Lightning Strikes Twice

Fifty Six

It was cold. Méalla had just pulled under a store awning of a witch's shop in Nice, France when she felt someone at her back. She turned and bit her tongue so hard it bled at what she saw.
"Iz? You're alive?"
"There's so much I need to tell you. Please. Let me take you to dinner."
Méalla's head was spinning. Elijah had compelled their first sirelings to pretend to be them. This was first she had heard about this. First time she had heard about what Elijah and Niklaus had done to her and Isabel.
"If Niklaus compelled you to leave me without reason, how are you able to tell me now?"
Isabel shrugged. "I only heard that Elijah being daggered broke his compulsions.I don't know about Niklaus."
"What have you been doing in all this time?"
"Enjoying a long life. Missing you."

"Do I have to do this?" Méalla trailed Elijah as he got ready for Thanksgiving dinner with the sirelings.
"Do you want to help Rebekah?"
"Of course I do but I don't see how inviting the bastards over for a holiday will do anything besides the fact I have literally no allies at the table."
"Oh so you didn't go to Isabel's last night?"
"I wouldn't call her an ally yet but we do have some goals in common."
"Besides that, you have me and Klaus."
"Oh right cause you were so helpful when Niklaus stuck a cursed blade into me for six months and turned one of my daughters into a wolf."
Elijah winced. "If you could let that go for one evening and help us stand as a united front..."
"Fine. If there's violence, I want to draw first blood. From Niklaus." Méalla grumbled as she turned to go get herself ready.

A formal dinner table had been set up in the courtyard, and the bar that Klaus and Elijah destroyed in their last fight had been replaced and filled with fancy decanters full of various forms of alcohol, along with plates of grapes, cheese, and bread as hors d'oerves. Lucien was at the bar, pouring himself a glass of bourbon, when Tristan arrived with a bouquet of flowers in a large pot in his hand.
"Aw, flowers for me? You shouldn't have!"
Tristan rolled his eyes as he set the pot of flowers on the other end of the bar.
"They're for the lady of the house. The well-mannered bring a gift when invited to dinner. I assume you brought nothing?"
"Nothing but my deepest respect for you."
Just then, Klaus and Méalla enter the room, having changed into black formal clothes.
"Lovely. We're all getting along!" Klaus said.
"Are we?" Méalla replied with a bored tone.
"Mmm, like a fuse and a match." Lucien replied as well.
"I take it Aurora and Isabel are on their way?"
At the sound of their names, Aurora and Isabel waltz into the room. Aurora smiled widely.
"I'm sorry I'm late. Just freshening up. I did want to look pretty." Aurora said.
Klaus smiled at her in amusement, and Méalla rolled her eyes,  but Klaus' smile falls when Aurora walked straight toward Lucien, who seemed to have been momentarily stricken speechless by the sight of her.
"Well, well. If it isn't my old friend Lucien."
"Hello, Aurora. It's been ages. You look..."
Klaus, seemingly jealous of this interaction, quickly walked toward Aurora and took her hand in his own.
"You look ravishing." Klaus finished, looking up at her with admiration.
Méalla approached Isabel, who was wearing a brown velvet gown.
"Let's sit so we can get this over with faster."
She said to her sireling.
"Mélla, you wound me." Lucien said dramatically.
"Oh not as much as I would like to Lucien." Méalla replied without looking.
"Méalla please wait until after the meal, at least. Your daughters need a good role model." Elijah spoke.
"Speaking of, where are the little runts?" Lucien asked.
Méalla stiffened.
"You have no need to be concerned. Ask again and I'll cut out your tongue." Méalla spoke, turning to glare at Lucien.
"I thought each of you only had one child?"
"Aurora, I will pull your vocal cords from your throat. Ask Niklaus, he experienced it recently." Méalla's glared deepened as she stared at the redhead.
Aurora looked to Klaus and at his face, decided not to press the mama bear.
"Méalla." Came Elijah's warning tone.
"You only said I had to be here, not that I had to be civil." Méalla shrugged at her older brother, taking her seat besides Isabel.
"Please excuse Méalla and welcome to our home! I do wish it was under better circumstances. We all face a common threat-- a prophecy warning that my siblings and I would all fall within a year."
Elijah paused dramatically.
"I fear my sister already has."
After a moment of awkward silence, Tristan spoke up.
"Only as a precautionary measure, I assure you."
Lucien looked at Tristan in surprise and disapproval, and Elijah, too, did not seem pleased by this information.
"Interesting. You see, I would have called it an entirely unnecessary measure. We need to unite to prevent the prophecy from coming to pass. And, since any alliance is impossible without honesty..."
The Mikaelson siblings exchange a quick look before Elijah continues.
"Let us begin this evening's proceedings by formally acknowledging your clandestine alliance."
Elijah gestured at Tristan and Lucien, who both look stunned. However, after a moment, Lucien nervously replied to Elijah's statement.
"Now gentlemen, before--"
Elijah quickly cut Lucien off before he can finish his sentence."Shh, shh, shh, shh. Lucien, please. Let's not ruin the dinner before it begins."
Méalla snorted under her breath.
"And, do try to bear in mind, we expect a honest and productive negotiation this evening!" Klaus spoke.
"Shall we begin?" Elijah asked, extending his arm to the dining room table, where Isabel and Méalla were already seated.
Isabel, Méalla, and Aurora were seated on one side while Tristan and Lucien the other, Klaus and Elijah taking the heads of the table.
The table is loaded with all manner of Thanksgiving foods, including a turkey, stuffing, hrown gravy, cranberry sauce, and casseroles.
"Please pass the sweet potato casserole." Méalla asked Isabel, who smiled sweetly at her as she passed the platter. Méalla gave a small smile back. Then it fell as Lucien started to talk.
"It's a bit odd, isn't it? Celebrating an American holiday?"
"Well, you know, Lucien, I rather enjoy Thanksgiving. The turkey, the cranberry sauce... The lies, the deceit, the betrayal... Perhaps we should begin this evening's proceedings with a little confession?" Elijah said.
Elijah gestured to the food on the table that Méalla and Isabel had already been helping themselves too.
"And do help yourselves." He finished.
"So, this entire dinner is meant to be some boorish inquisition? How rude." Aurora pouted.
Klaus smiled. "Nonsense, love! My brother merely wishes to make certain we're all on the same page. So, who would like to begin?"
Everybody was silent until Tristan finally spoke up.
"Well, Lucien and I have always loathed each other. Had we arrived as allies with a bleak future, you would have doubted us. We sought to remove suspicion by maintaining appearances."
Elijah chuckled and rolled his eyes. His voice was sarcastic as he said. "Oh, my dear. These pathetic lies promise to be as difficult to swallow as your stuffing this year, Niklaus."
Elijah sighed dramatically and lowered his voice.
"Walnuts, honestly."
Klaus laughed.
"I rather like the stuffing actually." Isabel shrugged.
"Ah yes Isabel I practically forgot you were here. Why are you here, except for sleeping with my sister?" Elijah asked.
"I'm simply trying to stop the others from idiotic plans they just can't seem to grasp won't work. And to see Méalla again, yes." Isabel spoke, glaring slightly at Elijah.
Then Lucien jumped into the discussion. "The bottom line is, we came to protect you ourselves. We have never wavered on this point."
"And the bodies on my streets-- is that your protection as well?" Klaus asked skeptically.
"It's business as usual for The Strix." Lucien shrugged.
"An old tactic, used often and to great success. Jack the Ripper, Son of Sam... A frightened human populace is that much easier to control. If tourism should decline, and the local vampires are deprived of fresh blood? Well, you saw how quickly Marcel joined our ranks." Tristan added, making Méalla roll her eyes.
Klaus rolled his eyes at the same time. "Pedestrian. I would've expected more from such gaudy theatrics."
"Well, if one wanted to obtain a certain item in, say, a private collection, but one was not invited into the home where said private collection was located, a police investigation could come in handy to remove those items as evidence." Lucien spoke.
"I take it you are referring to the medallion?" Elijah asked, bemused.
Tristan and Lucien seem alarmed at his words.
"I suppose it was my sister who shared that bit of information?" Tristan asked.
"Don't blame Aurora-- you two are hardly conspiratorial geniuses."
"Funny story-- it turns out, all along, that the medallion was in the hands of Nik's friend Camille, the bartender-slash-therapist. Had to get her arrested in order to search her goodies, so to speak. But, I would never allow any harm to come to her, knowing the great affection you have for her, Niklaus."
"Yes I do remember you forcing Cami to help you Lucien. That is going to work wonders with getting Klaus on your side."
Méalla spoke sarcastically.
"How did you know? You're not even in the loop!" Lucien asked.
"Anyone could have spies anywhere. Compelling Detective Kinney, well done there. I'm glad you healed him though, he's a good cop for this town."
Méalla shrugged.
"Cami?" Echoed Aurora.
"Let's just stop the niceties and get to the point please." Isabel asked, finished with her dinner. Her and Méalla had been eating this entire time.
"I agree. A medallion that could lock us away hardly seems like a wise strategy for those come to protect us. Hand it over." Klaus started coldly.
"and release Rebekah." Elijah finished frigidly.
"Then get the fuck out of my town." Méalla added on.
"Uh, just a tick-- Aurora has Rebekah, hmm?"
Lucien said.
"No reason why I shouldn't be trusted with my sire's safety." Aurora replied, offended.
"Actually many reasons." Méalla replied to Aurora the same time as Lucien said
"Of course... unless you were to have one of your episodes."
Tristan quickly interrupted to defend his sister.
"Easy, Lucien. My sister sought leverage to protect herself. Who among us would do otherwise?"
Méalla saw Elijah was rapidly beginning to lose his patience with this conversation.
"Niklaus, Méalla, will you politely remind me why we shouldn't just compel them all to give us what we want?"
Aurora burst into very loud laughter at this remark. Klaus smiled tightly at her, also beginning to dislike their conversation.
"I'm sorry, did Elijah say something amusing?"
Aurora smiled politely. "We lost a century to compulsion, my love. And some of us lost a great deal more. Surely you can't believe we'd allow ourselves to come here vulnerable?"
Elijah smiled fakely at Aurora in response.
"My dearest Aurora, compulsion is not my only party trick."
Aurora's smile became a scowl.
"I do not like these threats."
Once again, Tristan quickly jumped into the conversation to mediate.
"Our continued existence depends on the Mikaelsons."
Aurora rolled her eyes at her brother's diplomatic attitude.
"Which means, dear sister, we should trust them with their own safety." Isabelsaid, making Aurora, Lucien and Tristan look at her like she was crazy.
"Most certainly not Isabel!" Tristan replied in horror.
"We've known that fact since Finn and Kol died. Unfortunately, so does every other vampire in the world. Given that the sirelines have declared war against one another, you can imagine how many young upstarts have come to the same conclusion-- kill a Original, wipe out an entire line of rivals."
Tristan looked pointedly at the Mikaelsons.
"Heavy burden, isn't it? The lives of thousands of sired vampires resting on your shoulders? In a perfect world, you'd allow us to seal you away forever, thus eliminating the threat."
The Mikaelsons all stare coldly at Tristan. "Fortunately, the world is far from perfect." Klaus replied.