" 'cause I can sometimes treat the people that I love like jewellery "
LENA felt very, very uncomfortable in her seat. Klaus had bought her a dress for the dinner party he was hosting that night and she sat at the opposite end of the table beside Hayley. The werewolf had her knees pulled up to her chest, resting her elbows on them and glaring angrily at the hybrid at the opposite end of the long table from her.
Hayley and Lena were the only two at the dinner table who were not vampires, neither were they immortal. They also looked the least dressed up, despite the new dress Klaus had bought Lena when he had listened to her cry herself to sleep the night before.
It was their first dinner in the Abattoir, and yet Lena wasn't feeling the tiniest bit hungry, especially not after she had walked into her new household and seen it had been littered with the dead bodies of over a dozen vampires.
Klaus' clanging of his fork against his glass brought Lena out of her own mind and she glanced over at him to see him rising to his feet. "Let us begin with a toast--" he began, smiling gently at the witch. She didn't feel like smiling back, she missed Rebekah too much. "--to our shared gift - immortality. After one thousand years, one might expect life to be less keenly felt, for its beauties and its sorrows to diminish with time, but as vampires, we feel more deeply than humans could possibly imagine--" Klaus motioned for the four human butlers he had compelled to step forward and they did. "--insatiable need, exquisite pain--" the compelled humans pushed up their sleeves and cut their own wrists with the knives Klaus had given them. Lena squeezed her eyes shut but she could still hear the blood dripping into the bowls of the vampires. "--our victories and our defeats.To my city, my home again! May the blood never cease to flow!"
"And the party never end!" finished Marcel, lifting his glass. Beside Lena, who had opened her eyes again once the butlers left, Diego lifted his glass and toasted to New Orleans, allowing the others vampires to do the same.
Hayley and Lena made eye contact. Hayley didn't even bother trying to lift her glass, but Lena tilted hers a little. She didn't want to make Klaus angry. He had already forced her away from Rebekah in order to punish his sister, she didn't dare think what he would do if she stepped out of line.
"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 into this - a true community of vampires."
"What about them?" asked Diego, before pointing to Hayley and Lena as he said, "the wolf and the witch?"
"Had you let me finish, Diego, you would know that there is, of course, one further matter I would like to address." Klaus had moved around the table as he spoke and now he stood behind Hayley, much to the werewolf's dissatisfaction. "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 rumour that I intend to use the blood of our child to create hybrids. I assure you, I do not."
"Father of the year," muttered Hayley sarcastically. Lena snorted into her glass of white wine, causing Klaus to send her an unimpressed glare. As he passed by Lena, his hand slid over her shoulder and she seemed to move into his touch unknowingly.
"It seems I will have to earn your trust, very well. We'll eliminate the root of your anxiety. You see, how can I sire any hybrids if there are no more werewolves alive in the bayou to turn?"
"No," Lena let the horrified gasp escape her lips before she could stop herself. Hayley looked equally as horrified for the family that she had finally found that were living in the bayou, she had spent the whole of the night telling Lena what she had learned and even shown her 'The Bible of Hayley's Family Tree' as they had named it.
"Klaus no," Hayley tried to argue, going to get to her feet, but Klaus cut her off.
"So eat, drink and be merry and tomorrow I suggest you have yourselves a little wolf hunt. Go ahead, have fun, kill them all."
The vampires around the table seemed to buzz with excitement, but Hayley and Lena did not share the feeling. Instead Hayley tried to hold back tears as Lena squeezed her hand tight, glaring at Klaus down the table.
"You're being a right bastard, you know that?" Lena snarled, rising to her feet. All the vampires at the table turned to watch her. Hayley looked a little shocked. "You want to punish Elijah and Rebekah for not trusting you once! One fucking time! There must be a pretty good reason why they don't, and after hearing what you'll do to those werewolves who haven't done a fucking thing to you, well, I can see why. Who's next on your list? The witches? The humans? Maybe I was wrong, maybe you really are evil after all."
They all watched Lena storm away from the dining table and up the stairs, and then she disappeared behind a column, short blue hair gone from sight. Klaus let out a sigh, knowing that the witch wouldn't want to talk to him at all, but he desperately wanted to go after her, to make sure she didn't hate him. He couldn't deal with her hating him.
So, he waited until he felt like he could dismiss the vampires from his new home and he didn't even think twice about Hayley before he made his way up to the bedroom that Lena had chosen. He found it quite ironic that Lena had chosen Rebekah's room as her own, especially as he still hadn't told her.
"You know--" he said as he knocked on the door of her bedroom. She was standing at the window, glaring down at the drunk people stumbling through the streets of the French Quarter. "--this room used to belong to my sister."
She didn't even bother turning to look at him, she couldn't bring herself to do so. Klaus was willing to kill all the remaining members of Hayley's family who she had yet to meet because he wanted power. She hated this Klaus, she hated the way he shut himself off to normal human emotions just to get what he wanted.
"Obviously, I chose the right one then," mumbled Lena, but she couldn't help but think just how amazing it was. She and Rebekah were drawn to each other, platonic soulmates through and through.
"I'm sorry, Lena, for what I said at dinner, but I need to get the vampires on my side and this is the best way to do it." Lena turned. She had been crying, that was obvious. Klaus felt a pang in his heart when he saw the smudged mascara under her eyes and the tear tracks on her cheeks. He had made her cry.
"You shouldn't be apologising to me, you're about to wipe out the wolves!"
"Why should I care about a few bayou wolves?" Klaus had stayed in the doorframe. It was obvious from Lena's crossed arms and shiny glare that she didn't want him coming in, and so he respected her wishes and stayed where he was.
"Because they're Hayley's family, Klaus. You remember Hayley right? The mother of your freaking child!" Klaus let out a sigh as Lena ran her fingers through her hair, tugging at the roots in order to calm herself down a bit. She had to stay calm, if Klaus trusted her enough he might allow Rebekah to come and stay also. "Listen, you should go and apologise to her, she's the one who's gonna hate you."
"Would you?"
Lena shrugged. "I think I would want to, or I would try to."
"Lena you have to understand, I need to do this--"
"Says who Klaus? You're the one that thinks you need to do this but this isn't gonna win you loyalty points or anything."
"Kings don't need loyalty!" snapped Klaus, his eyes reflecting a fearsome shade of red, but the colour was gone in a blink of an eye. Lena shook her head the the vampire, turning away from him again to watch a man trip over the curb and hit his head on the side of the road.
"When a man has loyal subjects, that's when you know he is a king."
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THE Abattoir felt eerily quiet when Lena and Hayley creeped through the courtyard, keeping their eyes peeled for Daylighters who were supposed to make sure that they weren't leaving, and if they were they needed a guardian to make sure they didn't run off.
They had waited until Camille O'Connell had arrived to listen to Klaus rant about backstabbing siblings and a certain witch who had crawled under his skin before they took their leave. The two were off to save Hayley's estranged werewolf family.
They were almost out the front door when Diego's familiar voice caught them off-guard. "Going somewhere?" he growled but before they could even think about fighting back, Diego was being shoved into the wall and his neck was being snapped to knock him out to give them both enough time to escape.
Their saviour? Elijah, of course.
"You shouldn't be here," Hayley told him. "Klaus has his guys watching us." But Lena was hardly listening, she was too busy thinking about why Rebekah wasn't there. Her best friend in the entire world had skipped out on the chance to see her, why?
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about them."
And then Lena's worries were answered when a few of Klaus' new vampires were thrown to their feet and Rebekah stepped into the light, grinning wickedly at the witch she had raised. Lena didn't hesitate to rush forward and throw her arms around her best friend, allowing the vampire to squeeze her tightly. It has been just under 36 hours since they had last seen each other and that was far too long for the two. Lena had already started to feel withdrawal symptoms.
"Come, we mustn't linger, let's get you someplace safe," Elijah ordered, going to lead the way out of the Abattoir as Lena and Rebekah finally let go of each other, but Hayley stopped him.
"No, you guys don't need to worry about us, we're fine," she told them, causing Rebekah to stop too and turn towards Lena, who was standing beside Hayley.
"We've been deemed under protection by the almighty Klaus and I can't leave Hayley here, he'll drive her nuts." Hayley let out a small chuckle, but Lena hardly noticed. She had taken a hold of Rebekah's hands and were squeezing them tightly, trying to reassure her that she really was alright and that she hadn't been crying last night (Rebekah could tell this was a lie.)
"It's the werewolves who need help," Hayley explained, "he ordered a wolf hunt as some jacked-up peace offering to Marcel's crew, you have to help them!"
"Out in the bayou?" Rebekah asked, her voice barely above a whisper in the wind. They couldn't even risk the chance of being overheard by Klaus or any Daylighter who walked in. "Do we look like a bloody vampire rescue squad? I think you should be grateful we came to save you."
"Bex," scolded Lena, shaking her head at her best friend. A look of indignation flashed across Rebekah's face but it was blown away when Hayley began to talk to her.
"Look Rebekah, all my life I've wanted to know who my real family was and just as I find out that they're out there in the bayou, Klaus orders them killed," explained the werewolf. Rebekah sighs, sharing a look with Lena. They were sharing more than a look though, a similar thought passed through them both and they seemed to be communicating using only blinks of the eye and quirks of the lips.
Lena knew that if there was even the chance she had a family member out there somewhere, Rebekah wouldn't hesitate to go and save them for the girl so why couldn't she do the same for Hayley?
"You want to help me?" asked Hayley, rhetorically, "help my people, please."
It was obvious from the shared look between the two siblings that when Lena and Hayley asked for something, anything to be done, it would be done, because that's just who they were.
✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
"DAVINA!" Lena rushed down the stairs two at a time, her feet feeling like fire as she jumped the last few steps and nearly tackled the younger witch to the ground. Behind her stood a laughing Josh, for some reason they were in the car garage underground and Hayley had heard them laughing and immediately asked Lena to go and investigate with her, and then Lena had seen a sweet dress and brown curls and knew exactly who it was.
"Lena, what are you doing here?" Davina asked, stepping back from Lena and grinning brightly at the blue haired beauty.
"Just moved in with Hayley over there," Lena told her, motioning with her thumb to Hayley, who was leaning against the wall behind her with her eyes narrowed at the pair.
"Hayley, Klaus' wife?" Davina asked causing both Lena and Hayley to chuckle. Hayley's nose wrinkled up in disgust, and Lena's in a jealousy she didn't quite understand. She hated these feelings because she had never felt so strongly before and she had no idea what to make of them.
"Ew no never, that's Lena's future role."
"Oh come on!" Lena threw her hands up in the air as Hayley came to stand next to her, laughing softly to herself.
"I'm the pregnant werewolf, and you must be the all-powerful super witch Davina, and let's not forget Josh - newbie vampire way out of his element, voted most likely to die next," Hayley quipped, causing Lena to roll her eyes and nudge her slightly shaking her head at the werewolf. Hayley only smirked back.
"Fantastic," Josh muttered, he had just spent the past five minutes explaining to Davina that he was prepared to run for the hills after leading Klaus straight into Marcel's trap.
"Hey, we're just more of Klaus' prisoners," Hayley told them, before letting out a little sigh. "Of course, it would suck if he found out you were still lurking around. Maybe there's a world where we can all look out for each other," she then suggested after the glares that Davina shot her for even so much as threatening Josh.
"Look out for each other?" echoed the youngest witch, eyebrows furrowing. Hayley smirked at Lena then, causing the blue-haired witch to roll her eyes and step forward.
"I have noticed in the past 48 hours that I have been in the sole 'care' of Niklaus Mikaelson that the only way to survive is to look after yourself. Now put those odds up, four people watching each other's backs? We might actually survive this."
"And here I thought you fancied him," Davina taunted, grinning at Lena. She shrugged, feeling the blush running over her body as both Hayley and Josh laughed. It was obvious that even though Lena knew how much of a git Klaus actually was, when she said his name her voice seemed to soften, as if she was tasting it on he tongue for the first time, wrapping it up in layers of warmth to protect and love.
"Well, maybe just a little," and that was enough to let Lena know that maybe, just maybe, she would have absolutely no luck at all in getting over Klaus Mikaelson and one day, something would have to be done about their weird chemistry.
✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
LENA was busy helping Davina unpack when Hayley stormed into the younger witch's room, which was right next door to Lena's so that she could keep an eye on her just in case Klaus tried to kill her or something.
"What are you looking for?" Hayley asked, forcing Lena to look up from the easels that she was setting up around the room to see Davina with her head in a box throwing things out in search for something.
"My violin," she told them, "I must've left it in the attic."
"So just go get it," Hayley said, not really understand Davina's problem. She wasn't safe anywhere in the French Quarter while the witches were still trying to get her to finish the Harvest ritual.
"I can't," Davina began to explain, "it's not safe for me out there."
"Funny," said Hayley, even though it didn't sound funny to her at all. "I was under the impression that everyone was afraid of you."
"The witches are after me."
"You mean that crazy witch Agnes?" Davina nodded at Hayley, eyebrows furrowing slightly. "Yeah, she tried to kill me too. The thing is, she's dead."
Davina's head shot up, a look of pure shock plastering her pretty face.
"Yeah, Elijah killed her," Lena confirmed, nodding as she got one of Davina's easels in the perfect spot for the lighting to come through the large windows in the morning. That was one of Davina's favourite times to paint, the early morning when the world was still coming to life.
"But--" Davina rose to her feet "--Agnes was the last living elder. If she's dead then I'm safe, Marcel would've told me."
Hayley and Lena shared a look, and Hayley nodded, telling Lena to tell the girl what they both assumed pretty quickly. "Maybe he didn't want to lose his secret weapon against the witches," Lena tried to say as softly as possible so as not to hurt Davina's feeling too much, but it didn't matter how softly she said it, the witch still felt the agony of betrayal.
"You're lying," Davina snapped, turning away from them. Hayley then asked why they would lie to her. "Because you want something from me, everybody does."
Lena shook her head, she had never even thought about using Davina for anything. No witch deserved to be used like that, magic was a form of self-expression, being forced to use it was like being forced to draw or play music, it was never as beautiful as when it came from the heart.
"Do I want something from you?" echoed Hayley, pulling her fake thinking face. "Yeah, Davina, I do. Thanks to your friend Marcel most of my family is cursed, they're stuck in their wolf form except on a full moon. Now, I'm smart enough to know that every curse has a loophole, and, well, I can't exactly ask Lena to do it and you're the strongest witch I've ever heard of, but I wouldn't lie to you nor force Lena to lie to you to get what I want."
Lena sat herself down on the end of Davina's bed, watching the stoic expression on the young witch's face. Lena had never been quite as good at hiding her feelings from everyone and she wondered how people did it. Hayley could do it, Rebekah could, and Elijah, and Klaus and literally everyone else around her, but Lena was lacking at such skills, despite being a metamorphic witch.
"I'd ask you, I guess that's the difference between Marcel and me." Hayley had reached the door before she turned back around to address Lena, "come on, I need some help researching baby names."
After kissing Davina's cheek, Lena followed Hayley out of the young witch's new bedroom, preparing herself to devour baby names for the freakshow growing inside Hayley's werewolf womb.
Lena's life had been so boring before.
this was so long, it took me three days to write oh my god, but like Lena's soooooo pissed off at Klaus like omg ouch, but Rebekah and Elijah are moving in so it's okay our brotp are back in action