had been compelled by Elijah. Not that he was given the choice of her coming with him when he had been rudely woken from his tired and drained slump, skewered in the shower of his former home.

It had taken very little effort on Marcel's part to move up in the city's ranks once he was joined by Davina. He charmed or killed those in his way, and he bought loyalty with daylight rings. It had taken him less than a year with her at his side to rule the faction of vampires he had joined. Five years after that, he was ruling all of the vampire factions, which were three of the five that ran the city. Throughout this, Davina remained in the shadows and maintained a semblance of a normal life. She was nearly 65 now, and had begun taking the herbs she needed to slow her ageing when she was 35 and decided she liked the way she looked at that age. It was only through Davina's interference in the last decade that Marcel had been able to sway the last two factions, both witches, into joining his side and calling him king.

"It's good to be the King!" He shouted down over his balcony to the party below and the crowd cheered. It was the first anniversary since his coronation as king and a party was being thrown in his honour. The city had been thriving in the last year, though there were those in each faction that would forever be unhappy. He was ruling the city much as he had ruled New Orleans, though he had leaned from his mistakes and had not directly interfered with the witches. In fact it was because of his lax attitude in dealing with their behaviour that the witches supported him as much as they did. He gave them the freedom to continue their practices however they wished, and asked very little in return. In all honesty, he didn't need the witches for anything but their support; Davina still performed all the magic he needed and was quite happy to do so.

Marcel left the balcony and made his way inside. He meandered through the guests, stopping to talk to nearly everyone to thank them for coming. There was a poorly kept secret amongst his guests that there was special entertainment coming tonight for the occasion, but no one was entirely sure what it was. Davina had been secretive when she had arranged it, and Marcel was becoming increasingly eager to find out what it was.

Weaving through the crowd, he finally spotted Davina near the small stage that had been set up for the night. She caught Marcel's eye and smiled. "Any second now," she mouthed at him. He grinned in return, anticipation in his eyes. A blonde made her way onto the stage, her slightly curled hair making it impossible for Marcel to see her face. She carried a microphone on a stand, and placed it in the middle of the stage. When she was done, she stood straight and ran a hand through her hair, moving it so Marcel could see her face. Marcel felt his smile fall and looked toward Davina slack-jawed. She just smirked and shrugged her shoulders at him.

The blonde on the stage switched the microphone on and Marcel felt heavy hands land on each of his shoulders. He turned his head to either side and saw Klaus and Rebekah on his left, and Elijah and Kol on his right. Up on the stage, Caroline said, "Surprise!" All of his guests turned toward him as one, and he panicked.

Marcel woke up, and experienced terrible deja vu at finding himself strung up in his shower, impaled on the shower rod and slowly bleeding out. Bonnie and Kol were leaning against the wall of the bathroom, waiting for him to wake up. When they noticed that he had, Bonnie said, "If you're wondering about Davina's betrayal, it's called playing the long game, Marcel."