sleeping beauty [the originals]

xxix.

The car carrying Klaus, Hayley, and Isla pulled up to the compound. Isla looked around at the size of the compound. She was impressed. Klaus chuckled at the expression on his sister's face. They got out of the car and Klaus went over to talk to Marcel. 

"This is definitely something." Hayley commented, and Isla nodded. 

"Tell me about it." Klaus gestured for Isla and Hayley to come over. 

"Marcel, you remember Hayley." Marcel nodded, and Klaus looked at Isla. "And this is my sister Isla." Marcel looked at Isla, confused. Isla decided that looking at the ground was the best option.

"Sister?" Marcel asked. 

"It's a long story." Klaus clasped his hands together. "Now, let's get these two situated and then you and I can talk." Marcel sighed, signaling over two vampires. They grabbed Hayley and Isla's bags and headed for the stairs. Isla and Hayley looked at each other before following them. 

Upstairs, Isla followed the vampire with her bag into a bedroom. The guy set down her bag and walked out of the room before Isla could get in a 'thank you'. She sat down on the bed and pulled out her phone. She wanted to text Elijah to let him know that she and Hayley were okay. 

Just got to the compound , she wrote, and then pressed send. She looked at her bag on the floor. Well, guess now was as good a time as any to start unpacking. She had a feeling she wasn't leaving this compound for a while. 

By the time she had finished unpacking, Klaus had called her and Hayley downstairs for a meal. Well, not so much a meal for the two non-vampires as the meal consisted of blood. Hayley sat at the head of the table opposite Klaus, and Isla sat next to her as she didn't feel comfortable sitting next to anyone else at the table. Klaus stood up, raising a glass and tapping it with a spoon. 

"Let us begin with a toast. To our shared gift, immortality. After 1,000 years, one must expect for life to be less keenly felt, for its beauties and its sorrows to diminish with time, but as vampires, we feel more deeply than humans could possibly imagine." He gestured for people to come over to the table. They stood in between the vampires. "Insatiable need, exquisite pain..." The people cut into their wrists, spilling their blood into the bowls. Isla grimaced, turning her head away from the glass. "Our victories, and our defeats. To my city, my home again. May the blood never cease to flow." 

"And the party never end." Marcel replied, holding up his glass. Around the table, the other vampires raised their glasses.

"To New Orleans." They exclaimed. Klaus sighed. 

"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. No. My intentions moving forward are to celebrate what we have, what Marcel in fact, took..." He looked at Marcel, walking over to him and putting a hand on his shoulder. "and built into this. A true community of vampires." Klaus resumed his split at the head of the table. One of the vampires pointed to Hayley.

"What about her, the wolf?" Isla looked at Hayley. 

"Had you let me finish, Diego, you would know that there is, of course, one further matter I would like to address." Klaus walked over to the other end of the table, standing behind Hayley. "As I assume 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." The vampires at the table tensed up. "I assure you, I do not." Hayley scoffed. 

"Father of the year." Isla chuckled, earning a glare from Klaus. 

"It appears I will have to earn your trust." He walked back to his seat at the table. "Very well." He looked upset. "We'll eliminate the root of your anxiety. You see, how can I sire any hybrids if there are no more werewolves alive in the bayou to turn?" Hayley's eyes widened. 

"What? Klaus, no." Klaus simply ignored the werewolf.

"So eat, drink, and be merry, and tomorrow I suggest you have yourselves a little wolf hunt." He grinned. "Go ahead. Have fun. Kill them all." Isla folded her arms. If she was fuming, she couldn't begin to imagine the rage that Hayley felt.