Astrid was walking around the city of New Orleans with her pack. The teenagers walked through the crowded city with sparkling eyes and wide smiles.

"So you lived here in the 1920s?" Lydia asked, walking next to Astrid, watching the people who walked past her.

"Yes I did." Astrid replied with a slight smile forming on her face.

"What was it like?" Scott asked, his fingers intertwined with hers as he looked at her with a smile.

"It was... amazing. Me and Niklaus were the King and Queen of New Orleans." Astrid chuckled at the memories. "Over the 1000 years of my life, this was the only place that gave me and my siblings what we desired" she paused with a slight smile. "It gave us happiness... that's until our father found us and we had to run once again."

"What a sad story" said a middle aged man as he walked in front of Astrid, stopping her and her friends from walking.

"And who might you be, love? One of Marcel's minions?" Astrid asked with a fake smile plastered on her face. Stiles grabbes Malia's hand, holding it tightly while kira grabbed Lydia's hand.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Anyhow, I just want you to know... none of us are scared of you... even though you are an original vampire." The man said with narrowed eyes, walking towards Astrid, stopping a few inches away from her. He was so close, she could feel his breath fanning her face. Scott growled at the man but Astrid squeezed his hand, calming him down.

"That's nice, love. Now get out of my way before I kill you" she smiled, patting his shoulder as she moved him aside. "Dickhead" she muttered as they continued walking.

She turned around to look at her friends. "Right... just so there won't be any surprised. This place is full of vampires and witches... so be careful if you ever leave without me" she smiled at them with concern in her eyes. They all nodded, slight fear in their eyes.

➖➖➖

"Please, sister, tell me you're not still at it with the internet search." Astrid heard Nik say as she and the pack entered the livingroom where Rebekah was on her laptop. The pack sat down along with Astrid on the couches. "How does one begin anyway, just type in "Anonymous Attic"?" Niklaus asked, amusement in his voice.

"She's still looking for the attic our brother is being held at?" Astrid asked and Nik nodded. "It's somewhere around that church..." Astrid said. "... probably not in the church. It would be a bit strange to have a comatose vampire and a witch in one church." Astrid chuckled.

"I agree. Bit weird" Stiles said, tapping his foot, making Nik sigh and glare at the boy.

"Someone has to find Elijah, even if I have to search every bloody attic in New Orleans" Rebekah replied.

"Like looking for a Needle..."

"In a rather large pile of needles" Astrid finished Nik's sentence as he drank some whiskey.

"I remember details about the attic Marcel took me to." Rebekah sighed. "There were shutters on the windows behind Elijah's coffin."

"This is all so weird..." kira said quietly.

"You'll get used to it, sweetheart" Niklaus smiled as he walked towards Rebekah "That should narrow it down immensely." Nik told Rebekah. "Myself, I prefer actual strategy as opposed to mind-numbing labour. Marcel's delay in returning our brother makes me suspect he's no longer in charge of the situation."

"Probably not since one of his minions basically threatened me today..." Astrid rolled her eyes, making Niklaus furrow his eyebrows in annoyance.

"I'll talk to him. Tell me if one of his men threaten you again, sister. They'll regret it." Niklaus said with an angry expression.

"How is it that when I kill someone while protecting your knock up, you yell and threaten me. But when she is threatened, you are willing to kill even the people you love..." Rebekah complained, finding it quite unfair.

"He just loves me more." Astrid winked at her sister.

"Favouritism" Stiles muttered, making the vampires roll their eyes.

"Anyway, if Davina's loyalty to Marcel is strained, perhaps the young witch will be open to discussing a new alliance." Niklaus said, looking at the glass in his hand.

"As usual, your power grabs are more important than rescuing your brother." Rebekah said in a disappointed tone.

"I prefer to think of it as killing two birds with one stone. Rob Marcel of his secret weapon, bring our brother home." Niklaus smiled.

➖➖➖

Astrid and Rebekah entered the church, Astrid's friend were somewhere in New Orleans having fun. The church was quite cold, even for a vampire; they watched a man clean the old church.

The man turned around to look at them, he was middle aged yet still quite handsome. "Hi, love" Astrid smirked at the man.

"Church is closed" he told the two. "You want your horror fix, go take a ghost tour" he said, making Astrid raise an eyebrow.

"I don't much care for ghosts." Rebekah said loudly and confidently as she walked closer to the man, holding her sister's hand in hers. "I am, however, fascinated in window shutters" she added, Astrid bit her bottom lip, trying not to laugh. "Me and my sister have been on a town tour of them all day."

"Ah, yes. Window shutters, they're quite fascinating. Don't you agree?" Astrid asked with an amused smile on her face.

"I noticed the windows of your attic have shutters." Rebekah told the man.

"Are you really interested in shutters?" He asked, walking towards the two women.

"I can assure you it's my current life obsession" Rebekah replied. "What's your name?"

"Father Kieran, and you are?" He asked.

"Mildly curious" Rebekah replied.

"You're cute for a priest" Astrid winked at him.

"What happened here?" Rebekah asked, looking at the blood on a wall.

"St. Anne's used to be the heart of the neighbourhood." The priest said, looking down at the ground. "It's been abandoned for a while now since the night of a massacre. 9 seminary students were killed by one of their own."

"I always found these places creepy..." Astrid scoffed.

"You're standing on blood." he told Rebekah, looking into her eyes.

"I'm not squeamish" Rebekah replied with a small smile. "Where's the attic?"

"Like I said, the church is closed." He said once again.

Rebekah walked towards the man, letting go of Astrid's hand. She stared into his eyes as she compelled him "Where's the attic?"

"Past the sacritaty up the stairs." He replied.

"Thank you." Rebekah smiled. "Now forget I was here" she compelled him once again as the two walked past the man.

They opened the door and looked inside. There was a bed, some other furniture and a coffin. "I knew it." Rebekah said as she tried to walk in but the invisible barrier stopped her.

Elijah's eyes suddenly opened and the two girls appeared outside, wearing old fashioned clothing.

"What the bloody hell?" Rebekah questioned as she looked around.

Astrid groaned as she stared at her dress "I hate those old dresses. They're so restricting." Astrid complained, looking at the old-fashioned dress.

"Rebekah, language, please." The two turned around when they heard Elijah speak.

The two smiled widely and walked towards Elijah to hug him tightly."what is all this, Lijah?" Astrid asked as she pulled away from her brother.

"You don't remember?" Elijah asked as the two women looked around. "We were at the Opera house together." Elijah smiled as the three began walking. "It was Rebekah's first Foray back into New Orleans society after Klaus removed the dagger from her."

"Ah, yes. I remember, she was pissed" Astrid chuckled.

"I need you both to know that this is not another one of Davina's tricks." Elijah spoke.

"Well, how are you even awake?" Rebekah asked as the three stopped walking.

"Davina withdrew the dagger, unaware that doing so even once would negate it's power. In a few hours I shall be as good as new." Elijah smiled as he began walking away.

"So put us back into the attic, and we can find a way to get you out." Rebekah told him.

"I'm afraid I'm not quite ready to leave yet." Elijah said as he stopped walking and turned around to look at his sisters. "This girl Davina, she's curious, wilful, too. Soon I shall be able to speak to her, perhaps even to propose a truce of some kind, so if we can end this war between the vampires and the witches, we'll be able to eliminate the threat to Hayley and her baby." He said as he poured the three some wine, walking towards them with the three glasses. "Perhaps then Niklaus and our entire family can finally know peace. In the meantime, I need you two to look after Hayley. She is our family now so I need her and her unborn child to fall underneath our protection."

"I really hate your selflessness, brother" Astrid sighed as she took a. Sip of the wine.

"Swear to me, sisters." Elijah said.

"I swear" the two said at the same time, suddenly appearing back in the attic. They both left the church.

➖➖➖

Astrid left Rebekah to look for her friends as there was a festival and undoubtly, the vampires would be around. The air smelt of fat foods, cigarettes and sweat, making Astrid frown at the disgusting smell.

She entered a bar and to her disappointment, the pack wasn't there. She took out her phone and called Scott once again, hoping that he'll pick up the phone. "It has been impossible to connect your c-" Astrid groaned and clicked the red button on her phone, looking around.

She carried on walking through the cramped streets, unable to walk through the crowd without walking into someone. She looked right and unsurprisingly, she saw Marcel's vampires looking for trouble.

Astrid stopped stating at the vampires when she smelt a familiar smell, Scott's smell. She groaned when she felt pain in her abdomen, feeling like she was just stabbed. Unfortunately, someone else was stabbed. "Malia" Astrid clenched her jaw and vamp sped away, trying to find the pack by their scent.

"I thought we said werewolves are banned in the French Quarter." She heard a vampire say. There were four of them, 3 males and one female walking towards the pack. Malia was holding her abdomen where the knife was. She saw Scott and Malia relax when they smelt Astrid. Malia smirked, making the vampire frown in confusion. "What are you smirking for, dog?" She shouted.

"Leave them alone, will you?" Astrid said in an annoyed tone as she walked towards them.

"Ooh" a ginger woman chuckled. "The big bad hybrid"

"Hybrid?" Astrid questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah" a blonde man said, he had blood on his left hand. He was the one who stabbed Malia. His brown eyes held anger as he spoke. "We heard about you and your brother, obviously. Half werewolf half vampire."

"Marcel didn't tell you?" Astrid laughed, biting her bottom lip. "Motus" she chanted and moved her right hand to the right. The ginger female vampire and blonde vampire pushed to a wall by her magic. The other two vampires looked at her horrified, this was a secret Marcel held from his vampires. Not wanting them to be scared of the most dangerous original of all. "What's wrong, darlings?" Astrid asked with a fake frown. "Did I scare you?" She chuckled, holding out her hand and looking at a green-eyed vampire.

"You remind me of my brother Finn" Astrid said while narrowing her eyes and closing her right hand into a fist. "I hate Finn". The man began screaming as he held his head in his hands. Sweat dripping down his forehead as Astrid turned his blood into acid. "How does it feel having your blood turned into acid, love?" She asked, clenching her fist so hard, she cut her hand using her finger nails and her thick blood dripped onto the ground. She then opened her hand and the man relaxed.

Astrid waved her hand and the green-eyed man's neck snapped and he fell on the ground with a thud. "Oops. My hand slipped" Astrid chuckled.

A man with with blue eyes picked up the temporarily dead vampire and sped away with him in his arms. "You bitch" the ginger woman screamed, walking towards Astrid.

"No need to me Hasty, darling" Astrid chuckled, "after all, he's not dead permanently. It's just a reminder that I'm stronger than you" she smiled at her. The ginger woman looked at the pack and Astrid sent her a glare which said 'don't you dare'. The woman ignored the look and vamp sped towards Scott, grabbing his heart. Scott grunted as her hand squeezed around the muscle.

"I'll kill him" the ginger woman said, showing her vampire face as she hissed. The blonde male vampire wasn't sure what to do, whether to help his friend or just leave.

"That's the biggest mistake you made in your pathetic, short life" Astrid said as she glared at the vampire. She waved her hand to the left, making the vampire's hold on Scott's heart to loosen as she moved away from the hybrid. "Any last words?" Astrid asked as the vampire looked at her wide-eyed. "No?" She raised her eyebrows as she walked towards the ginger.

"Blondie, take this as a reminder not to mess with me or my siblings ever again." she said as she pulled out the woman's heart. "Goodnight, buttercup." She smiled evilly at the blonde man. "Take her with you, love" she told him as she threw her heart on her body. The blonde vampire picked her up and vamp sped away.

She looked at her friends who had horrified expressions. "Did you have to kill her?" Kira asked, her eyes glowing yellow in anger.

"Control yourself, foxy" Astrid told her, wiping the blood on a shirt which layed on the ground. "I had to. In order to send them a message, if I didn't do anything; they would come back and kill all of you. Now that they know they have no chance against me, they won't even try." She said, they sighed, knowing that she did have a point.

"Couldn't you do it differently?" Stiles asked.

"No-" she was interrupted by the ring tone of her phone. "What is it, Rebekah?" Astrid asked when she picked up the phone.

"Hayley's missing" Rebekah replied.

"What do you mean Hayley's missing?" Astrid asked, raising her voice slightly, the pack staring at her. They were concerned for the pregnant werewolf, especially Lydia.

"I found her running away from some hunters so I killed them. Some more of them arrived and they shot me in the heart before I could help her escape" Rebekah explained. "When I woke up, she was gone and the hunters... well, looks like something took care of them." She chuckled.

"Does Nik know?" Astrid questioned her sister.

"Yes. He does." Rebekah replied.

"Good. I'll see you soon, Bex" Astrid told her sister as she hung up the phone.

"Astrid." The pack looked behind Astrid and the blonde vampire turned around to see Marcel standing behind her. "Was killing one of my vampires really necessary?" Marcel asked, walking towards her. He vamp sped to Malia and pulled out the knife. She groaned but her body slowly began healing.

Astrid looked at Marcel who was now standing next to her. "Yes, it was necessary." Astrid said with an annoyed smile. "It was basically self defence." She added, shrugging her shoulders.

"Listen, you can't just come here and kill my people." He said annoyed. "You do that again and I'll hurt one of your friends" he said, flames of anger in his dark eyes.

She tutted at the man "Well... how about you tell your friends not to threaten me again and... promise not to even come close to any of them?" Astrid suggested, pointing at her friends.

"And why would I do that, huh?" He asked, looking into her eyes.

"Because, Marcellus. You still owe me. You owe your life to me and since you think of yourself as a noble man, you will promise me not to hurt them... noble men don't break their promises Marcel... and they always pay their debts." She said, narrowing her eyes as the pack watched the two.

"I do not owe you..." he answered, his jaw clenching.

"Well... I clearly remember that it's thanks to me you're a vampire, Marcel. Is it not?" She asked and Marcel gulped, looking away.

"You gave me an ultimatum as far as I can remember." He said, beginning to walk away.

"It wasn't exactly an ultimatum since you made your choice in under 10 seconds" Astrid chuckled and the man stopped walking, turning around to look at her again.

"What were the choices?" Stiles interrupted, curiosity making him ask the question.

"Well... when my brother found Marcel and my sister kissing, he went ballistic" Astrid told her friends. "He ripped my sister's heart out and was about to kill Marcel too... but I stopped him. I guess you kind of owe me your life too" Astrid chuckled. "I gave my brother an idea. Marcel would have to choose between the life he desired: becoming a vampire. Or, spending the rest of his human life with my little sister." Astrid explained. "You told her you love her and yet you chose vampirism without hesitation."

She paused for a while and smirked at Marcel. "I think it's safe to say I gave you this life, love." She went up to him and placed her hand on his chest "and I can easily take it away."

"Fine." Marcel gulped. "My people won't threaten your friends again and you..." he paused "... will not kill my people again. Deal?" He held out his hand.

Astrid shook his hand with a smile. "Deal. All you have to do is control your vampires and I won't have to go on a killing spree" she smirked and turned around, walking towards the pack. "Let's go" she smiled as they left Marcel who cursed when he watched them leave.

➖➖➖

Astrid and the pack walked inside the white mansion, the house was quiet as Nik sat on one of the stairs. "Brother?" Astrid said quietly as Lydia closed the front door.

"We found her" Nik said. "I didn't want to leave her alone in this bloody building" he answered as he stood up and walked towards his younger sister. "Now excuse me, I have somewhere to be. Hayley is sleeping in her room" he said as he kissed his sister's cheek and left.

"We're gonna go to bed" Scott said, also kissing her cheek as they walked upstairs, heading to their rooms. Astrid sighed loudly and vamp sped to hayley's room when she heard her move around in her bed frantically. "Can't sleep?" Astrid asked and Hayley sat up, looking at the blonde.

"Nope" the brunette replied, running her fingers through her thick hair.

"What's wrong?" Astrid asked as she sat down next to Hayley, smiling at her.

"It's just-- I'm scared." She admitted, Astrid smiled that the girl began to open up to her. "I was almost killed today because I'm pregnant with your brother's baby. What if one day I lose my life because of this? I'm not ready to die... yet" she said quietly. Hayley looked at Astrid and was surprised when she saw her laying down under the covers in her pyjamas, smiling widely.

"Come here, darling" Astrid smiled and the girl sighed. She layed down on Astrid's chest, wrapping an arm around Astrid's waist as the vampire stroked her head. "We're family Now, wolfie. We'll protect you even if it means losing our lives for you. You're safe I promise you that." Astrid stopped talking when she heard Hayley snore. The vampire chuckled and closed her eyes, falling asleep.

➖➖➖