THE FRENCH QUARTER
(Marcel boasts to Klaus and Kol his methods for providing fresh blood for his vampires.)
Marcel: (voiceover) The city of New Orleans... people of all stripes and flavors from all over the country come here to party on our streets. Some are just looking for fun... some are looking for something a little darker, more dangerous. So, we invite them into my home and we give it to them.
(Diego, one of Marcel's vampires, shows a flyer to two tourists, a man and a woman. The flyer is headed by a large, monogrammed 'M', beneath which reads:
ABATTOIR
WHERE THE PARTY
NEVER ENDS
(They enter the party and get their hands stamped with the same 'M' monogram as the flyer.)
Marcel: (voiceover) Then, at the stroke of midnight, everything changes, and it's time to feed.
(Marcel leads Kol and Klaus around a balcony overlooking the party. They watch as Marcel's vampires feed ravenously on the humans, who scream in terror.)
Marcel: This is how I keep my guys happy: the occasional, all-you-can-eat buffet. My night-walkers love it. I've got 'em working hard, trying to earn one of these daylight rings. They deserve to blow off a little steam. My day-walkers, the trusted few – they just like the party.
(Klaus notices a crest of some sort engraved on the stone wall below: it includes the 'M' monogram, as well as a coiled serpent. He does not comment on it.)
Klaus: It's quite an operation. Tell me – what about the victims? Seems like a lot of graves to dig.
Marcel: Can't kill 'em all. Too many folks go missing, tourism drops. So, we heal them with a little vamp blood, erase their memory, send them on their way – no muss, no fuss.
Klaus: I'm impressed.
Marcel: Nothing I didn't learn from you back in the day.
(Thierry, one of Marcel's vampires, approaches the three.)
Thierry: Marcel.
Marcel: 'Sup, Thierry?
Thierry: Six of our guys were killed in a bar outside of the Quarter. Night-walkers. No one saw who.
(While Marcel receives this news, Klaus and Kol looks away. Cut to Rebekah driving her red convertible; she checks herself in the rearview mirror, wipes a drop of blood off her cheek, smiles and keeps driving.)
MIKAELSON MANSION
(Rebekah parks in front of the Mikaelson mansion, leaving a message on her phone as she gets out. Hayley And Ashley, inside, hears something and walks warily down the stairs.)
Rebekah: Elijah, if not answering your phone is part of your clever plan to get me back to this godforsaken city, then well done. I'm here, and I'm worried. Now pick up before I kick in your bloody door.
(Rebekah walks up the front steps and opens the door. She walks in as Hayley and Ashley comes down the stairs, wielding two fire irons.)
Hayley: Who the hell are you?
Rebekah: Oh, you must be the maids. My bags are in the car – get them, will you?
(Hayley And Ashley smiling wryly, puts down both of the iron pokers.)
Ashley: Hello. Not the maids.
Rebekah: Right. You're that werewolf girls my brothers, Klaus and Kol, knocked up. I was expecting to see some kind of supernatural, miracle baby bump. Guess you're not showing yet. It's Hayley and Ashley isn't it?
Ashley: Yes that's us.
Hayley: You have your brother's manners.
Rebekah: And his temper, too, so watch it. Where's Elijah?
Hayley: Beats me. He's long gone.
Rebekah: What do you mean, "long gone"?
Hayley: Well, one minute he was here making epic promises about protecting me in this predicament that a bottle of scotch and some bad decisions got us into – he was all poetic about how we're family – and then Klaus told me he bailed. Guess that's what I get for trusting a vampire.
Rebekah: Elijah is not just any vampire, and he doesn't break promises. Which means Niklaus has done something dastardly and Klaus-like. Klaus! Get out here and tell me what you've done with our brother, you narcissistic, back-stabbing wanker!
(Klaus and Kol opens a pair of doors and they enter the room.)
