I am sorry but i did not proofread this. Please don't hate me for whatever confusing bullshit you find.
Chapter 12
Hope stood in front of the store mirror holding a little black dress in front of her. It was a little longer on her than on her Aunt Rebekah but she was sure she could pull it off, that is, if she was brave enough to leave the store with it.
She and Rebekah were out shopping for an outfit to wear to the secret New Year's Eve party the Tremé witches were throwing. She was invited by a friend but Niklaus wouldn't let her go unless she took a security detail with her. He had yet to explain to her the seriousness of the threats posted against their family and he didn't want her to feel afraid so he slyly talked her into agreeing to go to the party with Rebekah. Since Rebekah was so young at heart, the girl agreed with hardly an argument.
"How about this one," Rebekah brought her a white sequin dress.
It was far less revealing than the black dress as the girl held it up to her body in the mirror.
"There you are. All covered up. Nothing ol' mum and dad can say bad about this one."
"I don't know. This one's cute but," Hope held the black dress back up in the mirror. "This one matches Sebastian's tux."
"Sebastian," Rebekah mocked. "You two've been spending a lot of time together. Are things getting…serious?"
"It's not like that, Aunty," she laughed. "He's just a friend. Honest."
"Okay, okay, fine. Whatever you say. Go try on…the black one."
"Really?" Hope's eyes lit with delight.
"Really. I'll deal with your parents should they find out but let's try to get this between the two of us. Hope and Aunty Bex's little secret."
Hope jumped into Rebekah's arms, hugging her tight, before running off to the dressing room to change.
-M-
Marcel stood on the balcony overlooking the courtyard watching with envy the werewolves sparing beneath him.
He hadn't sparred against anyone in weeks. The last fight he'd been in was with Kol but that could hardly be called a fight. He spent all of his time doing chores and the one day a week he got off he spent locked away in his room trying to avoid Hope, Kol, and Klaus's dreaded werewolf lackeys.
"Something on your mind?" Marcel jumped at Klaus's lilted voice behind him.
"Just taking a break to watch them spar." He answered tensely.
Klaus nodded. "You've got twenty minutes and then you get back to work. Understood?"
The sound of a man's body being thrown through a banister diverted Marcel's attention back to the fighting going on below.
"Seems every time I fix something around here those mangy wolves break it again."
"And it's your job to fix it again."
Marcel sighed, silently reminding himself that he agreed to this.
As Niklaus started to walk away, he called out, "Wait. There's something I've been meaning to ask you."
Klaus turned around and gave the nervous man his full attention.
"It's about…my men."
"Your men?"
"Yes, I've been thinking, and…you already have the wolves living here, a few more bodies can't make that much of a difference."
"You want your men to live here? In my home?"
"I'm not asking for a lot. Just my core guys, like Joshua and-"
"We've seem to run into a dreadful misunderstanding," Klaus growled. "Not only are your men not welcomed into my home but if they show their faces anywhere in New Orleans, that goes for Tremé, the Quarters, the bayous, anywhere outside of Vincent's sanctuary, my men have been given the order to kill without mercy."
"But Klaus, I thought we were on good terms."
"Marcel, you are only here because you are my son. Had you been just another ally turned foe I would've dealt with you swiftly and certainly not in the way you are accustomed. I owe your men no such kindness."
Klaus stomped away, leaving Marcel to cope with the knowledge that he may never see his men again.
"Oh house boy," one of the wolves mockingly called up to him. "We're really working up a sweat down here. Bring us water."
"And the good stuff too," another added. "None of that tepid tap water stuff you tried to bring us last time."
"I'm not your house boy," Marcel growled loudly. "Go fetch your own water, dog."
Suddenly, the two werewolves jumped onto the balcony where he was.
"Sorry," the biggest and burliest of the two said, "We didn't quite catch that."
Their eyes flashed yellow and their fangs dripped with their toxic venom.
Marcel bared his own fangs and snarled, "I'm not afraid of a couple of mangy mutts."
Just as the two wolves were about to pounce on him, Rebekah appeared.
"What's going on here?" The Original demanded.
The wolves quickly retracted their fangs and said, "Just having a little talk with the help."
"He's not the help," Rebekah replied curtly. "He's family. And were either of you to lace him with your poisonous bite, well, let's just say I'm sure Niklaus would have a lot to say about it. Now off with you."
Without another word, they scurried away.
"You trying to get yourself killed?" She scolded Marcel.
"I can handle two wolves on my own."
"Hybrids, dear, and trust me it would've been a lot more than two. This lot fights as a pack and if they were easy to take down they wouldn't be a very good defense for my little niece, would they?"
"I'm still not afraid. And we shouldn't be seen talking together. You know what Niklaus would do if he found out."
Rebekah smiles teasingly. "Not afraid of the pups but you are afraid of Big Bad Poppa Wolf."
Marcel grunted angrily and walked away. Feeling guilty, Rebekah chased behind him.
"I'm sorry," she said speedily matching him step for step. "I was only joking. What do you expect? I get back from shopping to find my lover about to be mauled by a couple of venomous brutes and he tells me not to worry when, in fact, I should be worried. They could kill you, y'know that, and get away with it by simply claiming that you attacked them first."
Marcel stopped walking and faced her with a cold grimace. "I'm all alone." He stated. "Klaus is forcing me to stay away from you and he's promised to kill any of my men if they leave Vincent's Sanctuary. There are days where I can go a full 24 hours without holding a single conversation with anyone. I am suffocating with loneliness. Klaus says I'm part of the family but I don't feel like it. The only time he talks to me is to give me orders or to remind me of what'll happen if I don't follow them. I knew trying to pick a fight with those wolves was stupid but I did it because the day is already halfway gone and that was my first encounter with a person I could actually talk back to."
Rebekah stood silent as Marcel marched away, shocked by his confession.
-M-
Marcel laid in bed watching the clock on his wall loudly tick away to a new year. The Compound was empty except for him and a few sentry wolves left behind and everything was quiet.
Then he heard a noise. A buzzing sound coming from somewhere in the Compound.
Rule 12. You are not allowed to roam the Compound between the hours of 11pm and 6am – he remembered that.
He had memorized nearly all the rules in his manual but he was determined to find the source of the buzzing before the wolves did.
He crept quietly through the Compound using his vampire hearing to track the sound. The noise led him to Niklaus's bedroom.
Tucked away neatly in Niklaus's nightstand was a ringing cellphone. Marcel recognized it as his own. Klaus had taken it from him when he moved into the Compound. Written across the screen was the name Josh.
He quickly answered it.
"Marcel," Josh's voice barely carried over the phone.
"Josh, hey, what's wrong, man? Sounds like you're in bad shape."
"That's because…I might be." Each breath came out jagged and his words slowly fading. "Y'see, I left…the Sanctuary. I came…looking for you…in Tremé but…there are werewolves everywhere. I…I fought them off but…I got bit."
"Where are you?"
"At the docks," he forced a laugh. "I don't even know…how I got here. I just…started running and didn't stop…until I was sure…I'd lost them."
"Okay, Josh, hang tight, brother. I'm going to get Klaus's blood to you. I'm going to save you, alright?"
"Okay, no hurry. I'll just…hide between these stacks of crates until you get here."
Marcel hung up and kept the phone as he ran out of the room. He quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt before vamping out of the Compound. He didn't know where Klaus was and he doubted the man would help him save Josh but he knew where he could find a cure just as good.
-M-
Hope danced carefree against Sebastian to the loud music. The Tremé witches had gutted out an old warehouse to host the party in so there was enough space between her dancing in the middle of the party and Rebekah watching hawkeyed from the bar to make the teen feel free.
"Want a drink?" Sebastian yelled over the loud music.
Growing weary of dancing, Hope nodded yes. The two waded their way through the crowd to the bar and ordered two virgin strawberry margaritas.
"Cute guy, 3 o'clock, totally checking you out," Sebastian said to her once the drinks arrived.
Hope looked to the end of the bar to see an older teenage boy making eyes at her. "Gross," She quickly turned away. "He's like 17."
"Well, with this hot makeover you got you could totally pass for 15."
Hope smiled. Her Aunt Rebekah did her makeup and made the girl look radiant for the night.
She looked back down the bar to the boy still eye-flirting with her and saw a teen girl with long black hair and mysterious dark eyes.
"Do you think she'll think I look 15?"
Sebastian eyed the stranger up and down. "Those boots with that dress, oh yes, she definitely bats for your team. Go say 'hey'."
Hope tries to build up the courage to talk to the older teen when she notices her phone buzzing in her purse. She doesn't recognize the number but she answers anyway.
"It's me." Marcel said quickly. Hope only had a moment to register who 'me' was before he said, "Go to the bathroom." Then he hung up.
Confused but curious, Hope excused herself to the bathroom. She waded through the crowd again to the other side of the warehouse where the restrooms were. They were packed with people and she couldn't see anything over the staggering ladies in heels but then she was suddenly pulled into a restroom stall.
Her hands lifted automatically to perform a stunning spell but she calmed once she saw it was Marcel.
"What are you doing here?" She whispered loudly.
"Don't freak out," Marcel started. "But I need your blood."
"What?"
"I know it sounds weird but I have a friend who got bit by a werewolf and he needs your blood or he won't make it through the night."
"Wait, let me get this straight. You completely ignore me for weeks but now that you need me you think you can just come and ask for my blood in a dirty warehouse bathroom?"
"Hope, I'm sorry and someday I hope I'll be able to explain this all to you but this guy is my friend and he was Davina's closest friend. He's the last link I have to her and I can't let him die knowing I didn't do everything I could to save him. I'm not going to try to force you to give me your blood, I don't even think I could, but you are my only hope so please, please…don't turn me away."
Hope didn't need another second to think. "Fine, let's go."
"What?"
"You said he needs my blood then I'm going with you."
"You can't. It's not safe for you to wander the streets this time of night."
"Please," she chuckled derisively. "Don't underestimate me."
The girl walked confidently out of the stall and with no other choice, Marcel followed.
-M-
They found Josh barely clinging to life behind a stack of crates at the docks. The venom had already started his hallucinations to the point where he didn't even recognize Marcel.
"So how are we going to do this?" Marcel asked, sitting Josh up so he could drink Hope's blood. "You gonna do a spell or something that-"
Marcel watched in horror as Hope took the knife from the holster on Josh's waist and slid it across her wrist.
"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, GIRL!" He quickly clasped his hands around her wrist to stop the bleeding.
"No, stop, you're wasting it!"
Realizing her intentions, Marcel sat back and watched as Hope dripped her blood into Josh's parted lips. Once she felt he'd had enough she whispered an incantation and her wrist healed immediately.
"Next time warn me before you go slitting your own wrist like that."
"Sorry, he just didn't look like he had time for a formal ceremony."
"Ha, ha," Marcel helped Josh to his feet. "Let's get him out of here before the wolves come back."
"Too late."
Hope and Marcel spun around to the sound of the strange voice. Marcel's anger rose at the sight of the two werewolves he almost fought earlier that day.
"Check it out, Louie. It's the house boy."
"And he has a friend, how sweet."
"Forget the friend. Looks to me like we just caught the house boy trying to kidnap little Hope Mikaelson."
Hope quickly moved between Marcel and the werewolves. "Stand down," she ordered.
"Sorry, princess, but we're under strict orders by your father to kill anyone who tries to hurt you."
"No one's hurting me."
"Then why do I smell your blood on the half-dead one?"
"Hope, get out of here," Marcel ordered. "These guys gotta beef to settle with me and I'm going to end it tonight."
"No, Marcel, you get out of here. They won't hurt me. Get Josh to safety."
"Hope, I can't-"
Marcel paused when he saw the big wolf charging at them. Thinking fast, Hope performed a spell that broke the man's left leg, sending him screaming to the ground. The other wolf didn't waste a second before speeding past Hope to Marcel and Josh.
He grabbed Marcel by the throat and bared his venomous fangs. He was about to plunge them into the man when his hand became swiftly detached from his wrist.
Marcel had never been so relieved to see Rebekah.
The werewolf screamed in pain at having his hand cut off but Rebekah wasn't as focused on his howls as she was the sound of the clock tower ringing to signal in the beginning of the new year.
"Cutting off a man's hand to bring in the new year." Rebekah sighed. "That has got to be a bad omen. Let's get out of here before they get their wits about them."
The trio quickly escaped with Joshua in tow. They took him back to the Sanctuary before returning to the Compound.
Marcel thought they were home safe when they entered the Compound and saw no one in the courtyard but as soon as the other Mikaelsons sensed their presence they came vamping out of their rooms, surrounding the exhausted trio.
"Imagine my surprise," Niklaus started, anger clearly written on his face. "When I get a call from my wolves at the docks that my daughter, my sister, a werewolf-bitten vamp, and the 'house-boy' were having a little private New Years' celebration of their own. Who was the bitten vamp, might I ask?"
Marcel stammered, "J-Josh."
"Poor Joshua. Is he dead?"
Their silence was answer enough.
His anger rising to new levels at knowing what they had to do to prevent Josh's perishing, Niklaus forced himself to calmly say, "Hope, it's getting rather late, perhaps you should be off to bed. You look lovely, by the way. Quiet a stunning dress. I'll be sure to mention it tomorrow during our talk."
Hope wanted to stay and take up for Marcel but she had never seen her father so angry and didn't want to be around when he exploded. Little did she know that was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to Klaus's anger.
"Who did it?" Klaus growled once Hope was gone. "Which of you used my daughter's blood to heal that weasely little leech?"
"I did." Marcel said confidently. "But I didn't take it from her. She voluntarily gave it up."
"Rebekah, is this true?"
"I wasn't there for the bloodletting," Rebekah answered honestly. "But Hope was unafraid and unharmed when I found them and she's certainly not a girl to be easily taken advantage of."
Turning his anger back to Marcel, Klaus said, "Was my request that you stay away from my daughter too much to ask or did you just not understand it?"
"Oh I understood it but Josh is my guy and when it comes to saving his life I have to do anything in my power to save him, even if it means making you angry."
With a sullen scowl, Klaus dismissed everyone from the courtyard except Marcel and Elijah. He then pulled Papa Tunde's blade from his inner jacket pocket and Marcel froze with fear.
"This is what I had planned for you," Niklaus started. "Once I got the call I was determined to go out and find you and stick this in you for a thousand years if so much as a hair was out of place on Hope but Elijah here convinced me that I was overreacting. Now that I know the truth I see where I might have been overacting a bit. Still, your blatant disrespect for my rules cannot go unpunished so here's what I'm going to do. I am going to go to Vincent's Sanctuary and I'm going to demand he bring out your little friend, Joshua. Then, taking a page from your own book, I'm going to execute him publically."
"NO!"
"YES! You will soon learn that this is MY city. I make the rules and I decide who lives and who dies!"
"Klaus, please don't do this. You win, okay! I'll do whatever you say, I'll never leave this damn Compound again if you want but don't take your anger at me out on Josh. Please. He's my oldest living friend."
"You think I want to do this?" Klaus asked morosely. "Do you think I like seeing you like this? But it's the only way you'll learn. My rules are not made to be broken."
As Klaus tried to walk away, Marcel sped in front of him. With tears now unabashedly breaching his eyes he begged, "Please, I'll be alone for the next century if you want just, please, spare him. For me."
Suddenly Elijah came between them, pushing Marcel away from Klaus.
"You are dismissed, Marcellus." The older brother said with complete composure.
Marcel stood confused, unsure if he should leave since Niklaus hadn't yet responded to his pleas.
Niklaus refused to meet his eyes. There was once a time when he was unable to deny a request made by Marcel when he brought it to him in tears and all three of them knew that.
"Marcellus, you have three seconds to get out of my sight before I decide to dagger you myself."
Fearing the stern brother would very well follow through on his promise, Marcel sped off.
"He's trying to manipulate you, brother," Elijah warned.
"You think I should kill the vampire, Joshua?"
"I think whatever you decide should be your decision on your own and not motivated by the crocodile tears of Marcel."
"Then help me decide. This is our kingdom. Tell me what you want?"
"I have what I want, Niklaus. My only wish now is to give you what you want and if this kingdom is it then I will work to make sure it is a kingdom of your own creation. I suggest you go to bed, sleep on this, and decide what you're going to do in the morning. Agreed?"
"Agreed, brother." Niklaus walked side-by-side with Elijah out of the courtyard. "I'm exhausted. I haven't had a decent night's sleep since last year."
Elijah cringed. "It's been over a thousand years, brother. Let that joke die."
