empty bottles: k.m.(under construction)

queen takes king - chapter 9 part 2

'Hayley, if they come anywhere near the compound right now..'

'Why? What would Klaus do?'

'Listen, it's not always best to listen to other people's opinions when it comes to Nik..' Astrid began, folding her arms and leaning up against the gateway to the compound. 'Just know that there doesn't need to be a repeat of last week'

'Well..' Hayley grimaced as Elijah and Rebekah snuck through the gate and stood parallel to them. 'Come, we mustn't linger. We'll get you some place safe' Elijah beckoned Hayley but Astrid interjected, 'She is perfectly safe with me, thank you Elijah.'

Everyone paused before Astrid spoke again, 'People can make up you know.. now just what are you two doing here?'

'You don't have to worry about me. I'm fine. I've been deemed under protection by the almighty Klaus. It's the werewolves who need help. He ordered a wolf hunt as some jacked-up peace offering to Marcel's crew. You have to help them.'

'Out in the bayou? Do we look like a bloody vampire-rescue squad? You should think yourself lucky we came to save you!'

'Rebekah, those wolves don't deserve what Nik wants to do. I love him but Hayley's right. We may not be best buds right now but you have too'

'You need to come with us, Astrid.' Elijah spoke obliviously as Astrid screwed her face up, 'Sometimes you really come out with dumb shit. 'Astrid Mikaelson, Hybrid Queen of the Vampires,' she mimicked quotation marks and carried on, 'goes on a werewolf rescue mission with the two siblings that betrayed the King let alone the Queen herself.. good one'

'Elijah she's right, it'll make it too obvious that something is happening.. let's go' Rebekah spoke to Elijah as she noticed two of Klaus's men walking by.

'Astrid, if Klaus finds out you were involved'

'He won't do anything drastic Hayley.. we're married'

'He just seems to have a real control thing going on'. Hayley spoke as they walked back into the compound properly. 'Ah well.. he once told me that I'm Queen, if he wants to be King he needs to learn how to respect my wishes'

'Are you sure? I don't want you getting into a fight..'

Astrid spun on her heels to face Hayley as she spoke, 'Don't worry about me, sweetheart. This little game will be over by tomorrow. First stage, King comes onto the board. Second stage.. Queen takes King.' And with that, she winked and walked up the stairs, leaving a smiling and curious Hayley at the bottom of them.

...

Back upstairs, Cami had left but Marcel and Nik were still talking about all things leadership and diplomacy. As she walked in, both men looked up and Nik's stare lingered a bit more then Marcel's as she sat down next to her husband, crossing her legs as he snuck an arm around her. 'The humans have called a meeting' Marcel stated monotone at Astrid as she screwed her face up, 'What the bloody hell for?'

'According to Marcel here, apparently they aren't exactly thrilled with the new status quo' Nik mimicked quotation marks when he said status quo and Astrid rolled her eyes, 'God half of the 'status quo' is exactly the same as it was 200 years ago and hasn't changed since. Entitled bastards I'd say'

'Exactly!' Nik chuckled, 'My wife is right, entitled bastards the lot of them! Ah well they don't like the fact that someone else is in charge, how unfortunate...' Nik trailed off, making his wife and adoptive son laugh.

'Look, it's your show now. But, you wanna know how I built what I built? Politics. A little diplomacy goes a long way, especially with the human faction' Marcel counselled the new king and Astrid nodded her head in agreement, 'They like control. You just have to give them the illusion of compliance and they go on happy.' she finished.