Finn had moved all of the vampires into the bell tower of St. Louis Cathedral, leaving us all in magical circles on the floor.

Until we woke up in a dark van, still starving from Finn's spell.

I opened the back door of the van to find we were in the middle of the bayou, in the woods near the werewolf encampments.

The rest of the vampires got out of the van behind me, Josh and Marcel an exception.

"Where the hell are we?" Gia asked.

"I smell blood," a vampire told us.

Werewolves were all over the place.

And if the vampires didn't stop, they were all going to die.

**

Outside of a cabin, an elderly woman werewolf had a sheet of parchment.

There was a crowd of werewolves in front of her, Hayley and Jackson.

The elderly woman werewolf crushed herbs into a paste, smearing onto the bottom of the treaty. "After the anointing of the alphas, will be the final seal of our--"

I stood between the vampires and the werewolves, all of us hungry and weakened. "You don't have to do this."

"I'm sorry, but we do," Gia told us.

Gia started to feed on one of the werewolves.

Another vampire rushed toward Jackson. Jackson picked up a piece of wood to stake the vampire.

Hayley stopped him from killing him, breaking them up. "No!"

I broke the neck of the vampire trying to attack Jackson. 

Marcel walked toward us. "We just need to keep them at bay until Finn's spell breaks."

"It's a hell of a spell," Jackson told us.

Hayley looked at Marcel and Jackson. "Get the alphas to the cabin. We'll hold them off."

Jackson and Marcel led the alphas to the cabin.

I looked at Hayley. "Try and keep my guys alive."

"Ditto," Hayley told me. I punched a vampire in the face, before snapping the necks of two of them in a row with one hand. Marcel and Jackson got the alphas and the elderly woman werewolf safely into the cabin, but once they locked themselves in, vampires leaped onto the roof in an attempt to get in. "Noah, you got any idea how to end this?"

I shrugged. "Just weather the storm until we figure this out."

**

Hayley was furiously fighting against the starving vampires, spinning and kicking them as hard as she could. She inadvertently threw one of the vampires toward a pile of wood, where one of the sticks almost accidentally went through his heart.

I rushed closer, catching the vampire before he could be staked, snapping his neck, letting the body fall to the ground. I turned to see Gia behind me. "I need you to calm down, Gia." Gia fainted. I barely caught her before she hit the ground. As we looked around, all of the rest of the vampires crumpled to the ground. Hayley was confused. I wasn't hungry anymore, relieved. "They broke the spell."

**

Marcel and I carried the unconscious bodies of the vampires outside in the yard.

Hayley stood nearby, watching.

Jackson walked toward her. "Hayley."

Hayley hugged Jackson tightly, breathing a sigh of relief, pulling away. "Hope will be alright. Elijah will protect her, I know it." Jackson nodded in understanding. "But, Jack, this stuff, these attacks— they're only going to get worse. We need to get married as soon as possible."

Jackson nodded in agreement.

Marcel and I exchanged a look of relief that even though some had died today, it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been.

And after the wedding, hopefully nothing like this would happen again.

But this was New Orleans. Witches, vampires, werewolves, human and Originals were always at war.

I wasn't going to hold my breath for a peaceful, fightless city to call home.