Pray For The Wicked : Kol Mikaelson [2]

118: Reigning Pain In New Orleans

MJ one hundred per cent had to move out.

She'd thought she could live at The Compound for a little bit, especially since Hayley had to be there without Elijah or Rebekah, but she'd basically been assigned Kol's room, and she just couldn't. Tidying to make it her workspace felt kinda nice, but she couldn't just stay there.

It had been two days since everything had gone down.

Klaus had basically closed down the vampire faction to give them a day to readjust, then he'd called an evening summit. The courtyard was momentarily a dining room, assigned seats, and a speech.

MJ was not taking part in it.

It wasn't to be rude, and it wasn't because Klaus had done anything to her. She just didn't feel like sitting in the middle of a group of people who still thought of her as Klaus's pet.

MJ had instantly snapped the dust in Kol's room out of existence, opening the curtains for the first time in centuries. Then she'd moved the bed into the corner, so it was more like a rest spot – an optional thing for if she needed to crash or if she'd overworked herself.

All the boxes?

MJ took absolutely everything out of where Marcel had stored them, reorganising based on who her ownership spell said it belonged to. Once she'd done that, she was able to move the boxes she didn't need to the basement and focus on setting up her things.

Esther's Grimoire, her four Floare books, every scroll and Grimoire she'd picked up during her travels, and a collection of the journals. It wasn't like Elijah used them anymore.

Maps were pinned to one wall, ready for tracking spell, her blood and venom stores placed in specific cupboards, the things Klaus had piffled over the years appropriately 'reclaimed' too.

She could have a space for all the crazy, then her own place for her actual life (which would have crazy dotted around too, but manageable crazy)

All her human things were still at the plantation, and she knew Rebekah had been rifling through her clothes, texting her about shoe sizes and jackets.

When Rebekah was irritable, she liked trying on clothes, seeing which shoes were most effective to stomp around in.

The one thing slowing MJ down was the alcohol cupboard.

She left it there, planning to replace the drinks with fresher stuff, and use the diamond as a lid again for old time's sake.

MJ felt a little stuffy after she'd finally kicked the final box of old photographs out, taking a breather on the internal balcony.

The selected vampires Klaus had called for the meal went quiet as he tapped a glass.

He and Hayley were seated at opposite ends, four vampires on each side to fill the space between them. Eight vampires Klaus thought could act as spokespeople to the rest of the rabble. Or maybe it was the eight he thought were most loyal to Marcel.

He'd also added two extra chairs, one by his side, empty, one by Hayley, filled by Sam.

"Let us begin with a toast to our shared gift: immortality," Klaus looked around the unimpressed faces, "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 gestured out, the waiters stepping forward, all dressed in suits, grabbing the attention of everyone except Marcel.

He was just giving Klaus the evil eye.