Endgame ⚜ Sweet but Psycho

36. an unwanted reunion

May 4, 2019

New Orleans, Louisiana 

An Alleyway

Poppy brought her thumb underneath her bottom lip and wiped away the bit of blood that had gotten there, her face going back to normal from its transformed state. 

Poppy Salvatore-Mikaelson had changed since the night her beloved Stefan passed on to Peace, and not in a good way. She would binge on the blood of human tourists, spend nights drinking. She was constantly running and hiding from her friends and family (except for Silas and the kids), wanting to avoid intervention. She had adopted an obsessive behavior, she investigated the Moon Saviors more than she had before; she had post its all over her office, hundreds of notes, listed locations, photos. Anything to get her mind off of Arcadius, Hellfire, and Stefan. Not a single flame was to be lit in the home while she was there, and every time she felt warmth she would be filled with anxiety...which is why summer was going to be really hard. 

There she stood in the alley way, behind ten dead and drained bodies, the AirPods in her ears playing Dead In the Water by James Gillespie at about medium volume. Her hair had been growing, falling just below her shoulder blades, and it was straight. She wore a red loose cotton tank top, black leather pants, heels, and Stefan's daylight ring on a necklace. Bringing her thumb to her lips, she sucked the blood off it, and then she took her AirPods off, putting them in her pocket. 

"Marcellus." Poppy greeted her brother, who stood towards the other end of the alley, holding an expression of surprise and horror, but she ignored that. She knew it wasn't right, but for the moment it made her feel better. The people she killed were nobodies, she made sure of that. "Is there something you need?"

Marcel composed himself. It pained him to see his sister the way she was now, everything she went through had changed her drastically. "No, I just wanted to see what you were doing.."

"Well, you saw." Poppy stepped over the bodies and walked to the other end of the alley. She began to walk past him, but he grabbed her wrist, stopping her. She clenched her jaw and turned her head to look at him. 

Her brother also turned his head to look at her. "I'm not going to let you run anymore. I'm taking you to see your father." 

"No." Poppy refused, trying to free her wrist from his grasp, but he kept a firm grip. "Marcel, why don't you go back home? I'm sure Sofya will be better company than me." 

Marcel let out a sigh and let go of her wrist, allowing her to walk away. He watched her as she stepped out into the sunlight, and he looked back into the alleyway, seeing that the bodies had disappeared. He took a deep breath before turning around and leaving the alley. 

This has gone on for too long...she'll only get worse. He thought to himself. He only had one option left. Vamping to his sister, he grabbed her head and twisted her neck, catching her limp body as she fell.

May 5, 2019

New Orleans, Louisiana 

Vincent's Church 

"It's a beautiful day outside. Streets are packed with tourists. They're drinking beers, they're chasing beads, heading out on the Vampire Walking Tour of New Orleans. They think it's just a myth." Vincent spoke, standing in front of rows of pews, which were full of people. "Just part of our city's charm. Well, we know better. Just like we know...that there's a storm coming. This year marks 5 years since the fall of the Mikaelsons. Five years of peace. And we paid a high price for that peace. We witches, we earned that peace. We snatched back our freedom, we severed our link with our ancestors. To take back our city, we backed Marcel Gerard and Poppy Salvatore. Now, since then, we fought hard to build this community, and in the next week as we celebrate our independence, that community will be challenged...because every year, we get visitors. Vampires. Vampires from all over the world, they come here and they want to see firsthand the suffering of Klaus Mikaelson. Now, some of those vampires..they're going to be well behaved. Others...not so much.