At the loft, the vampires were congregated, drinking and talking.

Gia stood against the wall with her eyes closed, catching a dart thrown by another vampire before it could hit her face. She laughed, holding out her hand to the vampire. "Pay up!"

The vampire handed her a 100 dollar bill.

Across the room, Josh was checking a message on a dating app on his phone.

I walked closer, handing him a drink. "Any prospects?" 

"Well, since you asked..." Josh trailed off. "Yeah, there's this one guy. We've been messaging so far, but... I think I like him. Like, really like him."

"So, what's the problem?" I asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Josh told me sarcastically. "I might have left a few things out of the old profile. For example, what has two thumbs and drinks blood to survive. Oh, right." He gave me two thumbs up. "This guy!" 

I chuckled, taking a drink. 

After a moment, someone was thrown through the windows, a vampire, who appeared to have had his throat ripped out. 

Werewolves with moonlight rings swarmed the loft, led by Oliver and another werewolf. 

"The hell is wrong with you people?" Gia demanded. "We didn't do anything." 

"This is nothing your kind hasn't done to us," the head werewolf told her. "Learn your history."

"I don't know who the hell you are, but we had a deal," Marcel told him. "Vampires stay out of the Quarter, everybody's cool."

"That's not good enough anymore," the head werewolf told us.

"Oh, yeah?" I asked. "Says who? You? Or that witch you all answer to now? Lenore, right? Never thought I'd see the day. Proud werewolves on a witch's leash. I hope those rings you're wearing are worth it." 

The head werewolf smirked, nodding toward the wolves behind him. 

One of the wolves grabbed one of the vampires, biting his neck. Another werewolf tried to attack Josh, and Josh used all of his strength to keep him from biting him.

"That's enough!" the head werewolf told him. Josh managed to push the werewolf off of him, looking at the head werewolf in stunned confusion. "Your privileges here have been revoked. Permanently. So, when we come back, you need to be gone. Because next time? I won't call them off." I glared at him. "Consider this a warning. It's the only one you're gonna get." 

**

The next day, all of the vampires were meeting to discuss what to do with the werewolves' ultimatum.

"We don't wanna run," Gia told us.

"I know, and I respect that," Marcel told her. "But, believe me, there's a big difference between wanting to fight and knowing how to win."

"So, show us," Gia told him, looking from Marcel to me. "You both have kicked their ass before. I'm guessing you didn't do it alone." 

Josh raised his hand. "Um, yeah, not that I don't dig the whole Karate Kid vibe that we got going on here, but... how are we supposed to learn to defend ourselves from an army of superwolves in, like, one day?" 

Elijah appeared, rushing toward one of the vampires, snapping his neck, letting his body fall. 

Marcel rolled his eyes, sighing.

I made an exasperated gesture, turning away in annoyance.

"Lesson one," Elijah told us. "Always be on your guard." 

Marcel and I gave him a look.

Elijah smirked.

**

The head werewolf named Aiden and Oliver had came to the loft to talk to Hayley, Elijah, Gia, Marcel, Josh and me. 

They wanted to make the children werewolves kill someone tonight during the All Hallows Eve festival in the Quarter so they could trigger their curses and become an army. Finn Mikaelson was back, possessing a witch named Vincent Griffith. Kol Mikaelson was also back, but we didn't know who he was possessing. Esther was possessing Lenore. 

"The witch wants soliders," Aiden told us. "So, now, it's either join up, or pay the price." 

"I've known my brother Finn to be merciless, but I'll admit, this exceeds even my expectations," Elijah told us. 

"They're just kids," Hayley told us. She looked between Marcel and me. "Guys, you know the Quarter like the back of your hand. If anyone can get them out of here, it's you two."

"Oh?" I asked. "And take them where?" 

"There's still wolves deep in the bayou," Oliver told us. "Ones that didn't take a ring. They can look after them."

"The ones that never sold out, you mean," I told him. 

"You wanna look at it like that, that's fine," Oliver told us. "We did what we had to do." 

Marcel sighed. "Your wolves have been fighting us for decades. Why trust us now?" 

Aiden hesitated. "One of the recruits is my little brother." Josh was surprised. "There's no way I'm sending him to war." 

Marcel looked at Elijah.

Elijah sighed. "Tell us what you need."

**

We were organizing the plan for the evening. 

Josh looked at Aiden awkwardly as he spoke.

"All right, the kids are being held in the City of the Dead until we bring them through the Quarter to St. Anne's Church," Aiden told us. "Now, meanwhile, Vincent is holding a meeting with a few humans in the know. The ones who have been... reluctant to fall in line with his new leadership."

"He's going to use the children to kill any opposition," I realized.

Aiden nodded. "Activate their curse, send a message to anyone who's thinking about going against him. It's two birds, one... bloodbath." 

"Okay, so, we'll hit them while the kids are on the move," Marcel told us.

"Aiden, make certain you and Oliver escort the children," Elijah told him. "We'll handle the rest." 

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Oliver told us. "Esther and her psycho son are already giving me the stink eye. If these kids go missing on my watch, I'm as good as dead." 

"You wanted to help your people and make amends for the past," Elijah told him. "This is your chance." 

**

After dark, the All Hallows Eve was raging on in the streets of the Quarter. Everyone was in costumes.

Aiden, Oliver and the other werewolf leaders led the werewolf children toward St. Anne's Church. 

Gia held a drink in her hand, pretending to drunkenly run into one of the werewolf leaders. The wolf stopped to start a fight. Gia pushed him back.

I caught him, snapping his neck, letting his body fall, looking toward Aiden, both Gia and me running away. 

**

In the tunnels below the Quarter, Gia and I were waiting for Hayley, Josh and the kids. 

Hayley led the kids through the tunnels, putting a finger to her lips to remind them to stay quiet. 

Josh led with a flashlight, coming up to a metal gate, breaking his way through it, looking at us. "Hey, where's Marcel?" 

"Uh, he's getting the getaway car," Gia answered.

"Hey," I told them. "Big mouths. Shut it. There are werewolves everywhere." 

**

We led them to a gas station where Marcel was waiting with an ambulance truck as a getaway car. 

I gestured to the kids. "Let's go! Move!" 

The children climbed into the back of the ambulance truck as I helped them up. 

A boy was about to get in.

Aiden ran toward him. "Nick!" 

Nick smiled. "Aiden. You made it." 

Aiden wrapped his arms around his brother. "Of course I did. I told you I'd be here, didn't I?" He patted Nick on the head, gesturing to the ambulance. "Go." Marcel and I closed up he ambulance. Hayley stood next to us. Aiden walked closer. "Thank you. All of you."

"We're all fighting for the same thing, you know," Hayley told him. "Just trying to save the ones that we love." 

Aiden smiled.

I patted him on the shoulder, going to get into the driver's seat of the ambulance truck. 

Hayley and Marcel got inside. 

I drove away.

**

At the loft, Hayley, Marcel, Gia and I were celebrating the success of the night. 

Marcel poured us drinks. 

Hayley accepted one, smiling. "Well, we did it." She looked between Marcel and me. "I never thought I'd see the day when 'we' meant us." 

Hayley laughed.

"Well, you're a vampire now," I told her. "First rule is never say never, 'cause never ain't that long."

"And what we did today was the right thing," Marcel told us. "But, you know it's gonna make things worse between your people and ours."

Hayley looked at Gia, who was looking out of the window. "There's a life lesson for you, baby vamp. It always gets worse before it gets better." 

Hayley grabbed a second drink, walking over to sit next to Gia on the window seat, handing the drink to her.

Gia still looked worried. "We left Elijah out there." 

Hayley sighed. "Look, I worry about a lot of things where Elijah's concerned. But, trust me, he can take care of himself." 

Hayley smiled.

Gia smiled weakly back.

Let's just be glad tonight was a success with almost no time to prepare.