Obviously, they returned to the party.

"I really do love the term 'quickie,'" said Klaus with playful solemnity as Esmeray did her best to fix her hair while also walking to the stairs on wobbly legs.

"We are never doing that again when we have an event to get back to," she said, her face red. "I can barely walk upright."

Klaus grinned devilishly, looping a hand around her waist. "That was my intention, love. Next time, you won't be able to walk at all."

"You know, after all that talk about breaking my back, I'm starting to think you're purposely going to fracture my lumbar spine to leave me as a paraplegic. Just do me a favor and remember that you're an Original hybrid and I'm still very mortal. If I die..."

"You will never die at my hand," he promised, kissing her temple as he led her down the stairs.

It was ridiculous how quickly chaos ensued while they were gone.

They'd only been dancing for awhile when there was a crashing sound. Diego had picked Oliver up and tossed him across the courtyard, shattering dozens of champagne glasses that'd been waiting on a table. Oliver recovered quickly and pinned Diego to the nearest wall. A moment later, Elijah had cut in, pinning Oliver against a table. "This ends now," he said sharply. "I won't ask again."

"Oh, we'll end it alright," came Jackson's voice. Off to the side, he had a stake pressed against Diego's chest. There was a tense moment when the two stared at each other, and then—

"What's stopping you?" came Hayley's angry voice from the stairs. "Kill him. Go ahead, Elijah. Do it. I mean, it's not like he doesn't deserve to die."

Esmeray nearly jumped a mile when Francesca Correa was suddenly on the other side of her. "Shouldn't you two intervene, or something?" she asked her and Klaus.

"Why would we?" asked Klaus with a smirk, pulling Esmeray closer to him. "This party just got interesting."

Hayley was still talking. "I mean, it was Oliver who handed Rebekah over to the witches so they could torture her. But, then again, wasn't it Diego who tried to lead a werewolf massacre last month? And the witches cursed the wolves, while the humans stood back and let it all happen. So, when you think about it, everyone here deserves to die."

Elijah looked angry. "Are you approaching a point?"

"My point, Elijah, is this," said Hayley. "If we can't all learn to get along, if our families can't create some sort of community, then what's the point? Kill each other and get it all over with."

Elijah, to Esmeray's surprise, let go of Oliver. Jackson followed suit, though more reluctantly, releasing Diego. Hayley walked off, frustrated, and Klaus simply started to dance with Esmeray again.

"Is it wrong of me to sit back and let them work it out?" asked Esmeray quietly. "I could probably be doing something to help Elijah, considering I was doing this first..."

"I don't blame you, love. They all betrayed your trust. You were hurt by them. The wolves were the only ones who tried looking for you when you were missing. The witches orchestrated your torture. You were their Queen and they did not protect you as they should have. Let Elijah struggle with a peace treaty if he wishes to do it differently. You and I, we're going to focus on the wolves."

Esmeray nodded, tiptoeing to kiss him.

They'd left the party again not long after. Klaus had led her into his art room, and she'd sat on his lap, facing away from the painting so that she could hug him while he worked. Her dress was all bunched up in the front, but she didn't mind anymore. She was just starting to fall asleep when Elijah came in, once the guests were gone.

"Sign it," he said, placing a piece of paper and an inkwell in front of Klaus. "Both of you."

"Why?" asked Klaus. "You've already done so on our behalf."

"Brother, I am not a fool. It's clear to me you're not as disinterested as you'd like me to believe. Sign, please. If there is no peace between us, then how can you expect others to follow suit?"

Klaus rolled his eyes and reached for the fancy quill Elijah was having everyone sign with. "Fine, if it will make you happy. But, I assure you, this city's inhabitants will not adhere to this agreement. If they didn't do it with Esmeray, they will never do it with you."

He signed his name before patting Esmeray's back and helping her turn around. She did so, signing her name under Klaus's and leaning back into him, now getting a full view of the painting. It was the New Orleans skyline, and Klaus had added a full moon amidst the clouds. At the bottom, barely visible on the land, were two small dots— one brown and one black. Their wolves, observing the moon.

"Klaus?" she asked, once they were in her bed, in their pajamas. "The rings. Is it only to protect your daughter and to make me happy?"

"Not only that," he told her, letting his palm glide over her back. "I wish to learn more about the side of myself that I continue to neglect. I've never done much to help the wolves. You, my little werewitch, have encouraged me to be more attentive to their needs."

"What about the power? I think if anything, Jackson's worried you're going to try and rule the wolves."

"Nonsense. I have no desire to rule the wolves. They want you as their Queen, and they shall have you. Managing just the Crescent Wolf Pack and others that enter the city will be your chance to start small. Prove that you were always meant to be an Alpha, even if your father didn't believe in you. You were born to lead, love. I want to help you do so."

Esmeray cast him a smile, snuggling up to him and closing her eyes.

In the morning, he was painting her.

"My blanket is covering me," she said sleepily, seeing how his eyes scanned over her body. "I thought we'd do this with me fully naked."

"I've only begun to make your outline," he said, winking at her. "Feel free to remove the blanket if you wish."

"You chose a big canvas, though, that usually means you want to put it up in your art room. You use the smaller ones for your room where only we'll see it. I suppose we'll make a separate one another time." She yawned and put her hand under her head, seeing as he continued to paint.

It wasn't fun to just lay there and wait, especially not with how loud it was outside. It sounded like Elijah had gone for full renovations on the Compound, and there were tools blaring about, which kept making Esmeray frown.

"Nearly done, love, and then, I'll tell my brother to piss off," said Klaus, glad that she was staying so still. "You still look quite exhausted."

"Still recovering from last night," she told him with a lazy smile. "You really don't hold back, ever."

"You're too delightful," he said, ducking behind the canvas to paint for a bit before peeking back out. "My inner wolf just can't help but unleash everything trying to please you."

"Well, you and your inner wolf do a good job of it. Unfortunately, it makes me lose any motivation I started the day with. I'd rather just stay in bed all day."

"Then you should," said Klaus happily. "I'd be more than willing to bring you anything you might need."

"Don't tempt me, because I can make you my servant," she teased. "What was it you called Tyler Lockwood? Your little bitch."

"I'll be your little bitch anyday," said Klaus, turning the canvas around to show her the finished product. Esmeray blushed. "You made me look like I'm glowing."

"From my perspective, you are glowing," he said, gesturing toward the sunlight entering the room. "A true goddess." He then growled at the sound of something being drilled out in the courtyard. "I'll be back."

While he went to get Elijah's workers to be quiet, Esmeray hopped into the shower. It was good that she did, too, because it didn't seem like she was going to relax at all that day.

"What the fuck?" Esmeray hissed. "You're telling me Genevieve walked right in here, asked for a party for the Harvest witches, and Elijah said yes?"

"Not only that, he stopped me from killing the insufferable wench," said Klaus irritably.

"What even is the party about?"

"Something called La Fête des Bénêdictions to give witch gifts and acquire blessings."

"And they deserve gifts... why?"

"Don't ask me, ask Elijah. He thought it would be good to maintain the peace. Speaking of that, I have an idea." He came closer to whisper in her ear. "Make sure the wolves go to this feast. Elijah will surely invite them, though I expect they won't wish to attend after the curse that was placed on them. I will give them the heads up in advance. Do whatever you need to do to encourage them to accept when he goes to ask them."

Easy enough.

Esmeray had been sidetracked at first, however. There were new faces everywhere when she arrived in the Bayou, and they were all looking expectantly at Hayley.

"What's going on?" asked Esmeray quietly. "Who are all these people?"

"Apparently, wolves from all over are coming to see the miracle baby for themselves," said Hayley, rubbing her belly. "Two girls wanted to talk to you, specifically, though. Come on."

She led her off to the side where two brunettes were drinking from small flasks that smelled like they had carbonated water in them. As soon as they saw Esmeray, they straightened up.

"Hello," said Esmeray a bit nervously. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Esmeray Poldark."

"It's true, then," said one of the girls, getting on her knees and bowing her head. "My grandmother told me that the legends had to be true, that there had to be an all-powerful wolf who would help us become great again."

The other girl took Esmeray's hand and kissed it as she, too, got to her feet. "My name is Sakari Proctor. This is my sister, Yareli. We are the Alphas of the West Virginia Pack."

"West Virginia?" asked Esmeray. "As in... the entire state? I heard there were over twenty smaller Packs in the state."

"We've since unified the Packs," said Yareli. "Once we had heard of how the three Packs of Portland came together, we did the same. We have heard great things about you." She held out a list of names. "These are all the members of our Pack. Mostly mixed BasRoq and Deep Water, from what we've had witches determine for us. We do not believe any of us have Poldark blood, but we thought to come and tell you that we wish for you to lead us back into glory. We wish to offer our support with anything you need."

Esmeray was touched, and took their hands to pull them back to their feet. "I really appreciate it. As of now, I am looking to hopefully go state by state in the summer to help smaller Packs merge with larger ones. I want to give them all resources they need to help repopulate. I want to go little by little, seeing what support they need."

"We can get you that information," offered Sakari. "We have contacts all up the East Coast. We can find out which areas need the most support so that you can go there. There are several states where no wolves reside. Utah, New York, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, and Okhlahoma are the only states that I know of that no wolf wants to live in. Everywhere else, there's at least one Pack. We've traveled a lot, we can get you information about the other forty-three states where werewolves reside. Alaska should probably be the last one on your list to go to— werewolves fare pretty well up there."

Esmeray pulled out a small pack of sticky notes from her bag and quickly wrote her number. "Please, and thank you," she said, handing it to them. "This helps a lot. I'm glad to hear that everyone is so open to me managing stuff."

"I think that the wolves just needed someone else to take care of it for them," said Yareli. "They've been wanting to do a lot of things, but they worry about vampires. With you, they won't have to be afraid. You can kick vampire ass in seconds, from what we hear."

"Oh, yeah," Sakari continued excitedly. "We heard you tore through a bunch of vampires single-handedly without using magic, all to save your boyfriend. That's pretty romantic."

Hayley stifled a giggle, and Esmeray fought back a smirk. "It was an unfortunate one-time energy burst," she explained. "I'm still working on ways to get full access to my powers. No matter what, I'm going to ensure the wolves get the support that they need."

"Thank you for hearing us out," Sakari told her, shaking her hand. "We just wanted to see for ourselves. We've heard that you were doing a lot here in New Orleans and it's nice to know that we have a chance at becoming strong again with increased numbers."

At least, Esmeray was glad to get some sort of start on how she would be helping the wolves once the baby was born. She'd gone off to the side with Hayley afterward, helping manage where the new wolves were going to be settling in. She worked for a bit setting up tents and using magic to keep them waterproof, but had returned to the main table when she'd seen Elijah was there.

"I would like to invite you all to attend a feast for the witches tonight, in the Quarter," said Elijah once he had explained to Jackson, Oliver, and Hayley what Genevieve had asked of him. "Your people are uniquely poised to set an example for the rest of the French Quarter. Which is why it's important for the wolves to attend."

"Thanks, but no thanks," said Hayley flatly.

Considering Klaus had already told Jackson about this, Esmeray was not surprised when Oliver sighed and said, "Let's hear the man out."

"The witches are the ones that cursed your Pack," said Hayley. "And they've been nothing but crap to me since I first came to town. No. We're not going."

"As much as I hate the witches, I think we should attend," muttered Esmeray. "This is annoying, but it's a way of keeping the witches feeling guilty for what they did. If we respect them, they won't try to hurt the Pack again. I can do it if you guys don't want to go. They know by now not to mess with me."

Hayley shook her head. "They tortured you, Esmeray. They don't deserve jack shit."

"It's a new day in the Quarter, Hayley," Jackson tried to reason, casting Esmeray a sideways look. "I agree with Oliver and Esmeray. If we're gonna coexist, we have to play ball. We'll send a representative with a gift." He looked at Esmeray. "Preferably, let's have the representative be you. I don't trust those witches, either, but I trust you, and I'd rather be here helping the new wolves get settled."

"If she's going, so am I, on behalf of the Crescents," said Hayley. "Esmeray can go on behalf of all wolves."

"Hayley, you shouldn't be overexerting yourself," said Esmeray sternly. "You're too far along now."

"I'm not going to stay here while you go and face the people who hurt you. I'm going to back you up and you can't stop me."

Esmeray had to admire her determination.

The two had prepared their gifts. Esmeray had filled a small notebook with some spells, and Hayley gave a few trinkets that could be used to hold herbs or just be decoration. When Elijah had gone, Jackson had admitted to Hayley about the deal he made with Klaus. Esmeray was left to explain how the rings could potentially work, and Hayley was left far more inclined to attend now that she knew that the wolves were going to get some benefit from this treaty.

They walked into the afterparty venue side by side, and found Elijah waiting for them at the entrance. He escorted him into a large room where the three risen Harvest girls were dressed in gorgeous and expensive looking gowns. Monique had floral and earth tones in her dress, while Davina had red-orange tones for fire. Esmeray didn't know the name of the last girl, but she expected the white in her dress was for air. The missing girl presumably would have had blue tones.

"Welcome," said Genevieve, making Esmeray grit her teeth as she moved to stand off to the side with Hayley. "As is our time-honored tradition, you are all welcome to deliver your offerings. It is our custom that no one should be turned away, no blessing be denied."

The guests started to bring their gifts forward, but Esmeray held Hayley back, not wanting them to go first. Francesca Correa ended up being the first, and she started to place her gift in front of Davina, but the attendant beckoned her to place it in front of Monique instead. Francesca did not argue, and from there on, it became very obvious that the attendants weren't about to let anyone put a gift at Davina's feet. Hayley then finally took her turn, and before she could put her gift down, the attendant took it from her and gave it to Monique, whose pile was growing significantly large.

Esmeray couldn't contain her temper so easily. She'd just been about to set the wrapped notebook down for Davina when the attendant beckoned her away.

"I'm sorry, what the fuck is going on?" she snapped, making everyone go silent. "What happened to 'no one should be turned away' and 'no blessing be denied?' It's painfully obvious who your least favorite Harvest girl is and I call bullshit. So I'm putting my gift here on behalf of the wolves, and if you have a problem with it, then you can go fuck yourself."

"Esmeray!" said Elijah in disbelief.

"What?" she said, looking around. "I'm pointing out how unfair they're being. Look at her pile!" She gestured toward Monique. "Why is the girl who killed her aunt getting more than the girl who had more power than all of them?"

She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go talk about this outside," Genevieve coaxed, leading her out one of the side doors.

Esmeray let her, at first. But as soon as the door shut behind them, the hybrid whirled around and slammed the witch into the wall, one hand tight around her throat, the other holding her wrists down. "Give me one good fucking reason why I shouldn't end you right now to get the fourth Harvest girl here," she sneered. "No one needs you here anymore. So if you don't stop coming around to get a glimpse of Klaus, and if you don't start treating that girl out there with a little respect, I'll kill the lot of you without blinking and there won't be a Harvest ritual in New Orleans ever again."

She was yanked off of Genevieve by Klaus, and Elijah, to her surprise, was the one that stepped between them and led Genevieve back into the building.

"Breathe, love," said Klaus, seeing the cracks in the pavement below. "Breathe. You'll see her dead soon enough."

"I want her dead now," Esmeray said angrily. "God— she's lucky Davina hasn't gone homicidal with the way they've been treating her."

"Davina will be just fine, love," said Klaus. "I will ensure it."

Esmeray was fuming for the rest of the party. She tried to drink something to calm herself down, but the taste of the alcohol simply bothered her, and Klaus ended up finishing her glass for her. She refused to look in Genevieve's direction, and was leaning against the wall, wanting to go home.

"How about we head off, then?" asked Klaus, seeing how irritated she was. "Elijah can return Hayley to the Bayou."

"No, I should just stay and go back with her myself," said Esmeray, shaking her head. "There are all these wolves there and I should go back to talk to them..."

There was the sound of thumping, and they looked up as several drummers marched down the stairs, making the guests move back, making way as they stopped in front of everyone.

"Happy Fête des Bénédictions," said the lead drummer when they stopped. "We have a message for all of you from Marcel Gerard."

Klaus tensed as each drummer brought out a razor and sliced their wrists. Instantly, all the vampires in the room were antsy and hungry, their vampire faces surfacing.

"Control yourselves!" Elijah said, stepping forward quickly. "This is a vulgar trick. We do not violate our agreement!"

The lights went off, and Esmeray nearly got knocked out. She'd tried to rush forward to shield Hayley, but Elijah had done that too, and she'd stumbled back into Klaus, who'd been trying to get the both of them to safety in the first place. The lights came back on, and at least two dozen humans were dead on the floor. Written in blood on the wall were the words 'THERE WILL BE NO PEACE.'

"E-Elijah?" said Hayley shakily, holding onto him after she'd nearly fallen.

"Hayley," he said, quickly leading her out. "It's okay, it's alright."

"I've got her, Elijah," said Esmeray, moving behind them. "Come on, Hayley, let's get you back to the Bayou."