With the occasional updates from Elijah on their progress keeping the wolves out of the hands of the vampires, I was allowed free roam around the compound. I ended up at the onsite bar where Klaus and Marcel had gathered in order to discuss the meeting they'd just had with the human faction. From Marcel's face, I'm guessing it didn't end too well. "I think it was far more gracious than they deserved." Klaus informed the both of us as he poured a drink for himself and his old friend, who was currently glaring at him hotly. "You're disappointed by my lack of diplomacy. You out of all people should need no reminder of the human capacity for cruelty."
"Diplomacy has never been your strong suit." I pointed out bluntly, slouching down in the chair slightly as it was the only position I felt comfortable in right now. "Maybe next time send someone else to talk to the humans. Someone…less imposing." Cracking a grin, Klaus pushed towards me the soft drink he'd grabbed for me so I gave him an enamoured smile before snapping the top in order to take a sip from the can. Just then Klaus's phone started to go, leading him to answering it to find the sheriff of New Orleans on the other end.
"Mr Mikaelson. I just wanted to let you know that the faction's considered your terms. We've reached a decision." Being close enough that I could hear what was being said, I set down my drink in order to pay attention as Marcel did the same.
"Have you?" Any amusement Klaus might have felt then was instantly shattered when a riotous explosion came from outside, causing all the windows to break and ripped down the sun-barriers which caused light to come rushing inside as gunfire burst all around us. Everything happened so fast that I barely had time to drop my soda before Klaus was in front of me, grabbing hold of me and using his body as my shield as I screamed from fear. Others were screaming too, several of the vampires going up in flames from the sunlight and when I smelt the burning flesh, it was enough to make my stomach churn and snap me to my senses.
Throwing my hands up, I raised a protective barrier around the front of the bar to stop anymore bullets coming in, giving a yell as I then pulled at the shadows with dark magic to block out the light and held a hand out towards the burning vampires in order to draw away the flames. I siphoned at the energy, drawing it into me which put out the fire as it ravaged their body and allowed them to start healing as I breathed shakily, keeping my hands up as I maintained the magic. The dull thumping of bullets striking my barrier filled the following silence as the screams ended, Klaus still embracing me securely as I felt his hot breath against my ear. "Ophelia?"
"I'm okay." I quickly assured him, struggling for a moment to maintain the two spells simultaneously as it sapped away at my strength but I held on, letting go with one hand in order to grip onto the arm that Klaus had wrapped around me. After a few moments, the gunfire stopped and I looked around, unsure or not whether it was over. "Nik, I can't keep the sun out much longer. Tell everyone not wearing a daylight ring to get undercover." Nodding his head, Klaus quickly barked out the order and although for a moment they were confused, Marcel helped to push everyone back before he then gave me a nod.
Releasing a strained groan as some of the pressure alleviated itself from me, the shadows flew back to their own places and the light from outside filtered through once more as I hesitantly got up, giving Klaus's arm a reassuring squeeze before he let me go towards the front of the bar. Waving my hand and giving a snap of my fingers, I pulled at magic in order to sense what was going on outside, wanting to make sure that the people responsible for this were gone before finally, I dropped the barrier. "It's safe. They're gone now." I said, turning around in order to face Klaus but then I felt exhaustion swamp me.
For a moment I blacked out, unaware of anything happening around me until I came back with a weightlessness sensation washing over me, finding myself in Klaus's arms as he held me completely off the ground and was bringing me away from the front of the bar in order to put me down, his hands going to my face as I blinked. "Ophelia, are you hurt anywhere? Talk to me."
"I'm…fine. I'm fine, just dizzy." Feeling his grip on me tighten for a moment, he then let me go in order to bring me some water in a flash, making me take a few sips as Marcel started to pace around in his frustration as he yelled and cursed.
"Damn it, damn it damn it!" Grabbing a table he flipped it over, making me flinch at the sound of splintering would which sound sickeningly like bones breaking as he then pointed at Klaus. "This is on you! Now that you're in charge, these are your guys lying dead." Dead? What was he…? Oh. Looking across the room, I saw two of the vampires hadn't been so lucky to get out of the sunlight in time, their bodies now nothing more than burnt corpses. Now I felt guilty, having missed them completely. "Your guys. You're gonna run this city, that better mean something to you, otherwise no one worth a damn is gonna follow you. No one!" Marcel continued to pace as Klaus remained anchored at my side. I thought he'd be angry at Marcel's outburst so I'd naturally gone to take his hand, but to my surprise, he merely smiled and gave my fingers a light squeeze.
"I was beginning to worry about you. I don't think I could've taken any more of this differential nonsense. I mean, clearly I underestimated the faction. That won't happen again." He said, spreading his hand at Marcel who gave him another filthy look. "But, tell me now that we've arrived to this point, now that they have come into our home, visited this upon our people…how would you counsel me to respond?" It didn't take much for Marcel to reach a decision, and I knew these people well enough that blood demanded blood in order to settle the score.
"Let's go kill them all."
"Okay, hold up people." I lifted a hand and called a timeout before we could get too far ahead of ourselves.
"Come now Ophelia, you should know by now that I am not one to give mercy to those who do me or my people harm." Klaus began to tell me but I waved him off, grunting as I took a bigger swig of the water as it really did the trick in making me feel more refreshed.
"Oh no, totally go ahead and kill them if that's what you want, but before that, just make sure you make an example that's worth executing." I said to them both. Klaus stepped away from me then, looking at me curiously as Marcel joined him, the both of them looking at one another before returning their attention to me. "If you're going to make a statement, that's fine. The humans were way out of line getting violent and kicking all this off, so they're only to get what's coming to them. However, if you go ahead and kill everybody, then who's going to learn the lesson?" I reasoned, looking at them both expectantly but neither answered. "Exactly. You can't just kill everyone then get a bunch of fresh people in and expect things to go smoothly. You'll just be doing this all over again." Circling my finger to indicate what had just happened, Marcel gestured at me with his hand as he looked at Klaus.
"Your girl has a point."
"Of course I do, because I'm awesome and I know things." Smirking as I crossed one of my legs over the other, I sat there on the table feeling rather empowered considering the moment. "My bets are on the sheriff and the mayor being the biggest pains in your asses. Now the sheriff will always have a second, so you can kill him without any worries about finding him a replacement. The mayor on the other hand…that might be more of a problem. All I'm saying is to choose your victims carefully. Leave enough people to get your point across, and so that there's still a human faction afterwards, then reopen negotiations once the newly vacant spots are filled and they all have a healthy level of fear for what you guys are capable of. See? Easy as pie." Marcel smirked as Klaus just looked at me appreciatively.
"Damn. I like her. She's smart, tactical and she got a mean streak in her."
"I protest, I am merely practical." Pointing at Marcel, he laughed at that as Klaus moved in closer to me, glancing me over as he continued to give me that cocky smirk of his.
"Unlike you to advocate the killing of others, sweetheart." He said to me, ghosting his hand over my face before he then thumbed away at some kind of mark on my forehead from the confusion of earlier.
"You know me, I don't care about people outside my circle. Go nuts on them, if you like, you don't have to listen to me if you don't want." With that, I secured Klaus's approval and he now felt more inclined to follow my suggestion, which allowed me to at least save a few of the human faction leaders instead of letting all of them get their heads ripped from their shoulders. It was sound advice, I just had to present it in the right way to him. Now that I had him in a good mood, I can talk to him about the whole werewolf hunt thing later.
Honestly, I felt like I was micromanaging everything around here. With the werewolf hunting, the human faction going nuts, Klaus, Marcel, and with Davina soon to be added onto the list, I was getting a headache just thinking about it all.