Hayley was in bed with Hope fast asleep on her chest when her phone rang; she answered it without looking to see who it was.

"Hello," she said quietly so as not to disturb Hope,

"Hey Hayley, what's up?" Bonnie's voice rang through the phone. Hayley straightened her back against the bedboard and placed Hope's head on the pillow next to her; Bonnie was supposed to be on a trip with Elijah doing some mysterious witchy stuff with him. She was sure he'd come back with a half-burnt body.

"What's wrong?" she asked her,

"Do you remember Tyler?" she asked Hayley. Hayley swore she felt her heart leap to her throat. She looked over at Hope and then looked away.

"I do; what is he dead?" she said. She hoped that he was. He caused turmoil in the beginning stages of her pregnancy.

"No, but you need to go see him; I think he might know about the trafficking of the children." Hayley shook her head. That wasn't the Tyler she knew, but then again, he wanted to kill her baby for revenge. She never got her revenge on him, and this could be the perfect opportunity.

"Do you know where he is?" she asked Bonnie, smiling at the idea of seeing him again.

"You should know he isn't a hybrid anymore," Bonnie said. Really, when did that happen? Did he take the cure, too?

"Yeah, so ask Klaus where he is. I'm sure he knows," Bonnie said, not elaborating further. She guessed she could ask him when she saw him, but she didn't want to risk biting him and becoming human; maybe she'd carry someone with her.

Hayley entered the compound, bumping into Rebekah talking on the phone with Zaci.

"Hey, you have time for some shopping?" Rebekah asked, pulling her phone away from my ear,

"You know where is Klaus?" she asked

"Is Hope okay?" Rebekah said, noticing how tense she was.

"Yeah, just dropped her off; I might need someone to pick her up, though," she told her. Rebekah nodded.

"He's in the spell room with Freya," Rebekah said. Hayley waved her bye and went in that direction.

"Where is Tyler?" she asked when they came into view. Klaus turned to her, his jaw locked.

"Why are you asking about him?" Klaus questioned

"I just need to know where he is," she said, shrugging

"Who is Tyler?" Freya asked

"He tried to kill Hope before she was born, and the crimes he did before that I won't mention out of respect for Hayley," Klaus said, glaring at her.

"Why do you need to know where he is?" Freya asked

"Bonnie called; she said he might know something about the kids being trafficked," Hayley said, looking him in the eyes. he knew this was important to her

Klaus sighed. He hadn't been able to dig up much on the people involved, which was rare for him; he could pick up information on anyone well except the armoury, they were little known about them or their operations.

"He's in Memphis," Klaus relented, "Take Freya with you, Tyler won't be involved with something like that unless he's being manipulated," he said

"Plus, he can't be compelled," he said

"So you know that-" she started

"he's just a normal wolf again," he nodded. He made it his business to know everything about his minor failure of an experiment. Klaus turned to his sister to see if she would protest, but she shrugged and returned to the spell she was working on with Finn.

Klaus touched Hayley's shoulders,

"Be careful. Tyler might be human, but you don't know the allies he created," Klaus told her; she nodded and walked towards Freya.

"When you think you'll be free?" she said, putting her chin on her shoulder to see what she was doing.

"We can leave tomorrow, I have to finish this," she nodded at Freya

"What is this?" Hayley asked. Freya sighed.

"Bonnie had this in her spellbook. It's to make some join your bloodline; I'm doing it so Finn can be part of ours," Freya said

"Are you sure you'll be okay tomorrow?" Hayley said, coming in front of her to look at her. Freya tended to overextend herself.

"I'm not doing the spell till Bonnie is back. She created him, so she has to help," Freya said, rolling her eyes. We joked about Finn being Bonnie Little Puppet because whenever she was near him, he had green eyes that looked exactly like the Bennett clans, but on him, it was creepy.

"Okay," Hayley said, leaving Freya in the spell room to work.

Marcel walked into the large home, which looked like someone in the late 1800s decorated it.

"Marcel," a leggy dark skin woman, had two men following behind her in suits. "It's a pleasure to meet the previous king of New Orleans," she said, stretching her hands. Marcel resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Marcel took the older vampire's hands and admired her.

"Aya, the leader of the Strix?" he said, emphasising that it was a question. She wasn't the leader, but she operated in that category. Klaus said she had a relationship with Elijah just before they adopted Marcel.

"I have no use of being a figurehead," she said, referring to Tristan; she turned around and used her finger to indicate that he should follow her.

"Why did Klaus send you to meet with me?" Aya asked, sitting down and taking a glass of blood from a maid's tray. She offered him one, but he declined. he didn't question how she knew it was Klaus. Instead, he took a seat across from her.

Did he want to do this? Be part of this society?

"I've done my fair amount of research on you," Aya said. "Being turned by an original, something few can say about Klaus Mikealson; he tends to have water-down vampires running about causing forest fires, but you're special," she said with a hint of a smile.

"What do you want?" Marcel asked, realising this meeting was more than seeing who he was.

"Aren't you tired, Marcel, of being under Klaus's rules? He took what was rightfully yours. Do you want it back?" she said, leaning forward and looking him in the eyes.

"There was a time I would have done anything to get it back, but things have changed," Marcel said

"You're a fool to think that Klaus will let you walk around New Orleans, watching the previous king who did a much better job than him," she said, attempting to boost his ego, but Marcel knew better; his rule wasn't like Klaus but what Klaus was doing wasn't any different than what he would have done. Everything he did, he learned from his adopted family.

"We both know it's not Klaus that rules this city; what did you say earlier?" he said, tapping the roof of his mouth to seem like he was thinking.

"Figurehead, your sire does the heavy lifting," he continued. It was mostly true. Any of the Mikealsons brothers could be the city's ruler. Elijah stood on the sidelines, especially when Klaus grew bored of ruling or Hope took priority.

"You and Sire have a lot in common. I could see that you were turned by Elijah all those years pretending to be Elijah, and yet Tristan knows nothing about true leadership," Marcel says with a little smirk. One of the vampires approached him and grabbed his throat, but Marcel quickly snapped his head. He luckily landed on his feet, and his first encounter with Bonnie taught him to be prepared. The other vampire goes, but Aya stops him.

"No need to be hostile, Marcel. I'm not here to fight," Aya tells him. She underestimated him. She should have known better since all of the Mikealson clan raised him. He was strong and just cunning.

"What is it you want with the Strix?" Aya asked.

"You've convinced my adopted daughter to join your coven. I would like to know why," he said, sitting.

"What Davina Clarke does for the Strix is our business," Aya hissed.

"So what do I have to do to make it my business?" he inquired, raising his dark eyebrows.

"You have interest in joining our group?" Aya asked with an arched eyebrow.

"A group of the oldest vampires. I would be a fool not to consider the option," Marcel said. Aya nodded, got up, disappeared into a room, came out with an envelope, and handed it to him.

He opened it and chuckled; the witch knew.

"I'll bring a plus one, Bonnie Bennett. I'm sure you've heard of her," Aya looked surprised for the first time since they'd met.

"Of course, I would love to get acquainted with her," Aya said with a smile. Marcel put the invitation into his pocket and left the home smiling. He knew it wouldn't be easy since he insulted Tristan, but the way Klaus talked about him, he knew the fates would visit him soon.

Rebekah frowned at Zaci, who had been locked away in her office all day. Since Bonnie wasn't here, it was her job to ensure Zaci didn't spend all her time in this box. Of all Bonnie's friends, she and Zaci got along the best. She wanted to consider her a friend, something she always struggled with. They had a lot in common: overbearing older brothers, a love for shopping, and loving a man they had business doing.

"Rebekah, I know I promised to go out for some drinks, but I finally got a call back from this land developer for a contract." Zaci began. Rebekah rolled her eyes and propped herself on the chair.

"Zaci, I can practically hear your belly crying for me to feed," she said. Zaci looked at her and rolled her eyes.

"My tummy is silent," Zaic said.

"Vampire hearing, babe," Rebekah said. To make the situation worse, her stomach growled at that moment, causing Rebekah to smirk.

"Soooooo, which bar are you feeling, or do you prefer a restaurant?" Rebekah said, taking out her phone. "I can have them prepare something now so you don't have to wait," she said, looking back at her; zaci just stared back before sighing.

"You're not going to leave, are you?" she asked. Rebekah shook her head, "Does Bonnie have to deal with this?" she asked, packing away her papers.

"She is dating Nik; he always gets his way. I don't know how she does it without popping his head, but his focus on her helps me," Rebekah responded. For the first time in a while, she didn't fear Nik daggering her and that he'd let her be.

"Well, I had nightmares. I'd find her bloody in bed," zaci admitted. Rebekah nodded

"I won't say Klaus is incapable of it, but the way he acts with her, he'd sooner die than hurt her," Rebekah reassured.

Zaci finished packing and followed Rebekah out of her office. They were going to a restaurant with a bar that was five minutes walk from where they were.

Rebekah and Zaci walked into the restaurant, laughing about something they said on their way. The host didn't need any names because Rebekah frequented the restaurant. The host showed them to their seats. zaci looked at the three seats set at their table.

"You expecting Freya?" she asked Rebekah, but she was already frowning and was giving her attention to the host.

"No, she not around," Rebekah answered, "I asked for a table of two. Is this the right table?" she asked, irritated.

"I was told to set a table of three," the host said. Rebekah studied the woman in front of her; she was most likely compelled, but she couldn't tell by whom. There were other vampires in the building, but she and Zaci were placed away from the other person who occupied the restaurant.

Rebekah was curious about who would request the table of three. Very few people were bold enough to make this move. Should she send zaci home? Should she let her stay? Will Zaci think she was using her?

She watched as Zaci took one of the seats, and she took one next to her.

"You think it's a secret admirer?" zaci said, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Marcel is too busy dodging my calls," Rebekah said. Zaci rolled her eyes.

"See how I didn't even mention him," Zaci said. "I knew there was something between you two." zaci teased. Rebekah's cheeks turned red, and she sipped the wine a waitress had placed on her table. Zaci did the same and wiggled her nose.

"It's not the usual we have, I know," Rebekah said when she saw her reaction.

"No, its not-" Zaci went into a coughing fit, quickly filling her next glass with water.

"That wine tasted a bit tangy," zaci said. Rebekah frowned, picked it up and smelled it. She didn't recognise the scent, but she knew it was poisoned. She looked at zaci. Her skin looked pale for someone of her colour, but her coughing fit had stopped.

"Are you alright?" Rebekah asked, rubbing Zaci's arm. She nodded and drank some more water.

"I think I'll have regular juice instead tonight," Zaci said. She agreed with the witch. Rebekah called the waitress, so she collected the wine and replaced their drinks.

Rebekah felt the shift in the room immediately. She turned to the door to see a familiar redhead with an oval face looking at her, along with a man in a suit following her.

"Stay outside and guard the door," Aurora told him with a nod.

"Oh Rebekah, sweetie, it's been a while," Aurora said, coming up to kiss her cheeks, but all Rebekah felt was fury. She knew from Zaci's reaction to the spell it was meant for her.

"Aurora, you looked so much better last time I saw you," Rebekah said as Aurora took her seat. She had seen her when she and Nik had a falling out a few years ago; Klaus had wanted to kill her, but Elijah gave her enough time to run away. She had run into Aurora in a mandir in India. Her brother had used a boundary spell to trap her there.

It didn't benefit Rebekah at the time to free her. Aurora smiled at her while zaci looked between the two vampires in confusion.

Aurora studied the witch that sat at her table,

"Oh Rebekah, where did you find this lovely creature from?" she asked. Zaci raised her eyebrows.

"Call me creature again, and I'll make you gargle on your blood," Zaci said. Rebekah touched Zaci's arm. She was ready to back her if she did attack, but she wanted to see how Aurora would try to keep Rebekah on her side.

"What is it you want, Aurora?" Rebekah asked exasperatedly.

"Is that how you treat someone who understands you better than anyone else?" Aurora said with a pout. "We both struggle with overbearing men in our lives," Aurora continued.

"Yes, except my brother doesn't trap me in places I don't want to be," Rebekah remarked

"So you like being daggered in a coffin?" Aurora pondered, and Rebekah growled.

"Thread carefully, aurora, Klaus. I have no reason to keep you alive," Rebekah said

"I just want to make sure we remain friends even if the boys are at war to ensure you take my advice," Aurora said

"Why would I come to you for advice? You've spent your vampire years squandering it for a man who hates your brother or locked away in some tower cause your brother likes to control you," Rebekah said

"None of those things are my fault," Aurora gritted. "It was your brother who compelled me to be this way; he broke my mind," Aurora said

"Your mind was broken before you met my family. Becoming a vampire just heightened it." Rebekah said, "You only have yourself to thank for that." Rebekah said, rolling her eyes.

"I just came to say that Tristan and Lucien may hate your brothers, but I don't think that relationship extends to us," Aurora said softly.

"You understand. The need to not lose your life in a foolish war," she said, turning to zaci. zaci rolled her eyes.

"Don't bring me into vampire business," zaci said. "I prefer not to put myself in the shoes of someone who poisons you one minute and cries wolf later." she continued, rolling her eyes.

Aurora got up.

"It seems pointless to have a conversation while you're like this, Rebekah," she said, motioning to zaci. zaci leaned over and took Aurora's arm; she immediately pulled it away to ensure she did nothing.

"Are you scared of this little creature touching you?" Zaci said. Aurora rolled her eyes at the witch.

"Before you leave, remember Lucien may smile in your brother's face now, but how sure are you he's not going to put his personal gain over yours," Rebekah said, dismissing her.

"If I ever see you again, I hope you're in good health," Zaci said with a smile, drinking her water.

"Why didn't you kill her?" Zaci asked, turning to the blonde.

"Aurora isn't worth at least not yet," Rebekah said. She needed to exercise some patience. "What did you do to her?" Rebekah said.

"She won't die, don't worry, I don't do that," Zaci said, smiling as her food finally arrived. She would kill if necessary, but she didn't need vampires on her back for killing one of their own.

"You think this is safe to eat?" she asked with a frown; Rebekah laughed.

"The wine was for me, plus it's harder to poison a vampire's food," Rebekah said. With the wine, the alcohol would overpower the poison if the vampire didn't pay attention.

"why you think she wanted to poison you?" zaci asked

"Aurora has always been a bit knowledgeable. Maybe she found some way to hurt an original," Rebekah said. "We can't die but," she said, not finishing.

Zaci nodded; they can be weakened. She knew that too well with the activities before Hope's birth.