Marcel was reading in the red armchair by the king sized bed when I entered the bedroom. He looked up as I entered through the door, putting down the book in his lap. It wasn't until he saw the expression on my face that he stood up and embraced me in his arms. I didn't even notice when I started crying, but I held onto him as if he was my anchor to this world.

"What happened?" He asked worriedly while stroking my hair softly. I sobbed in his warm arms, inhaling his familiar scent to calm myself.

"I'm scared, Marcel. I'm scared of Rachel and Sofia. I'm scared of the Mikaelsons." I looked up at him through my blurred vision, certain that I looked like a racoon due to the smeared mascara around my eyes. "I'm scared of losing you."

"Losing me?" He repeated, his brown gaze filled with adoration as he stroke away a tear from my cheek. "That's madness."

"I feel like I'm drifting away from you in all of this drama." I admitted, still clamoring onto him. "Destiny seems to be doing everything it can to break us apart."

"Then let's not let it." Marcel's hand stopped stroking my hair and stayed behind the base of my neck. "Let's not let them get to us. We're a team, Juliette. I might be king of this city, but you're my queen." His words soothed my very soul, and I realized that I had stopped crying.

"Juliette…" Marcel whispered softly, and suddenly got down on one knee. Wait. Hold the fuck up. What was he doing?! No, it couldn't be true. "I love you. More than anything. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, here, in our home." He picked up something from his pocket, and it seemed to be a golden ring with a small ruby on it. Okay, he was being serious. Wow. The best time to propose. Like... We'd been together for three years, and now was the time he chose to propose.

"I-" I seem to have been in quite a state of shock, because I couldn't get any comprehensible words out of my mouth. Marcel was still looking up at me with a smile, his eyes creasing at the edges.

"I know I should've gotten a better ring, but…" He stopped to chuckle, while I was doing my very best not to run out of the room. This was way too much going on all at once, especially after the long night I had had. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes." I heard myself answer, and I only came to my senses when he jumped up and kissed me hard. I dissolved into the kiss, releasing all tension from my body as I gave in to my heart. When I pulled away, I beamed at him widely. "Oh my God. We're getting married." I laughed with glee, and reached out my hand to him. Marcel, smiling just as widely as me, put the ring on my finger.

"I'm engaged." I sighed, just as happy as I was shocked. "Holy crap."


When I woke up the next morning, I was alone in our bed. Not even the morning after our engagement could Marcel sleep in with me. Not that we had actually slept a lot that night. With a groan, I sat up in the bed, only to realize that it wasn't actually morning. The alarm clock said 2 am. Shit, I must have only slept an hour or so. And Marcel was gone. Where the hell was he?

After pulling on a tank top and sweatpants, I walked over to the wooden door, carefully opening it. There was a large mass of people in the courtyard, and I remembered that tonight was fightnight. Marcel organized these things once or twice a month to give the nightwalkers a chance to get daylight rings. Maybe that's why he had left me alone. But, after there was no sight of Marcel in the courtyard, it tip-toed to Roxy's room. After three unanswered knocks, I opened the door slightly.

"Rox?" I whispered in a hushed manner. Her room was dark, but through my vampire night vision, I could make out a shape in her bed. Wait, no, actually, two shapes. Another girl was lying nearly naked next to Roxy, and I quickly shut the door behind me. Ooops. Although when I turned around to leave, someone opened the door.

"Yeah? What the hell, Julie? It's 2 am. Go back to sleep." Roxy shot back at me, her voice hoarse with tiredness.

"I'm sorry, I was just gonna ask you if you know where Marcel is?" I answered, taking in the awful sight that was Roxy's bed head. She sighed and looked at me as if she wanted to kill me in return.

"He left about thirty minutes ago saying that he had some business with Klaus Mikaelson. He looked pretty smug to me." She spoke, but her face fell when her eyes fastened on my right hand. "Are you– Is that what I think it is?! Are you engaged?!" She squealed happily, and I snatched back my hand.

"That depends on whatever the hell Marcel's up to right now." I replied with a false smile, my heart starting to beat rapidly. Maybe Marcel had found out about Hayley in some way. How? And if he had, what was he gonna do? "I gotta go."

"Wait! Julie, you can't leave right after dropping that bomb!" Roxy exclaimed angrily behind me, but I was already down the stairs to the courtyard. Halfway through the crowd of vampires, my friends, I stopped. A familiar voice was booming across the large room.

"Ladies, gentlemen!" Marcel shouted, and I swiveled around to see him standing on the balcony where I had stood merely seconds before. "Welcome to fightnight!" The crowd cheered. I didn't.

"And the first rule of fightnight is... The vampire left standing at the end of the night is one step closer to the inner circle, and one of these." He showed the daylight ring on his hand to the crowd, his face smiling and yes, rather smug. What was he up to?

"A daylight ring. If you can impress me with a little ultraviolence, you too will get to feel the sun on your face. All you gotta do is kick a little ass."

I had tried to convince Marcel that this fightnight thing was complete vulgar bullshit, but it had never worked. Apparently, my boyfriend– fiancée– liked seeing other people beat the shit out of each other. I didn't. Fighting was only fun when I got to do it, and Marcel had forbidden me from that after I had won too many times. And besides, I had already won a daylight ring by ensnaring the king of New Orleans with my charm. At least that's what I liked to say.

"So, here we go!" Marcel finally exclaimed with a charismatic smile. He really was a natural leader, that much was sure. "Our first two contenders are… Roxy, again." He added with a little smile, as my red haired friend, who had somehow managed to get dressed and jump down to the courtyard, entered the circle in the middle of the crowd. She stuck her tongue out at Marcel, but he only grinned in return. Oh, the story about Roxy and her daylight ring? I'll get back to it later. It's quite funny actually. "And Otto!"

Otto, a bald vampire who was relatively new to our little club, walked up to Roxy. He was a mountain of muscle, but I knew better than to underestimate my friend. She was hella quick and very flexible.

BOOM! The first blow was swung by Roxy, who punched Otto straight in the nose. A crunching sound could be heard through the crowd, and I couldn't help but hear Klaus' words as I watched Roxy dance around. Always seek out your enemy's weakness. Otto's weakness was that he was slow, probably due to his body mass. Roxy counteracted that by using her speed as an advantage, dancing around him while landing blows. However, she was at a disadvantage where strength came. At some point, Otto managed to grab her arm, and used it to push her down to the ground. She quickly stood up again, but he charged on her. To my surprise, Roxy jumped up on his shoulders, straddling his neck. Otto walked around in confusion, trying to get rid of the red haired vampire, but her grip around his neck was getting tighter and tighter. Finally, she snapped his neck with a quick motion of her legs. This time, I actually cheered with the crowd. Roxy had outmastered the other vampire royally.

But our victory was cut short, for in the blink of an eye, a blurry shape speeded behind Roxy and snapped her neck. As her body fell to the ground, I realized that the shape was Klaus. And I was standing dangerously close to him. The crowd went completely silent as the hybrid locked eyes with Marcel.

"Good evening." He greeted simply. I didn't know what to do. The safest thing was to get to Marcel's side, but then again, that would probably attract Klaus' attention. And he did not look happy with Marcel. I had a bad feeling about this. "I'd like a word."

"What do you think you're doing?" Marcel seethed in response, and his gaze flicked to me for a split second. I got the message, and slowly started to back into the crowd. However, I seemed to have walked right into another man.

"It appears that we've interrupted a collection of filthy amateurs." Elijah Mikaelson explained as his hand went around my neck. Holding my arm twisted behind my back, he forced me to walk into the circle. I knew struggling would be in vain. I'd just kick his ass later.

"We've come here for the girl." He added, looking straight at Marcel. Anyone else would've thought he meant me, but I knew he didn't. He meant Hayley. Which meant that Marcel had somehow abducted her. Which meant that they suspected me of ratting out on them. Haha, well this just got very awkward.

"Give her to us, or… We kill everyone here." Elijah said, his hand still an iron grip around my neck. I knew that if I moved just the slightest bit, he would snap my neck instantly. "Starting with your fiancée." How the hell had he managed to register my ring already? I saw Marcel clench his jaw on the balcony.

"You two got a lot of nerve, coming into my home and making demands." Okay, this was not the time to challenge Klaus and Elijah further. I was kinda you know… In a very compromising situation. I tried to tell Marcel that with my eyes, but he was relentless.

"Your home, is it?" Klaus shot back with a sarcastic chuckle.

"THE GIRL!" Elijah yelled, and I nearly jumped out of pure surprise. His grip on me was starting to hurt, and my arm ached behind my back. Why couldn't Marcel just give them Hayley, and I'd be free? "I will not ask again." Okay, whatever "respect" Elijah and I had had for each other was completely gone. I had no doubt he would kill me. Klaus, I knew he couldn't. We were linked for some reason. I didn't like it, he didn't like it, but that's just how it was. But Elijah… He had no reason to show mercy at all.

"I assume you're talking about Hayley, yay high, dark hair, bitchy attitude? Who is she, anyway?" Marcel grinned down at Klaus maliciously. I love you, Marcel, but you're playing a dangerous game. This was one of those times when telekinesis would have been a much more useful power than seeing the future.

"She's an old friend." Klaus replied. "You know how sentimental I am about old friends."

"Well, I ain't got her. And before you start whining, I did pay her a little visit earlier tonight." I KNEW IT! I freaking knew it. So that's where he sneaked off. "I was feeling nostalgic. So I took a trip out to the plantation where I used to be a slave. And imagine my surprise when I realized that the Original family of vampires had taken up residence. Your girl Hayley answered the door. We exchanged hellos, that was it. If you don't believe me, look around." Okay, I wouldn't really mind if you just apologized and got me out of this situation now, Marcel.

"Hell, I'll even help you find her. But the question I'd ask is… If Hayley isn't here, then where is she?" And like that, Klaus and Elijah were at Marcel's side. I would've slumped to the ground if Thierry hadn't been there to catch me.

"You okay?" He asked, but my attention was elsewhere. It was on Marcel, who locked his eyes with mine. A team, huh?


"Screw this. He can have his freaking warcouncil with Klaus and Elijah. I'm gonna go see Davina." I told Roxy after Marcel was finally convinced that I was fine. Suddenly, he was all friends with the Mikaelsons again. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.

"Hey, we still need to talk about that." Roxy answered, looking at my ring. I gave her a small smile, watching her rub her neck. She had awoken to find the whole compound in shock.

"Sure, but I really have to go. I have something important to do." I explained, before leaving her alone in the courtyard. Sending one last look at Klaus, seated in one of the fancy armchairs that Marcel had dragged to the court, I exited the door.

I decided that the safest option was to vamp-speed over to Davina's, since I had too crazy vampires, and one even crazier that probably suspected me of betraying her family, after me. The church was locked when I arrived, but I had my own set of keys that Father Kieran had reluctantly given me when we installed Davina in the attic. It was eerie quiet in the building, the darkness engulfing me. I could sense it in the air that something horrible had happened there. But I shook the mystery of the demonic murders of St. Anne's church off me as I walked up the stairs to Davina's attic. I knocked on her door softly, and to my surprise, she answered.

"Julie? What are you doing here?" She asked me. She wasn't even in her nightgown! By that time, it must have already been 3:30 a.m.

"What the hell are you doing awake at this hour?" I exclaimed in return. Then, I realized that I sounded like her mother, and broke down into laughter. "Seriously, though. We have a lot to talk about." Davina's mouth turned into an 'O' shape as I took her hand and sat her down on the bed.


"So you're telling me that you helped Elijah and Sophie save Hayley's life while I was unlinking the witch and the werewolf. And now Hayley is missing, and Klaus and Elijah think that Marcel has abducted her, and also that you're the one who told him about it all." Davina rambled, finally stopping to gather her breath. "And you're engaged to Marcel."

"And I'm engaged to Marcel, yes." I repeated, throwing myself down on the bed, landing softly on my back. I was exhausted. I nearly felt human again.

"You guys have already practically been a married couple since I've known you, but it's still surprising. Why now?" Davina asked me from the end of the bed. I let out a groan before peaking out between my fingers.

"I don't know? My head feels like it's gonna explode." I mumbled, my voice muffled by my hands. I lifted my head slightly to peer into Davina's face. "You've been working with Elijah all along. Why?"

"He made me promise not to tell Marcel, and that I was to stay here. In return, he would bring me spells from his mother's spellbook. Spells to practice, a way for me to learn how to control my magic." Pain flashed by in her blue eyes. I sat up and really looked at her. I hadn't noticed just how tired she looked, how empty her eyes were.

"Oh, D." I said, before engulfing her in a hug. "You know I'd kill each and everyone of the witches in the Quarter only so you could get out of here, right?" I mumbled into her hair as she hugged me back. Davina pulled away and smiled at me.

"I don't know what I would do without you, Julie." She said, and I beamed back at her. "But, as I've already told you, I want to be the one to destroy the witches."

"I know. You have the right to. " I gave her a sad smile. "You know, I was wondering if you could do something for me." I said, remembering what I had gone there for. "To prove to the Mikaelsons that I'm not the one behind Hayley's abduction."

"What is it?" Davina narrowed her eyes at me in suspicion.

"Look, I know you don't like them. But consider this a favor for me, not for them." I ensured her. "Could you locate Hayley for me? That way I can tell Klaus and Elijah and get them off my back."

"Sure, but I would need something of hers to do a locator spell." Davina frowned at me. I shook my head before grinning at her victoriously.

"I have another idea." I stood up a little bit too quickly, making Davina jump in surprise. "But first, you don't happen to have a little witchjuice? Something to liven me up a bit? I haven't slept at all in 24 hours. I'm gonna need some energy for this."

A/N: Hello all of you lovely readers out there! Please leave me a comment and tell em what you thought of the chapter, it would really help :) 3