Ava Rose Mikaelson | The Originals

9. Reigning Pain in New Orleans

"Wake up." I heard Nik say and I pulled the blanket over me.

"Let me sleep." I said as I turned to my side and went back to sleep but he kept bothering me.

"I have a surprise for you." He says and I groan in annoyance because I want to sleep.

"I thought me killing Tyler was the surprise." I said as I moved the blanket to look at him.

"That was the first surprise. Now that we have our home back it's time for me to give you the second surprise." Nik says and he now has my full attention.

"What time?"

"At 4." Nik says and I looked at him as if he's joking.

"You woke me up at 5 in the morning to tell me that you're taking me somewhere 11 hours from now?"

"Yes...?"

"Goodnight." I said before going back to sleep.

***

It's ten in the morning, Nik and I are having breakfast with Marcel and his lackeys. Nik had the table is set up in the courtyard to celebrate his return to leadership over New Orleans and his repossession of the compound. I'm sitting at the head of the table and Nik is sitting across from me.

Nik calls for everyone's attention to give a speech by tapping his glass with his fork, "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."

Nik gestures toward a group of waiters and waitresses to have them join them at the table, one for each guest, "Insatiable need, exquisite pain..." He says and the servants slit their wrists with knives, filling the cups with blood for the vampires. "Our victories, and our defeats." Nik looks at Marcel as he raised his glass in a toast to the others, "...To my city, my home again. May the blood never cease to flow..."

"...and the party never end!" Marcel says lifting up his glass and he looks over to a vampire.

"To New Orleans." The vampire says, raising his glass.

"To New Orleans!" Nik repeats.

"New Orleans." Everyone says in unison and they all drank.

"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 and built for this true community of vampires."

"What about her?" The vampire points at me, "The wolf."

"It's Ava." I corrected him with a sarcastic smile.

"Had you'd let me finish, Diego..." Nik says as he walks over to me, "You would know that there is, of course, one further matter I would like to address. As many of you know, Ava is my wife and she's 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."

"Can I leave already? I'm hungry for real food." I said and Nik smiles.

"It'll be here shortly." Nik says as he kissed my cheek. It looks the vampires aren't convinced by what Nik said. "It appears I will have to earn your trust. Very well. We'll eliminate the root of your anxiety. You see, how I can I sire any hybrids if there are no more werewolves alive in the Bayou to turn?"