"We mature with the damage,

Not with the years."

Elijah entered the study to find Klaus searching furiously for something on the bookshelf.

"Can I help you find something?" Elijah sipped his tea, looking at his brother who was angrily searching through the books.

"Yes, in fact, I believe you can. I'm looking for a book," He wiggled a book around in his hand. "–about yay big," He stopped shaking the book. "–filled with our mother's most powerful spells." He turned his head to where he was looking at Elijah. "It appears to have been misplaced."

Elijah sat at his desk, getting out a notebook, a blank emotionless expression on his face. "How very mysterious."

"Indeed." Klaus shook the book that was in his hand. "At first, I feared the witches had succeeded in their efforts to obtain it, but, considering their last attempt ended with me relieving a rather large, tattooed gentleman of his hands," He clenched his jaw and threw a book on the floor. "I began to wonder if the thief wasn't a bit closer to home." He turned around to notice Elijah nonchalantly scribbling in a notebook. "Don't make this harder than it needs to be, brother."

Elijah looked up at Klaus with an amused expression. "Well, admittedly, I did have a theory that your sudden interest in mother's grimoire was in some way related to whatever foolishness you've been conducting with the Crescent wolves." Klaus smirked, thinking about his little red. "Therefore, I took it upon myself to carefully place it where naughty, little fingers could not pry."

"And here I thought you," Klaus started, showing no expression. "–of all people, would understand. I am simply trying to help those wolves!" Especially Malia. "Play Samaritan to the abused, champion to the underdog, so to speak."

"How splendidly noble of you," Elijah responded back sarcastically.

"Have you ever considered that, like you, I am trying to keep Malia and Hayley safe?" Especially Malia. "Using our mother's magic to empower her people so they are capable of protecting her?"

Elijah stood up and walked towards Klaus. "Yes, unless, of course, they decide to seek retribution for decades held in exile," He shut a cabinet that Klaus had left open. "–and Malia and Hayley will find herself in the middle of an uprising." He picked up a book. "One that will only provoke further violence. You see, you risk turning New Orleans into a war zone, brother." He laid the book on a shelf. "I won't let that happen."

"The drums of war were beating long before we returned. I suggest you use a little less of this–" Klaus made a talking gesture with his hand. "–and a little more of these." He pointed to his ears, and smiled fakely before sitting on the couch.

I breathed in and out, laying on a pile of pillows, practicing for when I give birth. Hayley stood beside me, watching and listening as Eve told me things.

"That's it. Inhale and release." I breathed in and let it all out with an eye roll.

"I think this is stupid." I nodded my head. "It's really stupid. Why can't we go to a hospital, vet, something? I mean, wouldn't it make more sense?" I questioned, raising my eyebrows angrily as I was kinda tired of laying here. I wanted to be out, hunting, running, being free but no, i'm under house arrest by my own sister who thinks I will die if I go out there again."

"Honey, the werewolves have been having babies out here since before you were born. Stop worrying," Eve told me, a kind smile on her face.

"Okay." I sighed, pulling myself up into a sitting position. "Then what, Eve?" I asked, closing my eyes for a second before opening them again. "I don't even know what it's like to have a mother, let alone be one," I told her honestly. "I barely even know how to be a teenager."

"Trust me, when the time comes, you'll know exactly what to do," She told me with a knowing smile.

"I hope so," Hayley spoke up, helping me off the floor. "As fun as it is to image Klaus changing dirty diapers, I'm pretty sure that she'll be doing this alone," Hayley told her before rolling her eyes. "And me, of course."

"I somehow doubt that."

I looked over at the doorway as Elijah showed up.

"Pardon the interruption. I wonder if I might have a quick word with the conspirators of a supposed uprising."

Oliver, Jackson, Eve, Hayley and I stood in front of Elijah.

"You're making a grave mistake," He told us.

Oliver humorlessly chuckled. "So, you're just worried about us. Is that it?"

"Look, Elijah," Jackson started. "We know all about your brother's reputation, but if there is even a chance that these rings can help us take control of our curse–"

"–Our gift–" Oliver cut him off, a serious look on his face.

"–Then, honestly, we don't care what he's really after. Won't have to."

"I see." Elijah looked at him. "There are those in the Quarter who will consider this a great provocation."

"Apparently, most of them see us breathing the same way." Oliver crossed his arms.

Elijah looked at Hayley and I. "You signed a pledge, and you looked me in the eye as you did so." I looked down, biting my lip.

"We don't want a fight, Elijah. We just want a better life," I told him, my brown eyes looking into his. "And I trust Klaus," I added.

"Allegiance with my brother will guarantee you anything but that." I sighed, biting my lip harshly before my ears picked up on a motorbike coming near.

"What the hell?"

We followed Jackson out of the door.

"Which one of you is in charge?" The guy in the bike asked.

"Who's asking?" I asked defensively. Elijah then ran forward an tackled the man, an explosion going off not long after. I was thrown back, my head making a thud noise as it hit the ground. I groaned and rolled over, my blue eyes shining as I looked around at all of the damage.

"Malia, are you ok?" I could barely hear as Oliver asked me a question.

My ears were ringing as I got up off the ground, my heart beating fast and my right hand flew towards my stomach to inspect if there was any damage done. I saw a little girl standing over an injured man so I quickly ran over there to help.

I picked her up and cradled her head. "It's okay. It's okay." I turned my head to see Jackson. "Jackson? Here." I handed him the child as Hayley ran over to me.

"Hayley, Malia."

I turned my head to see Elijah.

"Elijah." We kneeled down to the injured guy. Elijah lifted his shirt to find chemical and heat burns.

"Wolfsbane."

"It must have been in the gas tank. You're the fastest. Take him, anyone else who can't walk on their own," I ordered him and he looked at me in concern. "It's okay, Elijah. I'm fine. We're both fine. They need your help." I grabbed Hayley's hand and we made it to where Oliver was helping a werewolf who has been impaled with a tree branch.

"Just hang in there, ok?" I heard him say to the wolf

Hayley saw that Oliver was about to pull it out and yelled, "Oliver, no." He pulled it out anyway and the wolf yelped in pain.

"Oh, God." She grabbed Eve's hands. "Press here." She turned to Oliver. "Give me your shirt." He obeyed and she used the shirt to make a tourniquet. "Now! It's okay."

"How'd you learn how to do that?"

"You get a hell of an education when you leave home at thirteen," She told Eve and then turned to the wolf. "That should slow the bleeding, at least until the healing kicks in."

Oliver stood up and threw a nearby trashcan in anger. "Ah! Vampires." He yelled. "They don't even have the guts to do their own dirty work themselves. I mean, why bother when you can just compel some poor son-of-a-bitch to do it for you? I say we hit them back! Hard." He was about to run forward when I pushed him back.

"Stay." He stood back. "Good doggy." I then turned serious. "I need you to look after everyone until I get back." Hayley cleared her throat. "Until we get back."

"Where the hell are you going?"

"If this was vampires, I'm pretty sure that I can guess who gave the order." I paused, my eyes turning into a electrifying blue. "I'm gonna go find Marcel." I grabbed a tree branch from the ground and broke it into a stake before marching out of the bayou.

Hayley and I barged into the hideout where Diego and the other vampires have been hanging out. My face was emotionless as I looked around at the vampires, Hayley behind me.

"You done got some nerve coming up in here, mama." Diego looked amused as he chuckled humorlessly at me. I huffed angrily, kicked his seat, knocking him onto his back. He jumped up, faced me and growled. I growled right back, my canines out and eyes shining blue. I ran forward and pushed him up against the wall and shoved a stake into his chest, barely missing his heart.

"Someone attacked my pack in the bayou this morning," I gritted my teeth, twisting the stake. "–and since I don't see any genius mastermind-types around here..." I trailed off, my left hand on his neck, my claws digging into it. "Why don't you just tell me where Marcel is, and we can both get on with our day, huh?" I titled my head, my eyes still glowing blue. Diego groaned and tried to fight against me. "You think I'm playing?" I asked, digging my claws deeper into his neck all the while twisting the stake. "There were families out there."

He looked at me in guilt. "He used to keep a place. 1917 Patterson. If he's still around, he'll be there." I harshly ripped the stake out of his chest and marched out of the building, a vamped out Hayley going back to normal as she followed after me. I am so glad that she did not intervene in my little mission.

I called Klaus even as Hayley told me not to. We were walking and was almost at Marcel's place. I could hear talking and beeping in the background. "Klaus, where are you?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing together.

"His wrath burns against you, demon," I heard Kieran speak in anger and disgust.

"I'm in a bit of a situation here, love." My heart leaped for some reason.

"Somebody sent a suicide bomber out to the bayou this morning." I got to the point, my voice was scratchy.

"What? Are you okay? Where are you?" I could hear the worry and concern in his voice.

"I'm in the city now. I'm fine. Both Hayley and I are," I told him, glancing at Hayley. "I figured an attack like that must have been Marcel. He's hated the wolves for years, and after that stunt he pulled with the witches...So, I tracked him down. Thought you might like to help kick his ass for trying to blow us to kingdom come."

"Would you get him out of here now, please? Make sure he remembers nothing." I heard Klaus speak. "Hey, listen. I assure you, once I am finished here, you will have my undivided attention. In the meantime, please stay out of trouble," He told me which made me grin.

"No promises," I told him, a playful smile on my face.

"Don't worry Klaus, Elijah is with us," Hayley told him and then took my phone, hanging up on him. We then made it into the building.

Hayley and I barged into Marcel's loft. "Come on in. Have a seat. I'd offer you a drink, but..." He gestured to my baby bump. "But you," He pointed at Hayley. "–can drink all you want."

"Sweet den," I told him sarcastically, gripping the stake.

"Oh, it's just temporary." He got up from the seat he was sitting in and went towards his alcohol stash. "Friend hooked me up. Believe it or not, I still got a few of those kicking around. I need friends to keep me informed, to warn me when someone is coming looking to blame me for things that I didn't do." He smiled. "For the record, you didn't have to work Diego like that. You and I are long overdue for a chat," He told me, glancing down at the stake.

"You want to talk, talk." Hayley growled out, her gold eyes shining, veins popping out from under her eyes.

"Before I kill you," I added, shining my blue eyes.

"Tough girl:. You're both a lot like your dad in that way." I just blinked at him, my eyes going cold. "Oh, yeah. I knew him. I knew your whole family. In fact, if you knew them like I did, you'd know just how many enemies they have. Back in the nineties, it was the Crescent wolves who took over the city. Or, tried to. They lived to throw down, and they were good at it, too. They didn't care who they killed as long as they got more power," He explained to us, trying to hand Hayley a drink but she declined.

"So the Crescent curse was your way of stopping them? How heroic," I sarcastically said, rolling my eyes.

"It was either that, or kill them all, and I'm not big on indiscriminant slaughter. See, I have this thing about kids." He glanced down at my stomach which made me growl and put a protective hand over it.

"So I've heard," Hayley mumbled, looking away.

Marcel smirked. "Oh, you did more than hear about it, Andrea and Annabelle Labonair. You're living proof."

"How long have you known who we were?"

"I saw how interested you both were in those Crescents. After your little family reunion out at the old plantation house, I started to put two and two together," He told us, a grin on his face.

"Tell me something, Marcel. Did you kill our parents?" I angrily asked, my jaw clenched and the grip I had on the stake eventually broke it in half.

He looked down. "There was infighting among the wolves. Your folks were laying low. Somebody turned on them. I honestly don't know who. I got there afterwards, found you both in a crib." I bit my lip, trying to not show weakness. One thing that I had learned from the crescent wolf and Peter was to never show weakness in front of the enemy

"Give me one good reason why we should believe anything that you have to say."

"Believe whatever you want, but you both were the last Labonair's." He turned away. "I mean, could've been a lot of leverage for our side, but instead, I took you to Father Kieran." He pulled out a duffel bag and handed it to us.

"What's that?"

"Money mostly, stuff you both need to start over someplace safe. Whatever happened in the bayou, I'm not your guy. But, the way things are going? Eventually, I might have to be," He told us which made me click my tongue and shake my head.

"So this is your grand plan? Get us out of town, and Klaus and Elijah follow closely behind?" Hayley questioned, sitting down on the couch.

"I can't say that wouldn't be a positive side effect."

"So why don't you leave? Follow your own advice?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"I was born here."

"So were we. If that doesn't say something, I don't know what else," I told Marcel, a sarcastic smile on my face. We started to leave but before we could, Marcel stopped us.

"Guy on the bike? The bomber? Word is, he had a gambling problem. Owed money to the casinos--more importantly, to the humans who run them. And Malia? Hayley? When things get bad, remember, I tried to get you both clear of it," He nodded his head. "–again."

I saw Elijah and ran towards him, a grin on my face. "You stayed."

"Come morning, they will know that we are not cowards," Oliver spoke loudly so that they whole pack could hear him.

"What's going on? What is he doing?" I asked Elijah, my eyebrows furrowing together in confusion.

"We are not afraid!"

"He's making a move for power in the wake of tragedy. He's not alone. There was another attack after you two left," Elijah told us, his hand going to my back.

"What?" Hayley and I rushed into the shack, where Jackson is sitting with Eve's dead body, devastated.

"Your friend Jackson will need your help. They will want vengeance. Blood for blood, And, unfortunately, in troubled times, people do not look for the best. But rather the loudest."

Hayley cried and kissed Eve's hand while I stood there, arms crossed before we left the shack. Outside, we found Oliver continuing to rile up the rest of the wolves.

"Look, I know where I'm going. If any of you want to follow, hey, that's up to you. That's up to you!"

Klaus joined Elijah in the study. "First Marcel's massacre, now bombs in the bayou. I'll assume you're ready to give up this doomed treaty."

"This alliance with the wolves, well, if it is to succeed, I believe you'll want this." He handed Klaus Esther's grimoire.

"Seems I have Malia and Hayley to thank for your change of heart."

Elijah poured them drinks. "The rifts in this city run far deeper than I even imagined, Niklaus. These tribes, these factions--they're families, families who choose to fight. Mayhem has descended upon our home, and if I'm to choose a side..." He handed Klaus a drink, and held his out to toast them. "To our victory, brother."