Over my long life, I have come to believe we are bound forever to those with whom we share a bond with. And while we may not always choose who we share these ties with, the bonds created can be our greatest strength but also our deepest regret.
I walked into the French Quarter to see it set ablaze. I looked ahead and watched as my target walked away with his two siblings and I knew two coffins holding his last two brothers would soon be following them. I turned to the Opera house where the fire started and walked in to see a man about to burn. I walked up to him and pulled out a knife and released him from his flaming death before walking out supporting him. He came to just as I stopped to watch the three siblings again.
"Rebekah?" he asked weakly.
"Not quite, love." I told him before dragging him further into the city.
"Where are we going? Who are you?" he asked me.
"All your questions will be answered in time. This isn't as easy as it looks in a dress you know." I told him before laughing slightly. "I'm going to find you food. Should be some here shortly." I was correct as men started running trying to put out the fire blazing behind us and quickly spreading. "Who would you like?"
"No one." He told me and I rolled my eyes before compelling a man to follow us into an alley close by away from the fire. "I told you I wasn't going to eat." He said as I dropped him to the ground. My face vamped out and I bet into the man's neck and I drank a bit before releasing him and pushing him to my new companion. "No." I rolled my eyes and bent in front of him.
"This city is going to need a new king, someone to help it rise from the ashes the Original family just left it in. Who better than the one they raised?" I asked him. He gave me a hard look before I pushed the bleeding man in front of me. He grabbed him and bit into his neck and drank his fill. "Still hungry?" he nodded and I left to find another one. I stayed away from children as I'd always had as I continued moving through the people. I found a large rounded man and compelled him to follow me before going back to the young vampire. "Drink up." I told him.
"You never told me who you were." He repeated before drinking from the man before he too fell to the ground. "Who are you and how do you know them and me?"
"I've been following them for many years now, well one of them." I told him ignoring the first question for now.
"Why?" he asked me.
"He was once very important to me. Why wouldn't I keep watch over him?" I asked him. I picked up one of the two men and made it look like I was supporting him and motioned for the young vampire to do the same. We dragged them to the fire and threw them in before walking away. "Will you help me restore this city?" I asked him.
"This is my home, of course I will." He told me and I smiled at him.
"Good." I said before walking to where they had made their home. We walked inside and I looked around before removing my hat and holding it in my hands.
"Why do you want to restore the city?" he asked me. I turned to him and stared at him for a moment.
"They will return to New Orleans, that is a fact. Once they feel comfortable enough to return, they will want their home back. We will have to show them that the two most important people in their lives can do what they wanted better than they ever could and are willing to fight to keep it when they ran from it." I told him.
"You must have some grudge against them, what they'd do to you?" he asked me.
"They killed me and hunted my daughters down like dogs." I told him. "My name is Tatia, Marcel." He gave me a shocked look and I just smiled at him.
New Orleans Present Day
Marcel, some of the guys and I were hanging out in a bar and cheering as Marcel was singing on the stage. The bar we were in had become a known supernatural hang out in the past years. We made it this way so that if anything happened we'd be prepared for it. When Marcel finished the song we applauded him and the guys whooped for him making me laugh, my shoulder length brown hair brushing the top of my.
"Thank you." Marcel said into the microphone before jumping down from the stage and joining us.
"You killed it, man." Diego said as Thierry gave him a shot. Marcel took the shot before making a face.
"Everything alright Marcel?" I asked him. Marcel looked to the door and I followed his gaze to see Klaus and tension in the room was sudden and grew exponentially when Klaus saw Marcel and the guys with us knew.
"Klaus."
"Marcel."
"Must be a hundred years since that nasty business with your papa." Marcel said.
"Has it been that long?" Klaus asked him as they both started to approach one another slowly.
"The way I recall it, he ran you outta town. Left a trail of dead vampires in his wake." Marcel informed him.
"And yet how fortunate you managed to survive. My father, I'm afraid, I recently incinerated to dust." Klaus told us. The guys next to me stood at the ready for a confrontation between the two.
"Well, if I'd known you were coming back in town, if I had a heads-up—" Marcel started saying but Klaus stopped him.
"What, Marcel? What would you have done?" Klaus asked him. The two vampires were nose to nose, the tension growing thicker.
"I'd have thrown you a damn parade." Marcel told him before both faces broke out into a wide grin and they laughed. They embraced like long-lost brothers before Marcel drew back and placed his hands on either side of Klaus' neck. "Niklaus Mikaelson. My mentor, my savior, my sire." Marcel turned to me and held out his hand for me to take. I put my drink down and got up placing my hand in his allowing him to show me to Klaus. "Klaus, you remember Tatia Petrova."
"Klaus. It's been a thousand years since you last saw me." I said with a small smirk on my face.
"You died." He said quietly. "My mother killed you."
"Is that what she told you?" I asked him.
"Come on. The past should stay in the past." Marcel said before looking directly at Klaus. "Let's get you a drink."
A few minutes later we were all in another room sitting at a small private table with Diego and Thierry manning the doors.
"It is good to see you." Marcel told Klaus as he poured a drink for the three of us.
"It's good to be home." Klaus said finally looking away from me. "Although please tell me the current state of Bourbon Street is not your doing." Marcel chuckled at his words.
"Something's gotta draw in the out-of-towners, otherwise we'd all go hungry." Marcel told him. Klaus looked back at Thierry and I couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking about.
"I see your friends are daywalkers." Klaus said looking back at us.
"Yeah, yeah, with Tatia's help I shared the secret of your daylight rings with a few buddies. Just the inner circle, though- the family." Marcel told him drinking the shot.
"Tell me: how did you find a witch willing to make daylight rings?" Klaus asked us.
"We got the witches around here wrapped around our fingers." Marcel told him making Klaus chuckle.
"Is that so? I'm looking for a witch by the name of Jane-Anne Deveraux. Has some business with me." Klaus told us. Marcel and I looked at each other before making eye contact with Thierry. He'd delivered some news about said witch to us just moments earlier.
"Jane-Anne Deveraux. Quite the trouble maker from what we hear." I told him.
"When did you hear this?" he asked me.
"Earlier this evening. She used a very powerful spell. What for or on who remains to be seen." I told him.
"You probably oughta come with us." Marcel said taking my hand and standing dragging me with him while laughing. "Ha-ha, showtime!"
We walked to an abandoned street corner where only the local witches passed. As we walked time passed and our nightwalkers were able to join us as we made our way to the corner we wanted to be on. The Nightwalkers were walking along rooftops and jumping on nearby cars setting off their alarms as another group followed the three of us.
"How's your family?" I asked Klaus finally.
"Those who live hate me more than ever." He told me.
"Which are dead?" I asked him slightly worried about his answer.
"Finn and Kol." He told me and I released a breath I hadn't noticed I was holding. "Don't worry, your precious Elijah is safe and unharmed."
"I didn't ask about him in particular." I said.
"You didn't have to." He told me.
"Forget 'em. If your blood relations let you down, you make your own, eh? You taught me that. And what's ours is yours, as always. Even our nightwalkers, the riff-raff." Marcel said drawing us out of our conversation as he grabbed a branch off a tree as we passed.
"They're hardly subtle, are they?" Klaus asked looking at them.
"It's the Quarter. Ain't no such thing as subtle, baby." Marcel said right before he whistled with his fingers making the crowd around us cheer.
"This is what we built a hundred years ago." I told Klaus drawing his confused face to me. "The vampires rule the Quarter now." One vampire brought Jane-Anne forward, her wrists were bound with rope in front of her.
"Jane-Anne Deveraux! Give it up for Jane-Anne! Come on, let's hear it!" Marcel called out and some of the vampires cheered and hollered. "Jane-Anne Deveraux, you have been accused of the practice of witchcraft beyond the bounds of the rules set forth, and enforced, by us. How do you plead?" he asked her before turning abruptly and walking to Klaus. "Was that convincing? I studied law back in the '50s. Hold that thought." He turned back to Jane-Anne. "Seriously Jane, tick-tock. You know the drill. How do you plead?"
"I didn't do anything." Jane-Anne said and the crowd laughed quietly.
"Mm, that's a lie. You know it, we know it, and you hate that we know it. It drives you witches crazy that we're aware of your every move. That you can't do magic in this town without getting caught. So, why don't we just cut to the chase, huh? You tell me what magic you're brewing. I mean, tell me. I'll grant you leniency. Hey, I am, after all, a merciful man." Marcel told her. We all observed in utter silence as Jane-Anne scoffed with a disgusted look on her face.
"Rot in hell, monster." She told him. Shocked murmuring rumbled through the crowd and Marcel smiled at me before turning to Jane-Anne again.
"I'll tell you what. I'll give you one more chance..." Marcel said before he started walking to me again. He smirked before suddenly turning while swinging the branch he was holding so fast that it sliced right through Jane-Anne's neck and she immediately began to gag on her own blood. "Or not." She fell to the ground and the crowd cheered around us. Marcel came to Klaus and myself and hugged me while I laughed lightly.
"Lovely trial." I told him before his shoulder was grabbed and he was turned to face Klaus.
"What was that?" Klaus asked him.
"Hey. Come walk with me." Marcel said before he walked off with Klaus.
"Thierry." I called to him and he walked up to me. "If Klaus asks you for something give it to him then come to me and tell me what it is. I want to know what he's up to." I told him and he nodded.
"Yea, sure Tatia." He told me and I nodded to him before going to Marcel and Klaus.
"I'm sorry. I got caught up in the show. Those witches, they think that they still have power in this town. I have to show them that they don't. I never waste an opportunity for a show of force, another lesson that I learned from you. And besides, anything that you could've gotten outta her, I can find out for you, and I will. I promise." Marcel told him and Klaus considered him for a few moments.
"Well, whatever it was, doesn't matter anymore, does it?" Klaus asked with a smile on his face and Marcel smiled back at him.
"Good, good. Then let's eat, 'cause all that spilled blood makes me hungry, ha-ha!" Marcel said and the two of us walked off to grab a bite to eat.
A short time after feeding we got word the witches were gathering around Jane-Anne's body. We took a small gathering of vampires and made our way back to where we'd left her. Marcel whistled loudly and the group approached the mourning witches.
"Well, well, well, what have we here? I gotta tell you Soph, this street corner is not proving the luckiest spot for your family tonight. Not half an hour ago, we had to teach your sister a little lesson." Marcel told her.
"We're putting her to rest Marcel. Leave us alone." Sophie told him.
"I don't remember saying you could move the body. Did I ever say that?" Marcel asked me.
"Not at all, Marcel. And I know I didn't give the order." I told him.
"Matter of fact, I left her here for a reason: send a message. If anybody is thinking of joining some kind of rebellion, our rules state that witches can't practice magic in the Quarter and yet a little birdy informed me that Jane-Anne was cooking up something magically delicious. Oh, yeah. While I have you, quick Q&A. My old friend – the hybrid, Klaus – he just happened to show up out of the blue asking for, of all people, Jane-Anne. Any idea why?" Marcel asked Sophie.
"I don't know. Witches don't get involved in vampire business." Sophie told him.
"Doing so is suicide for your people." I reminded her.
"Tell you what, go back to the restaurant, cook up some of that famous gumbo, and keep those tourists happy." Marcel told her.
"We're taking Jane-Anne with us." I said nodding to Diego to take her body.
"What? No! Stop! Stop! Tatia! Please! Marcel! She's the only family I have left!" she yelled at us. I took a deep breath as Thierry held her back from us as Diego gathered her sister's body from the ground. Family was my one weakness but I'd done well to hide it in a thousand years.
"We're gonna hold on to your sister's body in case maybe you remember why Klaus is here." Marcel told her before wrapping his arm around my waist to guide me away from the grieving sister.
"Marcel please. Tatia, her body won't be at peace." Sophie called after us once more.
"Not my problem." Marcel called back to her as we all walked away with Jane-Anne's body.
We made our way back to the courtyard where our vampires were partying after the little show we'd put on. Marcel and I were in a separate room with Jane-Anne's body.
"You're upset." He said.
"Of course I am." I told him. "You how I am with family."
"I know. You told me." He reminded me and I sighed. "Family is a weakness of ours."
"Yes, but not the only one." I said giving him a look.
"Marcel, Tatia. Klaus is going to kill Diego!" one of the vampires told us. We rushed to them and gently pulled them away from each other.
"He-hey, we're right here, we're right here, e-e-easy now. Diego's just looking out for us. Nobody harms our guys- those are the rules." Marcel told him.
"I don't care about your rules, Marcel, and I don't need chaperones. Why are you having me followed?" Klaus asked us.
"Come here." Marcel said dragging Klaus away from the rest of them. "I get it- a show of force. You've made your point. Let it go friend, ah?" Marcel asked him.
"I don't think so." Klaus told him angrily.
"If not for him then for me." I said placing my hand on his arm. "Please, Klaus. This is beneath us."
"Fine. Why don't you show me what you've done with the place, while you explain exactly what it is you've been up to in my town?" Klaus asked us. Marcel and I glanced at him and I watched him smile a wide grin.
"Follow us." Marcel told him. We walked up a flight of stairs and walked to a gallery overlooking the street. "Look at that skyline, huh? That there, that's progress. More hotels, more tourists, more fresh blood. And the humans? I taught them to look the other way."
"And what of the witches? In my time, they were a force to be reckoned with, and now they live in fear. How do you know when they're using magic?" Klaus asked us.
"Maybe we got a secret weapon, an ace up our sleeve. Something that gives us complete control over all the magic in this town." Marcel told him.
"Hm. Is that a fact?" Klaus asked us.
"Might be. Maybe I'm just bluffing." Marcel joked downing a liquid in a small vial making it sizzle down our throats.
"You take vervain?" Klaus asked him.
"Burns like a bitch, but I figure I should limit the number of things I'm vulnerable to." Marcel told him.
"You don't?" Klaus asked me.
"I don't have to. When I was turned it wasn't by a vampire." I told him.
"Hey, don't be mad about that chaperone thing." Marcel said drawing the attention off of me. "I've told my guys to look out for you, that's all. That's what we do here- look out for each other." We looked down below to see a blonde woman walking down the street. "Mm, m-m-mm. New blood."
"Bartender, walking alone at night. She's either brave or dumb." Klaus said.
"Let's see: brave, I let her live; dumb, she's dessert." Marcel said. I laughed lightly as Marcel hopped the gallery's wrought-iron railing down onto the sidewalk below. The woman swiveled around at the sound of him landing behind her.
"You know, it's not safe here alone." Marcel told her.
"You know, I have a black belt in karate." She told him and my smiled widened.
"Brave bartender it is." I said before smiling up at Klaus. "I'm going back inside. Thank you," he looked at me curiously. "For letting the fight go." I smiled gently before going back inside.
Hours later Klaus rushed back into the courtyard party angrily.
"Oh no." I said going to him next to Marcel.
"Hey, man. Where'd you run off to?" Marcel asked him.
"You mean your minions aren't still documenting my every move?" Klaus asked annoyed. This wasn't good.
"Someone put you in a mood. What can I do?" Marcel asked him.
"What you can do is you can tell me what this thing is you have with the witches." Klaus told him.
"Oh, we're back to that?" Marcel asked him.
"Yeah, we're back to that." Klaus told him.
"You know I owe you everything I got, but I'm afraid I have to draw the line on this one. This is my business. I control the witches in my town. Let's just leave it at that." Marcel told him.
"Your town?" Klaus asked him.
"Damn straight." Marcel said.
"That's funny, because when I left 100 years ago, you were just a pathetic little scrapper still trembling from the lashes of the whips of those who would keep you down, and now look at you. Master of your domain. Prince of the city." Klaus said. The music stopped and the crowd around us watched what was going on. "I'd like to know how."
"Why? Jealous? Hey, man, I get it. Three hundred years ago, you helped build a backwater penal colony into something. You started it, but then you left. Actually, you ran from it. We saw it through. Look around. Vampires rule this city now. We don't have to live in the shadows like rats. The locals know their place. They look the other way. We got rid of the werewolves. We even found a way to shut down the witches. The blood never stops flowing and the party never ends. You wanna pass on through? You wanna stay a while? Great. What's ours is yours, but it is ours. Our home, our family, our rules." Marcel told him.
"And if someone breaks those rules?" Klaus asked us.
"We kill them." I told him.
"Mercy is for the weak. You taught me that, too. And I'm not the prince of the Quarter, friend. I'm the king! Show me some respect." Marcel shouted at him. Klaus took all this information for a few moments before using his speed towards Thierry and bit him viciously in the neck before dropping him. Marcel made to move towards him and I stopped him. Klaus came up to us with blood still dripping from his lips.
"Your friend will be dead by the weekend, which means I've broken one of your rules. And yet I cannot be killed. I am immortal. Who has the power now, friend?" Klaus said looking towards the two of us before leaving.
After he left we moved Thierry to a comfortable bed before sending our nightwalkers out to find Klaus. I made sure Thierry was as comfortable as I could make him before joining Marcel at the supernatural pub.
"You find him, and then you call me. Don't worry. I know how to deal with Klaus." Marcel told the person one the other line before hanging up.
"And how do you plan on dealing with Klaus?" I asked him.
"I would like to know that as well." We looked up to see Elijah Mikaelson standing in front of us.
"Elijah." I breathed out. Our bodyguards rise ready to protect us.
"No. I got it. It's all good." Marcel told them. Elijah took the seat opposite us as our men sat down.
"It's time we had a little chat." Elijah said and we all sat in silence for a moment.
"Well if you're gonna talk, talk. We got things to do." Marcel told him.
"Oh my, you have grown quite confident over the last century, haven't you?" Elijah asked him.
"Me? I'd say it's you and your brother who got cocky, coming to my town like you own the place." Marcel said.
"Well, we did own the place once. We were all quite happy here as I recall. But we could never control those pesky witches of the French Quarter. How do you do it?" he asked us.
"Your brother asked me the same question. I gave him the same answer: It's my business. Everything in the Quarter is my business. Klaus comes into town all nice and friendly, then he starts looking down his nose at what I've down like it's some cheap knock-off of one of his dumb paintings, then he gets pissed off like a little bitch and bites one of my guys." Marcel told us.
"Well, I do apologize for Klaus' poor behavior. I assume you know that that bite will kill your friend within a matter of days. Of course, Niklaus' blood would cure him." He told us and I looked at him stunned.
"What?" Marcel asked him.
"Yes, apparently the blood of the hybrid will cure a werewolf bite. Quite a handy little thing when one needs leverage in negotiation." He told us.
"Marcel, may we have a moment?" I asked, but he knew I wasn't truly asking. He and the rest of the men around us all left the building leaving Elijah and I alone for the first time in centuries.
"What do you want?" I asked him.
"Return the body of the witch Jane-Anne. Allow her people to put her to rest." He told me.
"Why is witch business your business?" I asked him.
"Well, that's my business, now, isn't it?" he asked me and I smiled.
"And in return what do we get?" I asked him.
"Niklaus' blood." He told me.
"Hybrid blood for the body of one dead witch?" I asked him.
"Don't forget your friend is dying." He told me and I took a deep breathe thinking it over.
"I'll talk it over with Marcel, but you have a deal with me." I told him. "You get me his blood and you get the witch."
"I want her body now." He told me.
"Why the rush?" I asked him.
"Doesn't matter." He said and I sighed before nodding.
"I'll send the word. I'm trusting you Elijah." I told him before standing up. When I moved to walk past him he grabbed my hand in his.
"What happened to you?" he whispered to me.
"I died." I told him before taking my hand away from his and walking to Marcel to tell him the deal I made with Elijah.
"Why did you make this deal without me?" he asked me angrily.
"I wanted Thierry healed. If the body of one dead witch is all it takes for the cure then I would make that deal again and again." I told him before leaving to go back to the compound where Thierry was resting peacefully. I sat by his bed all night before Marcel joined me and we waited for Elijah to uphold his end of the deal.
The next day, when I was starting to regret my deal with Elijah, Klaus arrived at the room we were all in. Marcel and Diego both rose defensively in front of us.
"I had time to sleep on it last night. [Marcel motions to Diego not to attack.] I am not your enemy. Where my family and I failed this town... Marcel succeeded." Klaus told us as he reached over to a drink tray and picked up a glass. He bit into his hand and held it, bleeding, over the glass. "My blood will heal him, as though it never happened." Marcel nodded to Diego, who brought the glass to me and I gave it to Thierry. "The Quarter is your home, but I would like to stay a while, if I'm still welcome." Marcel's wide grin spread across his face, and he placed his hands on Klaus' neck, chuckling.
"Of course you are." I told him with a smile. Marcel and I would have to be more cautious about everything.
Later in the day, Marcel and I made our way to a dark and dusty attic. A bed and some canvases were all that was really in the room, and it made me sad to see her like this. A young teenage witch was sitting behind a window. She turned on and off the flame of a candle just with hand by opening and closing her hand.
"I assume it's all quiet out there?" Marcel asked her.
"The witches know better than to use magic. They know I can sense it when they do. What about the old ones? They're dangerous, and I don't want them to hurt the two of you." She told us and I smiled walking up to her and hugging her gently.
"The Originals? Davina, as powerful as you are, they don't stand a chance." Marcel told her.
"Besides, we have our own weapon against them." I said looking up to Marcel.