Warrior | Stefan Salvatore

Chapter 3

Breakfast was served in the courtyard.

She had planned to head to Tulane the instant Elijah gave her the bike. But as she wheeled it out, she saw there was a feast waiting. Hayley was already plucking grapes off of a plate.

First, Graciela felt nervous because Hayley had seen her come in and had glared at her. Next, she was nervous because it was quickly established that nobody knew where this table of food had come from.

A platter beside the grapes started to rattle. Klaus, who was now there, just as confused as them, approached it, and lifted the lid to reveal two starlings that flew out of the Compound. Graciela wasn't sure why the birds hadn't moved before if they'd been there the whole time. Or maybe, they hadn't been.

"What the hell was that?" asked Hayley.

Klaus reached for a slip of paper that was on the platter. "An invitation from our mother," he said, showing the note read 'Dinner, Your Home, 8PM.'

Graciela refrained from commenting about how rude it was to invite oneself to dinner at someone else's home. She didn't know much about Esther but she was certain that her relationship with her children wasn't good enough or even healthy enough for her to be doing such things.

"It is times like this I'm really glad I never knew my mother," said Hayley bluntly.

"We have enough enemies here," said Klaus with a scowl. "And now, the war for our home is to be fought against my own family."

Hayley gave him a significant look. "Your wretched mother and her disciples tried to put a carving knife through our baby's heart. I will happily add to the body count."

"You will do no such thing," said Elijah firmly as he motioned for Graciela to put the bicycle away. "Esther's a master in the art of possession. We know whose body she currently inhabits. We must decipher her intentions before she finds a new host."

"Well," said Klaus in a snarky tone, "her last invitation was an assassination attempt on all her children. I think we can assume her intentions are decidedly foul."

Elijah replied, "Well, then, we have—" he checked his watch, "this afternoon to prepare for the worst."

"Wait," said Graciela when he started to walk away. "Where are you going? What do I do?"

"Two very good questions, little runt," said Klaus, raising a brow at his brother as if he was wondering the same thing.

Elijah remained calm. "I am going to speak with Marcel about acquiring a witch that could help us. Graciela..." he didn't seem to know what task to assign her, "Help Niklaus plan the meal for the night."

He walked away, and Graciela immediately shrank back as Klaus rolled his eyes, unhappy that she was going to be shadowing him today.

"Try not to get in the way," he said, heading towards the kitchen and having her follow him. She stood quietly in the corner as he spoke with the chefs, asking them to skip the salad course and make a boeuf bourguignon, with a crème brûlée for dessert. One of the servants came by with two options for a pinot noir wine to accompany the meal. Klaus pointed at one, then went back to the dining room to instruct the maids to start cleaning, then setting the table for three.

"So," said Hayley, coming in and making Graciela skid to a halt behind Klaus, nearly bumping into him. "I guess letting Oliver live paid off. He just informed me your mother has a partner-in-crime... another witch."

Klaus sneered, "Building alliances in her quest to destroy us, I imagine."

"Why does she hate you so much, Klaus?" asked Hayley. "She had six kids— it's not like she doesn't have the maternal gene."