"Oh, Anne!" Lucien rapped on her door. "Find something nice to wear! We've been invited to dinner."

 "Dinner? With who?" Anne called.

 Lucien opened the door and stepped in, shutting it behind him.

 "Well, thank you for knocking," she said. "Lucky for you that I'm decent at the moment."

 "I didn't want our guest to hear," he said. "Although she can't exactly do anything about it. I've been invited by the Mikaelsons. Something about a special Thanksgiving dinner, some American holiday."

 "And you want me to go with you?"

 "Well, of course I do. You, Anne, have been my best friend and companion for centuries. Why would I not want you by my side?"

 Anne smiled at his compliments. "Well, I suppose I could find a nice dress to wear."

 Lucien grinned. "That's my girl. Meet you at the door?"

~~~~~~

 Anne had never seen the Mikaelsons home before. Their compound was beautifully decorated for the holiday.

 "I wouldn't have thought they were the festive types," she remarked.

 "Oh, they can be surprising," Lucien replied, pouring two glasses of bourbon.

 As Lucien handed Anne a glass, Tristan arrived with a pot of flowers in one hand.

 "Flowers for us?" Lucien said sweetly. "You shouldn't have!"

 Anne giggled as Tristan rolled his eyes at them. "They're for the lady of the house," he said, "The well-mannered bring a gift when invited to dinner. I assume you two didn't bring anything?"

 "Well, certainly not for you," Anne replied, still giggling.

 "How lovely! We're all getting along!" Klaus Mikaelson strolled into the room, sporting a new dinner jacket.

 "Like a fuse and a match," Lucien muttered.

 "And I take it Aurora is on her way?" Klaus asked.

 "Did I hear my name?" Into the room glided Aurora de Martel, all dolled up for the occasion. "Sorry I'm late. Just freshening up. I did want to look pretty."

 Anne was surprised to see her. Lucien had nothing of Aurora's presence in New Orleans. And given Lucien's shocked expression, he also had no idea.

 "Well, well," she said, coming towards Lucien and Anne. "If it isn't my old friend, Lucien."

 "Aurora," Lucien said. "It's been ages. You...look-"

 "You look ravishing," Klaus cut in, stepping forward to kiss her hand. Lucien gave him a glare, but before any fights could start Elijah Mikaelson descended from the upper floor.

 "Welcome to our home. I do wish it were under better circumstances. We all face a common threat-a prophecy warning that my siblings and I would all fall within a year. I fear my sister already has."

 "Only as a precautionary measure, I assure you," Tristan piped up.

 "Interesting. You see," Elijah went on, "I would have called it an unnecessary measure. We need to unite to prevent the prophecy from coming to pass. And, since any alliance is impossible without honesty...," here he trailed off, and exchanged a look with brother. "Let us begin this evening's proceedings by formally acknowledging your clandestine alliance." He gestured to Lucien and Tristan.

 Anne had been holding Lucien's arm the entire time, and she could sense him becoming nervous.

 "Now, gentlemen, before-" he began to say.

 "Shh, Lucien, please," Elijah shushed him. "Let's not ruin our dinner before it begins." He gestured to the table. "Shall we?"

 Klaus and Elijah each sat at either end of the table, with Anne and Lucien on one side and Aurora and Tristan on the other. It soon became clear what exactly this whole dinner was about.

 "So, this entire dinner is meant to be boorish inquisition," Aurora pouted.

 "Nonsense, my dear!" Klaus smiled. "My brother merely wishes to make certain  we're all on the same page. So, who would like to begin?"

 Anne looked at Lucien, who said nothing. No one said anything.

 Finally, Tristan spoke up. "Lucien and I have always loathed each other. Had we arrived as allies with a bleak future, you would have doubted us. We sought to remove suspicion by making appearances."

 Elijah chuckled and rolled his eyes. "My dear. These pathetic lies promise to be as difficult to swallow as your stuffing this year, Niklaus."

 "Well, the bottom line is," Lucien jumped in, "We came to protect ourselves." 

 "And the bodies on the street? Was that your protection as well?" Klaus asked.

 "It's an old tactic," said Tristan. "Jack the Ripper, Son of Sam...A frightened human populace is that much easier to control. If tourism should decline, and the local vampires are deprived of fresh blood? Look how quickly Marcel joined our ranks."

 "And if one wanted to obtain a certain item," Lucien began, "Say, in a private collection, but one was not invited into the home where said private collection was located, a police investigation would come in handy to remove those items as evidence."

 "I take it you are referring to the medallion?" Elijah asked.

 "I suppose it was my sister who shared that information?" Tristan asked, clearly surprised that they knew anything about it.

 "Don't blame Aurora," said Klaus. "You two are hardly conspiratorial geniuses."

 Lucien scowled, and said, "Anne, we ought to tell them what we have."

 "You mean...what's at the penthouse?" she asked.

 "Oh, yes. The medallion was with Nik's friend Camille the whole time. Had to get her arrested in order to get ahold of it. But I would never allow any harm to come to her, knowing how much you care about her."

 Klaus gave them a slow, cold smile. "So, you have it. Hand it over."

 "And release Rebekah," Elijah added.

 Lucien looked confused. "So, Aurora has Rebekah locked up, then?"

 "No reason why I shouldn't protect my sire," Aurora replied.

 "Unless you were having one of your episodes," Anne muttered.

 "Easy, Bullen," Tristan said sharply. "My sister sought leverage to protect herself. Who among us would do otherwise?"

 "Niklaus, remind me why we haven't just compelled them yet," said Elijah.

 When Aurora burst into laughter at that, Klaus said, "I'm sorry, did he say something funny?"

 "We lost a century to compulsion. Did you think we wouldn't take any precautions to prevent it form happening again?"

 "Compulsion isn't my only party trick," Elijah said matter-of-factly.

 Aurora's smile became a scowl. "I don't like these threats."

 "Our continued existence depends on the Mikaelsons," Tristan jumped in. "We've known that since Finn and Kol died. Unfortunately, so does every other vampire in the world. Given that the sirelines have declared war on each other, you can imagine how many young upstarts have come to the same conclusion-kill an Original, wipe out an entire line of vampires. Heavy burden, isn't it? The lives of thousands of sired vampires on your shoulders. In a perfect world, you'd allow to seal you away forever, this eliminating the threat."

 "Well, it's a good thing this world is far from perfect." Klaus leaned forward in his chair.

 "Aurora, our sister-" Elijah began.

 "She's perfectly aware," Klaus interrupted, "Of our desire to see our sister home, and I'm sure she'll do everything in her power to oblige."

 "We're welcoming our enemies to the dinner table now? Convenient, given she's the one who has the answers I want."

 It was Freya Mikaelson, and she meant Aurora, who was outraged.

 "Nik, please spare my your family's rage and paranoia," she said angrily. "It is exactly this kind of lunacy that made me take Rebekah in the first place."

 "What did you do with her?" Freya demanded.

 "Oh, I'm sorry, love," said Aurora, "But this prophecy has you all acting like fools. And I've no intention of risking my life for foolishness. Now, I can't trust Rebekah with any of you. And I certainly can't trust the silly dear to endure on her own, so I decided to put her someplace safe. Imagine a spot where no one could harm her. Where no could possibly track her down. Rest assured, she's perfectly safe...at the bottom of the ocean."

 "You're bluffing," said Klaus. "Tell me you're bluffing!"

 Aurora scoffed. "You should all be thanking me. Rebekah's never been safer! She has plenty of company down there."

 Klaus looked ready to strangle her, but before he could do anything, Tristan vamp-sped to Freya and held a knife to her throat.

 "Harm my sister," he said, "And I'll be forced to return the favor."

 Elijah grabbed Tristan and pinned him to the wall.

 "This is all escalating very quickly," Lucien said softly to Anne.

 "Oh, shut up, Lucien!" Klaus shouted. "Or I'll tear your tongue from your head!"

 "Careful with the threats," Lucien said in a warning tone. "Wouldn't want anything to happen to your precious Cami."

 "That is the second time I've heard that name!" Aurora cried. "Who is this Cami?"

 "You have bigger problems," said Freya, and with a flick of her hand, snapped Aurora's neck.

 Elijah brought Tristan back to the table. "Niklaus, which of these two vulgar parasites would you first like to torture?"

 "Well," Klaus went over to Lucien and squeezed his shoulders, "Why don't you take the stable boy? Tristan and I have a lot of catching up to do. Oh, and if anything should happen to Camille..."

 "I'm quite sure Lucien's aware what a mistake that would be," said Elijah. "And your secretary will be staying here with Freya." He looked at Anne. "Don't think we don't know who you are, Ms. Boleyn."