Salvation of a Salvatore Sister

To the Ends of the Earth

Seated at the dining table, which is decorated in a grand manner, I flick my eyes around to our guests. I sit to Klaus's right, Marcel to his left. Klaus occupies the head of the table. Populating the rest of the seats are Marcel's inner circle. Hayley, however, sits opposite of Klaus at the end of the table, far away from me as I assume was Klaus's plan.

I watch Marcel's vampires, waiting for any tick of distrust. I find it hard to believe that they would go from wanting to destroy Klaus one day to following him the next. Their questionable choices makes me frown. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for a while. Betrayal could arise at any moment.

Klaus taps his fork against his glass, calling for everyone's attention. A smirk on his face, he stands, raising his glass. "Let us begin with a toast to our shared gift: immortality. After a thousand years, one might expect life to be less keenly felt, for its beauties and its sorrows do diminish with time. But, as vampires, we feel more deeply than humans could possibly imagine." His eyes flick to mine for a second before he gestures to a wait staff, standing in the corner. The staff steps forward, each member finding a guest to stand by. "Insatiable need, exquisite pain..." the staff pushes back their sleeves and slit their wrists with a knife, letting their blood pool into our glasses. I have to resist the urge to roll my eyes at the whole ordeal. "Our victories, and our defeats." Klaus looks to Marcel, obviously as a dig against his failure to bring him down. "To my city, my home again. May the blood never cease to flow."

"And the party never end!" Marcel adds, a smile on his face. I frown at it. He's obviously faking loyalty to Klaus, meaning there's probably a bigger plot in play or he's just buying time to think of a plan. Hmm. Either way I'll have to keep an eye on that.

"To New Orleans," Diego toasts, raising his glass. I have learned that Diego is Marcel's most trusted vampire. He is also the vampire that Klaus bit, which of course he has now healed Diego of.

"To New Orleans!" Klaus cheers.

I raise my glass along with everyone else, making sure to keep my expression neutral. "New Orleans." The rest of us echo. My eyes flick to Hayley, who remains pouting at the end of the table. My understanding is that she's not happy about being separated from Elijah.

I take a sip of my drink along with everyone. Then, Klaus rests his glass on the table to continue his speech. "I understand that some of you may have questions regarding the recent change in leadership, and I invited you here tonight to assure you that you are not defeated."

Suddenly, my vision begins to blur around the edges. Oh no. Not now. I release my glass and instead clasp my hands in my lap. "No, my intentions moving forward are to celebrate what we have. What Marcel, in fact, took," Klaus places a hand on Marcel's shoulder, eyeing him for a moment before stepping in front of his seat again, addressing everyone else, "and built for this true community of vampires."

My head starts to pound and a nauseous sensation swirls in my stomach.

"What about her?" Diego speaks up, pointing to Hayley at the end of the table. "The wolf."

The pounding grows stronger, my vision blurrier-shifting from clear to not clear every few seconds. But I attempt to ignore the pounding and the throbbing and the blurring as I focus in on Klaus. That's it, I just need to focus. I just need to make it through this dinner.

Klaus's hand falls onto his glass as he inhales. "Had you'd let me finish, Diego," Klaus walks around the table, passing Diego, to stand behind Hayley, "you would know that there is, of course, one further matter I would like to address." Klaus stands behind Hayley, gesturing to her. "As many of you know, the girl is carrying my child. Consequently, I trust you will all pay her the appropriate respect. However, I understand that some of you are concerned by this vicious rumor that I intend to use the blood of our child to create hybrids. I assure you I do not."