The Sunday after Papa Tunde's massacre in the garden was found, Nik, Marcel, Nikolas and I found ourselves in St. Anne's Church attending the first mass since the massacre. They had a nursery for Nikolas so I sat between the two vampires in pews rubbing my pregnant belly lightly.
"Thank you all for coming." Father Kieran said standing in front of the congregation. "It means more than I can tell you. We gather today for the first public service of our newly reopened church. St. Anne's can finally once again be the heart of our community, where we can congregate as a people united. Here, this hour, we come together to praise God and give thanks. The events that took place at our church were tragic."
"Problem?" Nik asked. I looked to Marcel and saw him looking at someone across the church.
"No." Marcel told Nik.
"Pay attention boys." I told them quietly. "We're meant to seem like devoted parishioners."
"...and it is that hope in our hearts, and with the help of many benefactors, that allows us to be here today. So, we gather with renewed spirit, made stronger, committed to the ideals of peace and love. Amen." Father Kieran said.
"Amen." Everyone else around us said.
After mass we were among the parishioners leaving the church as Father Kieran stood at the entrance meeting with everyone.
"Lovely sermon this morning, Father. Quite inspirational." Nik told him when we approached him with Nikolas in my arms. He was going through a phase right now of not wanting to be too far away from either myself or Nik.
"I wasn't expecting you to join us." Father Kieran told him.
"Oh, we were hoping for some word from your human sources on the recent Haitian invasion." Nik told him with a smirk.
"My guys have their ears on the ground, and no one has seen or heard any sign of whatever his name is." Father Kieran told us.
"He is called Papa Tunde. And right now, he's wandering in the Quarter with the power he absorbed from every soul I had buried in the Garden, so you might wanna put your ear a little closer to the ground." Marcel told him.
"Or I could steer clear of whatever war is brewing between your kind and his, before I find myself–" Father Kieran was cut off when Cami appeared in front of us shaking her uncle's hand, pretending as though they were strangers.
"I wanted to congratulate you on getting the church up running. I can see this is a bad time. Nice to see you, Marcel." Cami said pointedly ignoring Nik and I before leaving. Father Kieran gave us a look before following his niece.
"Cami!" Father Kieran called after her before throwing Nik a look making him scoff.
"Well, don't look at me. I tried to send her away." Nik reminded them before his phone rang. He stepped away to answer it while still in hearing range. "Yes, Diego? What do you have for me?" Diego spoke for a moment before Nik replied. "Would you care to elaborate?" Diego answered before Nik threw a look over at me and Marcel before hanging up. "Marcel." He gestured for us to go and the three of us left quickly.
When we arrived at the compound to find Papa Tunde's body lying in the middle of a magical circle of salt with blood all over his white suit. Elijah crouched down to examine his corpse while I put Nikolas down and the boy immediately walked to Nik's side standing next to him
"Can I get you anything, brother? A magnifying glass? A pipe, perhaps?" Nik asked him sarcastically.
"How about a John Watson while you're at it?" I asked him snarky. This put us all on edge and our guard was on high alert.
"You have a theory you'd like to share with us, Niklaus?" Elijah asked him younger brother.
"Back in the day, the witches wanted to send a threat, they'd just kill a chicken and leave it on your doorstep." Marcel told us.
"That's one hell of a chicken." I said throwing him a look.
"Papa Tunde defeated Rebekah with ease, almost got the two of us as well. If he was supposed to be the prize fighter, why leave him for dead in our front yard?" Nik asked as Bekah joined us.
"Well, don't you look cheery. Listen to this- A girl literally exploded from a grave today as Sabine was giving a tour of the city of the dead. It was Monique Deveraux." She told us.
"What?" Nik asked her.
"The tourists thought it was part of the show, but the witches are celebrating like it's some kind of bloody miracle." She said.
"Papa Tunde dies and a Harvest girl is resurrected?" I asked no one in particular.
"They think that all hope is lost, but now suddenly a Harvest girl is resurrected. This is how we're gonna get Davina back-– kill the witch who took her place." Marcel said hopeful as Hayley joined us from upstairs.
"I have a theory about who one of them could be. Celeste. I mean, it's got to be. Davina was trying to tell us, she was drawing pictures of Celeste. She was warning us that a great evil is coming."
"First, Papa Tunde returns to settle old scores, now your murdered lover is back. This isn't witches attacking vampires. They're declaring war on us." Nik declared.
Later Nik and I were in Nikolas' room after finally getting him to settle down for a nap.
"At least we can get this done easily enough." I said smiling at him.
"I need you to leave." He told me and I looked up at him confused.
"What?" I asked him moving flosser to him and the door. We left Nikolas' room and walked to ours. "What did you mean you needed me to leave?"
"You're not safe you, Nicole." He told me. "I need you and Nikolas to go to the plantation house."
"Why should I?" I asked him.
"Because I want you and him safe. And the safest place is also the furthest away from me." He told me and I shook my head.
"You are one of the only people that can protect us." I told him. "We can call Bonnie. And she can cast a protection spell over us."
"She can't do magic and we're not going to trust anymore witches with you and our children." He told me.
"Then take me yourself." I told him, trying to convince him to stay with us.
"I can't." Nik told me. "I must stop this."
"Why does it have to be you?" I asked him. "Why can't you leave this to Rebekah and Elijah. Just for once."
"I trust no one but us to protect our children, Nicole." He told me. "Take Hayley with you as well. I want a Hybrid to protect you."
"I don't like this." I told him.
"I know." He said. "Will you do this? Hide there until this is taken care of. For me?"
"Fine. I'll go and I'll take Hayley with me. I'll even see if Bekah wants to join me. Girls Night Out with a baby." I said making him chuckle lightly.
"Good." He said before we packed for my trip. I left the room to get Nikolas when Hayley forced me into a different room. "What the hell Hayley?!" I asked her angrily.
"I need your help with something." She told me.
Rebekah, Hayley, Nikolas and I arrived at the plantation I'd been locked away in for months before Nik and I took the compound back.
"I thought I was gonna have to drag you two to the plantation kicking and screaming." Bekah told me. She said that Elijah had asked to the same that Nik had asked of me: bring me and Nikolas to the plantation. Only Hayley was also added to that list. When Elijah fell in love he fell hard.
"Yeah, well, we all just wanna protect Nicole, Nikolas and the baby, right?" Hayley asked her.
"Hey, we're all on the same side, remember? So, what gives?" Bekah asked her.
"Tonight's a full moon, Rebekah." I reminded her.
"So what? You're preggers, you can't turn." She told me.
"Yes, but I wanted to invite a few people over..." Hayley told her.
"Of course. Every red-blooded American werewolf will be a bundle of fur and sharp teeth tonight, whilst your cursed Crescent Clan will be–" Bekah started saying.
"Human, but only for a few hours, and won't be again until the next full moon, so..." Hayley dropped off.
"I asked Josh to get a message out to the wolves in the Bayou." I finished.
"Josh isn't dead yet?" Bekah asked with a smile on her face. "Well good on him. I love a nice survival story." I saw her looking behind us and turned to see a man wheeling a dolly out of the house. "Who the bloody hell is that?"
"Kegs out back, alright?" Hayley asked him.
"Yup." He nodded and Hayley cleared her throat awkwardly as we turned back to Bekah.
"Right." She said amused. It appears you weren't gonna wait for me to grant you permission to throw a kegger."
"Listen, we all want me, the baby and Nikolas safe? Fine. I'll do as I'm told. I'll play Rapunzel in the tower. But tonight's the one night a month that Hayley can meet her family and I can interact with other werewolves. Now, you could rat us out and send us to our rooms, or you could help throw one hell of a party." I said smirking at her.
"Who do we call to deliver to a Hybrid party?" she asked me with a smile on her face that caused me to grin.
That night as the moon reached its apex Hayley and I hung up some clothes we'd found in the house. She and I hung up the clothes in the backyard so they could be dressed as they partied. I turned to leave when she grabbed my arm and I looked to see a wolf with golden eyes staring at us.
"Hello again. I'm looking forward to meeting you soon." Hayley told it with a smile on her face. I looked up to see the moon reaching its apex.
"C'mon Hayley. We'll all be seeing each other soon enough." I reminded her before we walked inside.
Later I joined Bekah in the kitchen to cook as she hung up the phone.
"That Nik?" I asked her hopeful.
"No, but I'm trying to get a hold of at least one of them." She told me and I nodded before focusing on the food I was making.
"At this rate I might actually burn this place down." I joked with her. I smiled up at her when I saw a man standing naked in the kitchen doorway. "Bekah."
"Oh. I beg your pardon. I was expecting someone... furrier." She told him as we stared at him. I finally turned from him to her and my eyes widened with a smile on my face. I've seen plenty of naked men in my life, but they didn't just walk into my kitchen before.
"You're one of them, aren't you? An Original?" the man asked her and she nodded.
"Yes. You might want to say that with some more respect." She told him standing straighter.
"And you're the werewolf pregnant with a Hybrid baby?" he asked me. I smiled and nodded to him.
"I suppose you'll be wanting Hayley." Bekah asked him.
"Or I could just talk to you. I'm Oliver. I didn't catch your name." Oliver said flirting with Bekah.
"I'm Rebekah." She introduced herself.
"Hayley, the party's coming in!" I called to my friend before finishing the food. We set out the food for the party before enjoying ourselves. The party had quickly moved from the house to the backyard, which we had decorated by dozens of candles and strings of light. Some of the wolves were playing instruments while the others danced to the music. I stood next to Bekah who looked absolutely bored.
"You need to mingle." I told her.
"What about you?" she asked me. "You brought them here so you could commune with your werewolf side."
"Yeah, I lied." I told her with a smile. "Hayley really wanted to spend time with her family." Suddenly Oliver sat next to Bekah and pulled her up to dance. I smiled at her before getting up and moving to another part of the yard.
"Dance with me?" a Crescent werewolf asked me. I smiled and nodded to him. He pulled me to him and we danced happily for a while before I was spun into someone else's arms making me laugh. This was a time for us to be carefree, yes in the Quarter war was brewing between the witches and my family.
After a while I was sitting down talking about being part of a pack.
"Everyone here is all family. Even you and your children now." he guy I had danced with told me.
"Even though we aren't kin?" I asked him confused.
"You are a Quarter wolf. You and your child are pack." He said and I smiled at him.
"Thank you." I said. "Hayley accepts me as family, but it's nice to hear others say that."
"That's why we're here." He said smiling at me. I smiled back and we kept talking before getting up and dancing once more. Eventually I had to stop and started going inside to check up on Nikolas, but before I could another wolf from the pack blocked my way.
"Hi, I have to go and check on my son. Excuse me." I said with a smile on my face, but when I moved to pass him. I couldn't. My smile fell slowly and my brain started going into overdrive. What was going on? Why couldn't I get inside?
"Hayley's gonna break our curse for us." He told me.
"I know she won't stop until she does everything she can to break it." I told him.
"She's going to break it tonight." He told me and I looked at him confused. The Witches didn't have that kind of power because the Reaping wasn't complete. Did they?
"What are you talking about?" I asked him.
"The witch told Eve she was going to break the curse. All we had to do was give her the Original and the pregnant wolf." He told me and I felt my blood run cold.
"And what about my son?" I asked him. They'd all seen him. They knew he was asleep in his room upstairs with his favorite blanket surrounding him.
"He'll be raised by the pack. He'll know his mother and sister were heroes, in their own way." he told me and I started backing away from him. He matched my every step with one of his own and before I knew it someone had gotten behind me and knocked me out.
