The Jewel of the New Orleans ⚜ The Originals

Chapter 9: Protection

Colette couldn't figure out which she disliked more. The fact that Klaus had taken Marcel's home from him and claimed New Orleans as his kingdom or the fact that he was acting so civil as if the courtyard they were sitting in didn't have spilled blood of the vampires he had sought to control.

The dinner he was holding to get to know all of Marcel and Colette's inner circle sat at a long table in the courtyard. She sat next to Hayley, wanting to provide her with some kind of comfort if she could, being the closest thing she had to a friend there. Marcel sat on the other side, next to Klaus who had the head seat of the table while Hayley held the other.

Klaus tapped his glass with his fork, the ringing of it calling attention to him. Something Colette realized he loved more than anything else. He stood up from his chair, 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."

He beckoned the servers that stood on the sidelines to come to them. "Insatiable need, exquisite pain..." The servers pulled up their sleeves and slit both wrists before holding them over the bowls of the vampires seated. Colette had to keep from grimacing at the sight. She loved a fresh meal, but it was the theatrics of it all that turned her off. "Our victories, and our defeats." He looked to Marcel with the final word, Colette thinking back to only hours before.

"Marcel, are you sure this is wise?" Colette questioned him as she handed him a glass of bourbon before taking the open seat on the couch next to the armchair he was in. "He only just defeated you. I don't like you going back into the lion's den so soon."

"So it's better that I let you do it?" he asked incredulously. "Besides, we have Rebekah on our side. She says he wants my allegiance, our allegiance. All we need to do is play the part of advisor."

Colette smirked. "A role that even you didn't even listen to. How can you trust that Klaus will listen to you? I know he cares for you, even raised you like a son. Besides... I don't like lying. And I think he's gotten to know me well enough he'll have to earn it."

"To my city, my home again. May the blood never cease to flow..."

"... and the party never end!" Marcel finished, raising his glass as well, looking to Colette.

She lifted up her champagne. "To New Orleans."

"To New Orleans!" Klaus repeated.

"New Orleans," everyone followed suit from taking a drink.

"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-" Klaus put a hand on Marcel's shoulder, trying to make him uneasy "- and built for this true community of vampires alongside Colette." He gestured to her with that wicked smile of his.

Diego, sitting on her other side, pointed to Hayley. "What about her? The wolf."

Klaus picked up his glass once more, having set it down for a moment. "Had you let me finish, Diego, you would know that there is, of course, one further matter I would like to address." He moved to the other end of the table, standing behind Hayley. "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."