As she made her way into the compound, Hayley said to Klaus, "We were heading out, and now we're throwing a party, I see."
While Annabelle and her two heretics only raised their eyebrows in response, Klaus replied, "One that will be attended by New Orleans' most influential creatures."
After glancing over at Annabelle and her two heretics, who each had smirks of their own on their faces, Hayley said to him, "You do realize that everyone hates every single one of you."
Klaus retorted, "But they love Marcel, and as the invite states, he is the cohost. Tonight, we celebrate our truce."
Hayley said to him, "So, you're throwing a fake party in honor of a fake truce, and your guest of honor is in a dungeon."
As he started to make his way down the stairs, Klaus told her, "Marcel's attendance would only complicate matters." As he gestured between himself, Annabelle and her two heretics, Klaus said to Hayley, "Besides, we'll have our hands full weeding out those in league with the Hollow."
With furrowed eyebrows, Hayley said to him, "I thought you hated Kai."
Klaus replied, "I do, but you know what, Hayley? I admire his ability to kill a rather decently sized group of people, just as he did with his own siblings twenty-five years ago and then brought about the end of his two covens six years ago. So for the time being, I will tolerate Kai and his tendency to call me that wretched name in exchange for his murderous capabilities."
With a nod of her head, Hayley said to him, "Have fun with that. Hope's with Mary. I'm just looking for Freya."
After stopping in front of the table full of drinks, Klaus asked her, "What do you need of her?"
As she started to make her way over towards Klaus, Hayley replied, "Just a favor."
* * *
While Annabelle and her two heretics quietly talked amongst one another, Elijah said to Klaus, "Well, you've outdone yourself."
Klaus replied, "I'm inclined to agree. It's such a shame these lovely linens will soon be red with blood."
As he continued to make his way over towards Klaus, Elijah told him, "Violence must only be seen as a last resort, or it will only weaken our position."
Klaus retorted, "Yes, well, I'm a creature of very specific habits."
After taking the knife out of Klaus's hand, Elijah said to him, "Brother, please remember, the plan tonight is to create a false sense of security. A little music, a little champagne, some stealthy reconnaissance. No bloodshed. Do we understand each other?"
As he started to make his way over towards Elijah, Klaus replied, "They threatened me, they threatened my child. Bloodshed is inevitable."
Elijah asked him, "And how do we protect Hope from all of this?" When Klaus didn't respond, Elijah told him, "She worships you, Niklaus. She must not see the monster."
Klaus said to him, "I do not wish for her to see me as a monster, but I cannot sit idly by while threats to our family go unanswered."
Elijah replied, "They won't. Now, let me do this. Please. And should any turmoil arise, should anyone dare to disrupt our kingdom, let them answer to me."
When Klaus only nodded in response, Annabelle feigned a pout as she asked, "Oh, do you hear that, Kai? Big brother doesn't want there to be any bloodshed. What a shame."
After scoffing to himself, Kai said with a sigh, "Well, this sounds like it's gonna be a really boring night."
With her head tilted to the side, Annabelle replied, "Nonsense. Even if big brother demands there to be any bloodshed, I always do find a way to entertain myself. Whether it be by torturing someone, tearing into the throat of an unsuspecting victim or compelling someone to tear apart every single person they love before killing themselves."
The most Kai did was smirk to himself in response, while Dorothy only sighed to herself at the mere thought of whatever chaos she assumed would take place later on that night.
* * *
While watching Kai try to do everything he could to make the feeling of boredom go away, despite the looks of the compound at this point in time, Annabelle glanced over at Dorothy, who was trying to keep a close eye on her father to ensure that Kai didn't do anything stupid that would get him killed in the process, such as him pissing off the wrong person.
After chuckling to herself, Annabelle went to take a sip out of the glass she was holding, only to stop when she heard a voice say from behind her, "Annabelle, I've been looking for you everywhere."
After sighing to herself, Annabelle found herself face-to-face with Joseph Valentine, who looked more than glad to see that the unstable Original wasn't the least bit injured after she was woken up by Freya days ago.
After plastering a smile on her face, she asked him, "Was there something you needed, Joseph?"
With a shake of his head, Joseph said, "I– Um, no. Nothing. I was just really glad to hear that you got woken up by Freya and needed to see it for myself. I was—" After chuckling to himself, he told her, "Truth be told, I was really worried about you and thought you would have at least been dead when no one heard from you and your siblings in five years. But here you are, five years later, and you're awake and okay and, you know, not dead. Everything's great."
Don't listen to him.
With furrowed eyebrows, Annabelle glanced over at Kai, who was gesturing towards Joseph with a grin on his face, which got Annabelle to roll her eyes to herself before she asked him, "Is that all, Joseph?"
With his eyes wide as ever, he replied, "W-Well, I just thought I'd tell you that if you ever needed anything, I would do it without question. After all, you're the one that made it so William died five years ago. I am eternally in your debt, Annabelle Mikaelson."
He's lying. He wants something from you, Annabelle. You know this.
After blankly staring at him, she told Joseph, "I don't need you to be in my debt. I need you to quit hounding me and acting as if I'm your eternal savior, seeing as how it was me and my friends that had made certain that William was caught to begin with. I am the same person I have been for over a thousand years. I am the very same psychopathic, selfish and murderous vampire I have been for over nine-hundred years. I don't need you constantly tripping over your words because you're either infatuated with me or you're simply nervous to be in my presence or whatever other nonsense is going on inside of your head. What I need is for you to piss off and leave me alone."
After sighing to himself, Joseph said to her, "Look, I get that you're very paranoid and after everything that happened with Lucien, you really don't have a reason to trust anyone outside of your family, but you can trust me, Annabelle. I have no reason to hurt you, or your family, nor do I even have the means to do it. After all, why would I? I know that your family means a lot to you, especially after the five years where you were asleep, so I have no reason to want to hurt any of them. And even though you might think otherwise, there's a part of you that actually cares about Freya. If you didn't, you wouldn't have gone with Finn and Elijah to retrieve her from Mystic Falls before Finn died." After seeing the look she was currently giving him, he sighed to himself before he said, "Look, just keep in mind what I'm saying and remember that you're not alone. There are more people than the ones in your family that actually care about you, Annabelle."
He's trying to get you to let your guard down. That's why he's saying these things. He wants you to let your guard down before he makes his attack.
After scoffing to herself, she told him, "Outside of my family, I have plenty of people that care for me. And the only people that do are Kai, Dorothy and Dorothy's entire coven. That's it. I don't need you or your sorry attempt at making up for what your sire had done to me before I killed him, or for what a man I had once considered a friend had done while holding me hostage in that damn cage inside of his bloody penthouse. The only thing I need is to be around my friends, drink as much as I want and take my mind off of not only the hell of spending five bloody years trapped inside of a house, but also what a man I thought I loved and one I considered a friend had done to me and attempted to do to my family. So how about you do me a favor and piss off before I do to you what I should have done to William and separate your head from the rest of your body."
After nodding to himself, Joseph quickly made his way away from Annabelle, while Kai raised his eyebrows to himself and muttered under his breath, "Well, that went as well as I expected it to."
It was then that Annabelle quickly turned her head and gave Kai a pointed look as she said, "I heard that."
The most Kai did in response was raise his eyebrows before he went back to downing the alcohol that was sloshing around inside of his glass, while Dorothy shook her head at her father's inability to know how to act at a proper party, like the one the Mikaelsons were currently attempting to throw.
* * *
After taking a couple steps forward, Elijah said to the attendees, "My dear friends. Tonight, we celebrate an alliance between our family and Marcel Gerard. Unfortunately, as is his custom, Marcel is unfashionably late. So until such a time as he graces us with his presence, let us all raise a glass and salute the glorious city of New Orleans."
It was then that Klaus took a couple steps forward and also brought Annabelle forward as he said, "But, before we do, my brother, sister and I wish to acknowledge a painful truth. Our relationship with this city, and indeed with most of you, has been long and complicated. We hope you will be put at ease knowing we intend but a brief and peaceful stay. Let this evening be a respite from past grievances... and an opportunity to forge new friendships. Cheers."
After each of them said cheers, they each went about taking a drink out of the glasses they were holding, while the two heretics glanced over at Joseph, who was still staring up at Annabelle as Annabelle simply spoke with her brothers.
* * *
5 years ago
While staring down at an unconscious Annabelle Mikaelson after snapping her neck for about the millionth time since he had taken her captive, Lucien asked, "Are you sure this will work, Van?"
With a nod of his head, Van Nguyen replied, "Positive. The two spells you need will do what they need to."
In turn, Lucien said, "Hmm."
Van told him, "The first spell will keep her locked here. No one will be able to get her out of there, no matter how hard they try."
Lucien asked him, "And as for the second one?"
Van replied, "The second one will give you a better look at the inside of her head. It'll let you see the things she's seen, feel the things she felt, whatever thoughts went on in her head her whole life." When Lucien didn't respond, Van asked him, "Why the hell do you want to see the inside of her head, anyway? I mean, you want to kill her siblings, right?"
When Lucien only nodded in response, Van asked him, "If all you want is to kill her family, then why the hell do you want to see the inside of her head?"
Lucien said to him, "That's my business, Van. All that matters is that you get the job done and make sure that those spells of yours actually work."
Van replied, "And if they do?"
Lucien told him, "Then should the time come where I do die and she's still alive, then everything will work out just as I expected them to."
Van only scoffed in response as he looked away from the two vampires before quickly looking back over at them when he heard a groan.
Just as he managed to look back at them, Annabelle woke up and found herself face-to-face with Lucien, who was still staring at her and not saying anything to her.
The most Annabelle did was slowly tilt her head, while Lucien continued to stare into her eyes and started to tilt his own head.
Van, however, eyed the two ancient vampires with a scrunched up nose and started to wonder just what kind of history the two of them had, due to how they were both looking at each other.
From what he could see, Lucien had some form of an interest in Annabelle.
Annabelle, however, hated Lucien with her entire being, while there was still a part deep inside of her that wanted to see if the human she knew over a thousand years ago was still buried deep inside of him somewhere.
Not long after those thoughts went through his mind, Annabelle started to stare up at Lucien with a scowl on her face.
Just as she went to say something about Lucien either letting her go or simply putting her out of her misery, she suddenly stopped when Lucien shoved his hand through the bars and snapped her neck.
It wasn't until she'd fallen face-first onto the floor of the cage that Lucien fully stood back up onto his own two feet and said as he quickly walked from the cage, "Get to work, Van. The sooner those spells happen, the sooner the rest of my plan can actually take place."
* * *
While standing beside his two younger siblings, Elijah said to them, "You two seem confident."
Klaus replied, "Well, Vincent is an expert, powerful witch, motivated to expose evil and protect his flock. Besides, he knows if this doesn't work, we'll be forced to kill everyone here." After glancing over at Kai, who was downing as many glasses of alcohol as he could get his hands on, he said, "Besides, you know as well as I that, despite just how irritating Kai Parker might be, he would be just as willing to kill, if it were to truly come down to it. And where Kai goes, his young daughter would surely follow."
After Elijah only sighed to himself in response, the three of them watched as Vincent continued to look around the room before eventually he looked at the three Originals and then back over at one single man, which got Klaus to say to them, "Him. Bloke by the stairs."
Just as Klaus started to make his way over towards the man, Elijah raised a hand and said to him, "Niklaus. Remember the deal we made."
Klaus replied, "Well, you want first crack at our foe, be my guest." Not long after he said that, he said as he stared at a woman that was staring up at him, "I spy a lady in need of accompaniment."
While Elijah simply stared out into the crowd of people, Annabelle did nothing but simply roll her eyes to herself.
* * *
As he quickly made his way back into his penthouse, Lucien asked, "Have you finished those spells of yours quite yet?"
With a sigh, Van said, "Sort of."
After closing his eyes and letting out a sigh, Lucien pressed his hands together and plastered a smile on his face as he asked Van, "What do you mean 'sort of'?"
Van replied, "I mean what I said. Sort of. I made it so she couldn't break out of the cage and even if she could, she wouldn't be able to leave this penthouse, unless you said otherwise. And the only way she would be able to leave, aside from your own permission, is if you were to somehow die." After seeing Lucien rather impatiently wave his hand, Van told him, "The second spell is difficult. She's over a thousand years old and has some sort of protective wall keeping me from getting into her head."
After scoffing to himself, Lucien asked him, "And how is that even possible, Van? Because last I checked, Davina Claire got into her head three years ago with ease." As he started to tilt his head, he said, "Perhaps you're not trying hard enough."
After sighing to himself, Van told him, "Look, three years ago, Davina Claire was the only Harvest witch that didn't die after Marcel Gerard saved her life long before the Originals even returned to the city. At the time she got into Annabelle's head, she got this crazy amount of power that let her get into Annabelle's head with ease. And sorry to tell you, but I'm not a Harvest witch. I'm only a Regent. I don't exactly have the power Davina had when she did that."
As he started to make his way over towards Van, Lucien said to him, "Well, here's an idea. How about you talk to your Ancestors and get them to give you the power I need to get this spell to work." Once he reached Van, he grabbed the Regent by the front of his shirt and said as he stared down into the eyes of the witch, "Or I'll find a way to force you to do the spell, with or without the power you need to get the damn spell done."
After sighing to himself, Van replied, "Fine, whatever, I'll see what they can do, but I still don't see why you even need to get inside her head. From what I've heard, after she met you over a thousand years ago, she had spent over nine-hundred years brutally killing anyone that crossed her path. Now my bet is that when you get in her head, you're mostly gonna see the faces of every single person she's killed over the years."
After sighing to himself, Lucien carelessly dropped Van and left him to fall onto the floor as he said, "That's where you're wrong, Van." As he went to crouch down in front of the Regent, he told Van, "With this spell that you're going to cast, I can get a look at the memories she considers to be the most traumatic and twist around the inside of her head so badly that she'll have no choice but to accept things as they are and have her finally come to the conclusion that she has no chance when it comes to me and she'll finally start to be more honest with herself as a person and admit anything she has refused to do for over a thousand years."
With a raise of his eyebrows, Van said, "Wow. So you want to make the most dangerous and mentally unstable member of the Mikaelson family even more crazy. Good plan. But there's one problem." When Lucien only raised his eyebrows in response, Van asked him, "What's to stop her from destroying any chance you have at killing her whole family?"
With a sigh, Lucien said as he forced himself to stand up once more, "Not your concern." As he turned his attention over towards Annabelle, who had been put to sleep by Van a couple of hours earlier, Lucien said, "All you need to know is that this spell is going to help me with making her a tad bit crazier by the time I'm through with her."
With furrowed eyebrows, Van asked him, "But I thought you and her were friends, like, over a thousand years ago?"
After stopping in front of Annabelle's cage, Lucien told him, "She still is my friend, but as her most dearest friend, it is up to me that Annabelle becomes honest with herself and lets others see her true self and not this facade she has been building for herself for over a thousand years."
The most Van did was raise his eyebrows before slowly nodding to himself.
And even though he would never admit it out loud, he knew one thing and one thing only.
Lucien Castle was just as is, if not more, insane as Annabelle Mikaelson.
And it was Lucien's obvious insanity that made the Regent wonder what it was about Annabelle that got Lucien to be practically obsessed over her and her supposedly hidden side for over a thousand years now.
* * *
With an eyebrow raised, Annabelle turned her attention towards her eldest brother as Elijah said, "Ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, we have an errand boy of the Hollow." After slamming the man's head down on the railing, he said, "A disciple of the very darkness that threatens to devour our city, your loved ones... and mine."
Then he quickly threw his arm forward and held the man on the other side of the railing with a tight grip on the front of his neck, which got Annabelle to simply raise her eyebrows in response, while Elijah said to the crowd, "Now, whether or not you despise us, my family will do everything in its power to remove this scourge from New Orleans. I recommend you do the same."
After suddenly shoving his hand into the man's chest, Elijah pulled his hand out of the man's just as quickly as he shoved it in before dropping his now dead body just a mere couple of feet from the crowd of people.
And the most Annabelle and Kai did was slowly look between the dead body and Elijah with their eyebrows raised and a rather impressed look on both of their faces before Kai eventually decided to give Elijah a big thumbs up and a grin on his face.
Dorothy, however, simply rolled her eyes at the eldest Mikaelson brother and her father with a sigh.
* * *
With a sigh, Van took a step back from Annabelle's cage and said, "It's done. The spell's done. Can I go now?"
With a hand raised, Lucien replied, "Not quite yet, Van. In all due time, I will let you return home, but not quite yet."
While Van only sighed to himself in response, Lucien slowly made his way over towards the cage and kept a close eye on Annabelle to ensure that she was still asleep because of the spell that Van had put on her.
When it was quite obvious that she would still remain asleep, Lucien crouched down in front of the cage and stared at her for several moments before he grabbed her by the hair and dragged her towards the front of the cage.
It wasn't until she was close enough to the front of the cage that he placed his hands on both sides of her head and closed eyes before he found himself being sucked into all kinds of traumatic memories of Annabelle's.
The first being when she started to be tortured by her parents at the age of six.
The next being when she blacked out and murdered her husband and children, due to the spell Esther had placed on her, while she was pregnant with her son, Odin.
The third one being the time when Kol had informed Annabelle that she was the one who murdered her own husband and two children.
And from that point onward, all of the memories came across as a blur.
He could hear everything that she said, everything she was thinking and felt everything she was feeling.
He could feel the overwhelming anger and hatred towards not only those that angered her, but also hatred for herself and her lack of control, due to her belief that she had no control of her bloodlust when her husband and children were killed by her.
And, just as he expected, the one memory that was the most traumatic for her was when she watched Kol get murdered by Jeremy Gilbert three years ago.
It was this one single memory that made her into the person she was now.
It made her into this woman that hated everyone and everything and wanted nothing more than to exact her revenge on any that intended to harm her brother, Kol.
He could see how she sobbed at the mere sight of Kol's burnt body and heard all the thoughts that quickly went through the inside of her head.
He could hear just how much difficulty she had with accepting the fact that it was her twin's brother that she was seeing just three years ago.
It wouldn't be until she heard Elena try to justify the murder of Kol Mikaelson that Annabelle's mind seemed to clear up and the only thing she wanted at that exact moment was to murder Elena Gilbert, Jeremy Gilbert, their friends and whatever bit of family they had left.
She wanted to make them all feel the same exact pain she felt the moment her brother had fallen onto the kitchen floor in the Gilbert home and had burst into flames.
Out of all the traumatic memories Annabelle had, this was the angriest she had ever felt, while it was also the most broken she had felt.
In that one and single moment, Annabelle had been broken beyond repair and could think of nothing more than how to make Elena Gilbert and her loved ones pay for what they did.
But fortunately for everyone in the world, it was her friendship with Dorothy Sullivan that had started to slowly repair her and make her into a better version of herself.
Then the semi-friendship she had with Kai Parker helped as well, despite just how annoying she found the sociopathic heretic to be.
As far as Lucien was concerned, this was the one memory that could make her be her truest self and quit hiding her true self from everyone around her.
With a sigh, Lucien pulled himself out of her head and stared down at her with a smile on his face as he lightly caressed the side of her face with his thumb.
With furrowed eyebrows, Van silently eyed Lucien, who was still smiling down at Annabelle, before he slowly started to make his way out of the penthouse.
Whatever was about to happen, he didn't want to be there for and he didn't want to know whatever sort of plan Lucien had for the unstable Original.
All that he knew was that whatever Lucien had planned for her would most likely result in the deaths of thousands upon thousands of people and he didn't want to be there to be a witness to any of it.
* * *
While Dorothy and Kai were in the next room with Annabelle's brothers and Hayley talking about the importance of Papa Tunde's blade that the Hollow's followers had stolen, Annabelle remained silent as she thought over the words she had earlier said to Joseph Valentine when he had approached her.
There was a small part of her that wanted to be kind and thank him for his worry of her and what he did before she had William killed five years ago, but there was a larger part of her that kept her from doing just that.
This part of her kept repeating words over and over during the conversation she had with Joseph earlier in the night.
And for some reason she couldn't shake, she felt as if it was Lucien's own voice that was saying those words to her from deep inside of her own mind.
But seeing as how it had been days since she had been woken up by Freya, Annabelle couldn't understand why she could hear the voice of Lucien Castle, a vampire that her half-brother had killed five years ago, inside of her own mind now and not when she had first woken up.
After letting out a sigh, Annabelle started to raise her head, only to stop and come to an abrupt halt when she saw the very face that had held her captive five years ago.
With a shake of her head, she said, "No. You're dead. I know it. My brothers and sisters told me that you were killed by Klaus." As the figure started to slowly make his way over towards Annabelle, she said, "You're not real. Your body was set on fire. You were made into a mere pile of ashes, so there is no way that you're even here."
It was then that she heard another voice say from behind her, "Annabelle?"
Annabelle quickly turned around to see that Dorothy was standing behind her.
With a shake of her head, Dorothy asked her, "Who were you just talking to?"
Then Annabelle quickly turned around to see that Lucien Castle was no longer standing in front of her and he was now gone.
After silently staring at the spot where she had just seen him standing in for several moments, Annabelle quickly sped out of the compound and left Dorothy to stare after Annabelle with furrowed eyebrows and a frown on her face.