Something Wicked This Way Comes

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Summary: An elitist group of female vampire hunters face their biggest challenge when a dashing, but obnoxious, group of male vampires settle in town. Soon lies and deceit from within threatens to divide them, and a greater threat on the horizon may just end with bloodshed on an apocalyptic scale, and in the midst of all this beats the heart of a love between two women whose sudden and intense romance may be their undoing. Beklena.

Chapter 6
Family Business

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Elena and Caroline sat in the car surveying the beautiful, if slightly eerie, city of New Orleans. It was dark, and they had parked near the borders, on a quiet slip of a road in the hopes of formulating a good plan to hunt and kill the vampires that leeched off the good citizens here.

"I've always wanted to see this place," Caroline murmured. "I'd just hoped to see it under better circumstances."

Elena reached out and squeezed her hand. "Me too."

Leaning her head back against her seat, Caroline sighed heavily.

"Do you ever worry that we're missing a lot doing what we do?" she asked quietly. "I mean, we're making a difference by killing the monsters in the world, but what are we becoming in the process?"

"We didn't ask for this, Caroline, but our family was taken from us. Vampires destroyed our lives. Why should we let them continue to exist when they will only hurt more people?" Elena's eyes flashed with anger as she recalled the horrific moment she'd watched her parents and brother die. "You of all people should know why we're doing this."

"I know, I know... But we shouldn't forget to live while we're doing what we do," Caroline replied, staring ahead.

The city was beautiful. Even though they had no vampire hearing, they could faintly hear the sounds of people cheering and laughing, the whole city alight, with music - jazz predominantly - flooding the air, making them realise some sort of celebration was occurring, which they were strangely jealous of.

They'd not been a part of a celebration in a long time, so focused had they all been on hunting and killing vampires. Birthdays had been missed, friendships had been neglected, and it was only just now that Elena and Caroline realised what they were truly missing out on by focusing on vengeance.

Ahead, Elena focused on the flashlights which you could see piercing the sky. They moved periodically, as if lighting the way for something. She closed her eyes, focusing on the music, tapping her fingers against her thighs subconsciously, and she realised the truth of Caroline's words. New Orleans was definitely on her list of places to visit, but it was somewhere she'd never believed she'd ever go. Usually, Bonnie and Caroline and herself would strike little towns that were at least within a couple hours travel where they'd heard rumours of vampires encroaching; they'd never ventured anywhere glamorous or particularly far, which was why, despite how irritable it made her that Rebekah was right, she was thankful to be here, looking at a city that positively glowed with culture.

In an effort to clear her own head, Elena elected to change the subject.

"Rebekah said it was better for us to attack during the day," she said. "I think the best thing for us to do here is reverse our usual strategy."

"Explore the territory tonight, and attack in the day once we know what we're up against." Caroline nodded. "Got it."

"She said we need to be smart with these vampires. They run the city, which means there is most likely a score of them," Elena sighed.

"I wish Bonnie were here."

"Me too, but she needs to check out so she can figure out who she is. Have you heard from her at all?"

Caroline shook her head. "I just had the one text this morning, just letting me know she's okay."

Elena nodded. "Ready to do this?"

Caroline grinned. "Are vampires the scum of the earth?"

As one they chorused, "Yes", and then laughed.

"I can't believe I didn't pick a better outfit to go exploring in," Caroline bemoaned, looking at her white frilled top and her mid-length skirt with a frown. "This doesn't scream vampire-hunters-on-a-mission."

"Exactly. It's not supposed to give us away."

"It doesn't exactly scream sex-on-legs either," Caroline added mournfully.

Elena rolled her eyes and smiled.

"You can create that look with one smile, Caroline Forbes, so don't pretend it's all in the outfit." She looped her arm around her friend. "I know we're going to be checking out this city for any weaknesses, any dodgy characters, but that does not excuse you sneaking off with the first man you see who makes you weak at the knees, got it?"

"You're as bossy as Rebekah."

"And don't you forget it."

They stepped out of the car almost in synch, their boots hitting the ground with an ominous thud. Locking the car, Elena gave it a once over with an almost regretful glance; it would be a shame to walk away from this car, especially since it had given them a lot of memories. However, she and Caroline had made this rule between them that every time they went out on a big hunt, they would never leave in the same car they'd driven up in. It eradicated a possible means of being traced had they ever left any survivors or witnesses - which they rarely did. This car had seen them through a few scrapes, and she would be sad to let it go but it was necessary for survival. She wasn't particularly proud of the fact that they had to steal cars as part of their job - even if those cars did belong to the vampires they killed and no one else - and even less proud she'd honed the skill of breaking into cars like she was a common thief, but at the end of the day they had to be smart.

They walked forward, preparing themselves to commit to the part. Each time they arrived in town, they had new characters. One occasion, they had been sorority girls looking for a good time on a college campus; on another occasion, they'd been three unemployed, destitute girls seeking a place to call home. Each act won them the hearts of every vampire they met - male and female - and they befriended them rather quickly, which made ending them rather the more painful as, despite themselves, the three vampire hunters found that they genuinely connected to some of the people they'd later killed.

Of course, it all had to be an act. Vampires can no longer play the part of humans than a wolf can act the role of a sheep, but it doesn't mean they can't wear the disguise and try their luck all the same, and underneath every one beat the heart of a monster that needed eradicating. If Elena was ever in doubt of her cause, all she had to do was close her eyes and her brother's vacant eyes would loom over her, causing her to bolt up, sweating profusely, and then the doubt would disappear.

This act, Caroline and Elena had decided, would be two simple city girls exploring the world, and looking for a good time. They'd dressed for the occasion, showing enough cleavage to not be regarded as anything other than party girls, but covered up enough to be able to kick ass if needed. Giggling randomly, they began to enter the streets, mingling with the crowds who were celebrating god knows what, all the while gazing around in search of potential targets.

The music was loud and so were the celebrators, but the culture here was on a whole new level and Elena found herself entranced by it all. Having been brought up in a world where culture was defined by pageants and pretentious traditions, Elena and Caroline were genuinely in awe of what it truly meant to be amongst true culture and soon they found that they weren't just dancing as part of the act; they were dancing because it felt good to cut loose.

Caroline looped an arm around Elena and they swung each other around, laughing and revelling in the beauty of where they were. People waved from balconies, streamers and banners decorating the streets like it was Mardi Gras, and they waved back, beaming as they found themselves, for the first time in a long time, genuinely enjoying themselves. Caroline even risked a few selfies for the sake of blending in with the crowd, and Elena snuck into every one of them.

"Rude," Caroline complained, but she was smiling. "It feels good though, doesn't it?"

"Doesn't what?"

"Actually living." Caroline inhaled deeply, taking in everything with her wide eyes. "We have to seize these moments, Elena. We've been living under a storm cloud and now we're finally experiencing a little bit of sun."

"We are technically still working here, Caroline."

"Details, details... It doesn't change the fact this is the most fun we've had in a while." Caroline's smile faded. "I wish Bonnie were here to see this too."

"We'll do a road trip next summer, and we'll make New Orleans our first stop," Elena was quick to reassure her.

"Really?"

"Absolutely. Once we're done with the vampires here, and the vampires back home, we'll go on a long, well deserved holiday and see the world. All three of us."

Caroline's smile returned, even brighter, and she started dancing again. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and soon Elena was joining in again, the whole of New Orleans it seemed abuzz with life and laughter. It was a sharp reminder of what Mystic Falls lacked, and what they'd missed out on since tragedy struck each of their lives, all in remarkably similar circumstances, if at different points in time.

Caroline was right. They couldn't forget to stop living even if their purpose here in town was with the technically not living. They had to soak up each glorious bit of sunshine while they could, and New Orleans was the perfect place for them to do just that.

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"So, you got rid of them, just like that?" Kol was all smiles as he slouched across Rebekah's chaise de longue. "I'm impressed."

"They needed a villain to hunt. I gave them Marcel." Rebekah shrugged. "It buys you idiots some time to get an actual plan together because I assume you have more sense than to stay in town and attract attention."

"I'm here purely for the entertainment," Kol responded, with an innocent smile that fooled no one, least of all his sister who'd had centuries to get to grips with his ways.

"It's Mystic Falls, Kol, not New York. What entertainment could you possibly find here?"

"The witch for one. She's got a sharp tongue on her." Kol smirked. "And you do know how much I love pretty things with sharp tongues."

Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"She's a witch. You have spent your days chasing countless witches in the past. What makes this one so exciting? All I've gleaned from her is that she's as dull as dishwater. Hardly worth the bother if you ask me."

"She's a Bennett witch. The last time I spoke to one as fair as her was about in the 1500s. And by the end of our little affair, she was about ready to hex me." In response to Rebekah's raised eyebrows, he added, "It would never have worked between us anyway. She was far too stern for me. She hated my sense of humour."

"You'll find that a common fault with everyone who comes into contact with you, Kol. The only one who finds you funny is you," Rebekah pointed out.

Kol clutched his heart and pretended to look wounded.

"Ah, Rebekah. You hurt me. I thought we could at least start out this latest endeavour on the same side."

Rebekah threw him a disdainful look but proceeded not to answer.

There was a casual knock on the door before it was forced open anyway, a smirking Damon and his reluctant brother Stefan sauntering their way in as if they owned the bloody house. She would've chewed their heads off but she sensed it wasn't worth breaking a nail over. Besides, Stefan looked like hell, and she was dying to learn the reason behind it. After all, she was a girl first, vampire second which meant the need to learn gossip was strongly present in her veins.

"Well, Mystic Falls is as boring as I remember it," Damon announced, as if anyone gave a damn. "Luckily, the girls have become even stupider over the years, so barely any compulsion was needed to charm my way into their necks."

"Be careful, that's my entire gender you're offending there," Rebekah huffed, glaring at him.

"Easy, we're all on the same side here," Damon said, instantly defensive, although the smirk never left his face. He cast a worried glance over at his brother. "You okay there, Stef?"

Stefan gave a curt nod, but he was pale and haggard, as if all the years he'd been alive when he shouldn't have been had started to tear apart at his skin. He was still unbelievably attractive, with his chiselled jaw and his brooding eyes, but Rebekah had lost all interest in the Salvatores since her last encounter with them.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked, curious despite herself.

"He's on ripper detox," Damon answered for him, visibly exasperated, "...again."

"Why?" Kol interjected, baffled.

"Because I, unlike you lot, don't enjoy being a monster," Stefan got out. "I only came to say I think this whole endeavour of yours is suicidal, not to mention completely horrific."

"Life of the party this one," Damon mocked, rolling his eyes.

"Nik may be dangerous when he gets what he wants, Stefan, but he's even worse when he doesn't," Rebekah said rationally. "If he wants the doppelganger to exploit and kill, who are we to deny him that? It might actually shut him up to have his hybrid creations, plus with them around, he's less likely to focus on us."

Stefan didn't look at all happy by that explanation.

"You're still allowing him to murder someone for the sake of getting an army that will only likely cause problems for the rest of us," he said, looking as though he was refraining from physically attacking them all.

"Since when did you skip off Team Klaus, because I don't recall getting the memo?" Damon demanded, looking annoyed. "As you recall, he was your friend from the '20s, and you were the one who convinced me to trust him."

"Times change, and so do loyalties."

"Oh, God, Lexie got to you again, didn't she?" Damon looked to the heavens, despair and irritation in his eyes.

"She's trying to help me, Damon, which is more than what you're doing right now," Stefan snapped. "Give me one good reason why we are helping Klaus."

"Oh, I don't know, so that we can avoid pissing off an Original vampire. You are aware he has the power to end all our lives, don't you, or didn't you read the book of vampire bedtime stories I gave you?"

"Your sarcasm is unappreciated right now."

Damon resisted the urge to punch his brother in the face.

Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"If you two are not going to help, then leave," she demanded. "This is strictly family business anyway."

"Besides, what are the Salvatores going to achieve that we, the Mikaelsons, cannot?" Kol asked airily, looking from Damon to Stefan with open contempt.

"Well, for starters, at least our family doesn't border on incest. Secondly, when we have disagreements, we sort it out there and then, rather than literally stabbing each other in the back over and over. I'm surprised you've not found a way to make it a sport, actually," Damon taunted, his eyes flashing with a cruel kind of glee.

Kol immediately scowled and clenched his fists. To keep the peace, Rebekah ushered Stefan and Damon out, stopping them before they left.

"If we can't count on your help - and lord knows I was hoping for minimal involvement from you two anyway - can I least trust that you can keep your mouths shut?" she asked.

"This isn't right," Stefan insisted, but he wasn't openly saying he would go up against her if he had to. She sensed hesitation, and loyalty to his brother, which would hopefully sway him one way or the other.

"I know being back on the wagon requires you to stick to an almost painfully moral stance, Stefan, but believe me getting in the way of my brother's plans will only end badly for you both. He's been awaiting the arrival of a doppelganger for centuries and he will crush anyone stupid enough to stand in his way. I know you and my brother were once friends. If you've turned your back on him, at least be wise enough not to allow him to know that and keep away from us. Not just for your sake, but his. If there's one thing my brother cannot abide, it's disloyalty. God knows what he'll do to you if he should learn you've forsaken him."

Stefan locked eyes with her. "You know this isn't right, Rebekah. Even for Klaus, this whole plan is cruel."

"You're becoming increasingly sadder to listen to with every sentence you say," Damon complained, dragging his brother away. "Let's get you to a bar... or to a woman. See which one perks you up first."

Rebekah watched them leave, feeling oddly perturbed by Stefan's words. It wasn't like she hadn't killed people before. She'd left dozens of bodies in her wake once upon a time, and a dozen cities in flames, and her conscience had never stirred then. Somehow, when you were a vampire, death looked less hideous, mainly because you knew you would never get to experience it again. You could take lives easily, knowing your own would go on, outliving everything and everyone.

Stefan was right in one thing though.

This plan of Klaus's was cruel, and it seemed to feed a vendetta long since cooked up from the very moment he'd learned of a way to undo his nature. Very few people knew of Klaus's true intentions, only that for centuries he'd been looking for a doppelganger to break a curse. Werewolves and vampires alike had sought this mystical doppelganger out in order to win Klaus on their side. Her brother could be a horrifying enemy, but he also had the potential to be an important and powerful ally...on the rare chance your goals and his aligned that is.

She wasn't too fussed about the idea of sacrificing Elena. The girl was stubborn, and was often reckless, and had a ridiculous obsession with wearing cardigans, but all the same there was something fundamentally wrong with not feeling wrong about betraying her. It gnawed at her, and she could almost feel her human self yelling at her not to be so heartless and callous, but when you'd been that way for a thousand years, when you'd given your heart time and time again only to end up heartbroken and infuriated thus provoking you into deciding not to care ever again, how did you make yourself change? Did wanting to change signal she was not beyond hope?

She would have to go through with her brother's insane wishes, if not because she loved him and wanted him to be happy - even if he didn't deserve it - but because he held the key to her one true desire in his hand, and she was only weeks away from possessing it.

Her freedom.

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The lights were dizzying, but Elena and Caroline kept pace with the crowd. The mood was easy to match and fake accordingly; a little drunkenness, mostly a sense of excitement, of rebellion, as if this city was a wayward child doing whatever the hell it pleased even under the rest of the world's judgemental gaze.

They chatted with a few people, swapped numbers - always giving out fakes of course - and enjoyed the city life. They drank in the culture, whilst at the same time scouting out for potential vampires, and unfortunately that was never easy. Most vampires you could scout out easily by the fact they never emerged in the daylight. Like the myth, they rejected the sunlight as it burned their skin, burned them to ashes, and so usually a tantalising seduction line such as ooh, the sun is out, let's go and enjoy it together separated the men from the monsters. Sometimes they got their facts wrong, and had to ward off pissed off men who grew angry at their teasing and would either skulk off, their pride visibly wounded, or they would go on the offensive, which was something they could handle with ease. Many a man's groin had been viciously booted in the name of defending their bodies, and they had perfected the move so that every single time they got the kick in the right place where it would send them down, near enough in tears.

But monsters - like every other natural creature - evolve, and some had grown exceptionally crafty, sporting daylight rings so that vampire hunters ignored them whenever they passed by. Slowly, the three girls had learned to recognise those too; namely by the tacky rings they sported. One could only assume that whoever they'd got the supply of rings from must've had a bit of fun at their expense, electing to choose the most unsubtle, gaudiest looking rings so as to provoke the most ridicule. Elena, Bonnie and Caroline usually broke down the newer vampires by asking for the story behind the rings, and they would usually spout some garble about it being a family ring and they wore it for sentimental reasons, forgetting the fundamental truth that men just didn't wear jewellery unless it was a wedding band or an ironic fashion choice used to make a statement.

"This is great," Caroline cheered, looping an arm around Elena's neck.

Elena, though anxious to enjoy herself, couldn't agree. The night had been - so far - fun, and that was what disturbed her. There was nothing to depict anything out of the ordinary. Everybody could've been a vampire. In the throes of the night, anyone was dangerous. A few faces had caught her attention due to the fact they seemed unusually fixated on her and Caroline, but a moment later they'd draped themselves around other pretty women and had gone sauntering off.

The vampires here - if there were any - were excellent at disguising themselves.

Elena couldn't help but wonder if there was a reason Rebekah had wanted them out of Mystic Falls, particularly since as far as she could tell there were no vampires here. Usually, the vampires in any given town or city gave themselves a way, either by being too overfriendly with the women they befriended, or by luring people away down dark alleyways and street corners with promises of a good time.

In the end, fed up with reconnaissance work, she elected to go down the route Caroline seemed to be going down, which was just to say fuck it and go all out in order to have a good time.

They ended up in a small bar, chatting to some locals, and Elena could slowly feel herself slipping away into the land of inebriation. She missed the fact Bonnie wasn't with them, and managed to slip her name into every other sentence she uttered at Caroline, but despite everything they'd all endured, it felt so nice to just disappear into this new world and not worry for one moment about the darkness that lived around the corners of it.

She would later kick herself for it, but at some point she agreed to follow this particularly handsome man outside for some fresh air. Her logic at the time was that she needed some herself, and Caroline seemed to be having a good time chatting up the bartender and getting a hell of a lot of free drinks in the process. She allowed the man - whose name she recalled as being something exotic, like Rio or Raphael - to pull her outside, and she laughed all the way as he kept tugging her just out of sight.

The fresh air did do one trick however: it started to sober her up. Not enough for instant results, but enough to pinch her instincts into life, and they started screaming at her that she was falling into a trap she'd looked out for a million times before.

"You don't look so hot," her new friend said, and was she imagining that he'd suddenly split into two people or was that just the double vision kicking in?

"I swear I didn't have that much," she mumbled, trying to calculate in her head how much she'd had to drink.

She never really allowed herself to get that drunk often, only because it dulled her senses and she'd never really liked the person she became when she was drunk. Drunk Elena tended to be promiscuous and overly friendly, and that did not usual equal good decisions.

"That last one did you in, huh?"

There was something menacing about that sentence, even though out of anyone else's lips it would've sounded innocent, playful even, and then Elena cottoned on to the truth and she could've strangled herself.

"You put something in my drink," she slurred. "Why?"

That question may have seemed pointless, as there was usually only one motive for men to drug women, but Elena had learned in her short time of being a vampire hunter that even vampires could resort to human methods of controlling their victims for darker purposes, especially if they knew - or suspected - their victims were wearing vervain.

"Marcel's orders," came the cold reply, and she was out like a light after that.

When she awoke, she was tied to a chair, surrounded by darkness. Her wrists were bound tightly, as were her ankles, and for the first time in a long time she felt incredibly stupid. Never let your guard down, that was the one rule she'd made for herself a long time ago; never let it down because the moment it is, that will be when the storm hits.

The room she was in was devoid of anything except a single window which was heavily barred and boarded up. The walls were all made of stone, creating a feeling of chilliness that clung to her bare arms and legs, and she couldn't help but shiver as a result. Her eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, and she made out a few other things, like the fact there was one other chair facing her, and another figure was slumped across it, her blonde hair running across her face.

Her heart sunk as she realised who it was.

Caroline.

Elena began to wrestle fiercely with the knots but they were tight. This sadly wasn't the first time she'd been tied up like this, but these knots were triple bound to avoid escape, which made her suspect that her captors weren't unfamiliar with their work.

"I apologise for the accommodation here, but we usually only offer hospitality to those who aren't vampire hunters," came a smooth, cold voice.

She blinked, momentarily surprised as a tall, dark skinned man slunk out of the shadows. He was ridiculously attractive, perhaps in his late twenties, and if you'd had to pick him out of a line up, you would never have guessed he was capable of such darkness. He wore a casual shirt, which clung tightly to his skin, outlining his muscles, and dark jeans, and it was that casual image which made the reality of what he was that much more frightening.

"I don't know what you mean," she managed to get out.

Nothing about their act should've given them away, but clearly something had, and Elena was racking her brain to figure out what it was. Were they too eager, too desperate to fit in that they'd stood out? Was this city under such a tight control that the vampires could smell new victims out a mile away?

Her captor's next sentence immediately gave her the answer she required.

"I've had this city under my control for decades now, do you really think I can't sniff out a vampire hunter or two?" He leaned forward, as if studying her, and she could almost sense his curiosity at her choice in profession. It didn't stem from a place of sexism; he just simply looked as if he couldn't work out what made two girls like themselves putting murder on their resume. "I have guys patrolling the city every night, reporting back to me the moment anyone knew comes into town. We do a little digging on the newbies, and if they check out, we let 'em through. New Orleans always welcomes new blood." He grinned at his own joke. "Pun definitely intended."

"Vampire hunters? What are you, some kind of freak?" Elena was sticking to her guns in the slimmest of hopes that he might just buy the act she was selling. "There are no such things as vampires! Me and my friend were just looking for a good time." Then, for good measure, she wriggled furiously whilst trying to display both a frightened and angry demeanour, which wasn't easy to pull off. "Now let us go before I scream bloody murder and get the police on your ass!"

He wasn't buying it, and suddenly she found herself in uncharted waters, and that terrified her. All her vampire-hunting career, she'd pulled off a lot of things: daring escapes, swift executions, rescues that had bordered on suicidal adventures; yet now, she'd landed in her enemy's hands, and they weren't buying the charm she could usually spoon feed out, and she had no idea what had given her away - what had given them away - and that left her feeling nervous.

She wasn't afraid to die, but she sure as hell wasn't going to do it with her hands tied around her back.

"Sweetheart, I know a lot about you, starting with your name... Elena Gilbert."

Elena stiffened.

Now this was a new one: a vampire knowing her name. She'd never given it out before - none of them had - to avoid their enemies tracking them down. She'd been Mary-Jane, Elyse, Isobel, and even Roxanne, but never Elena. Not on a mission anyway. It was too easy a name to trace back, even if it wasn't exactly uncommon.

"How do you know my name?" she demanded, determined not to show any fear although it was beginning to trickle through her veins all the same.

"Doesn't matter. Just so we're on first name terms, I'm Marcel." Her captor smiled, and it was almost disarming, that smile, although she was sure it was meant purely as a means of baiting her before he revealed her fate. "I run this city, as I've already told you, and my people are a little...disconcerted, shall we say, about the presence of vampire hunters running amok in our town. You made an effort to blend in, I'll give you that, but my men found your abandoned vehicle on the edge of town, and they found the compartments stocked full of weapons, and once we'd traced it back to yourself thanks to one of my keen eyed men, we knew what you were and why you were here. I think that just about answers all the questions I'm sure you were dying to ask, so we can skip ahead to the next subject: your fate."

Caroline, even throughout this speech, had remained alarmingly still, but Elena wasn't going to allow concern for her friend to filter through her impassive expression, which at the moment was dangerously close to faltering. If you gave your enemy even one flicker of a sign that you were emotionally invested in something, or someone, other than yourself, you handed them an advantage. Maybe sometimes she came across as a stoic bitch, but guarding your emotions at the critical moment allowed you to release them when you had the upper hand so, really, it paid to be emotionless sometimes.

"If you're going to kill me, I suggest skipping the monologue and just doing it," she said coldly. "Although, really, it's not a fair fight. You should untie me and at least give me my hands to use. Sometimes they work even better than weapons."

Marcel laughed. "Oh, I like you. If only all our enemies were this easy to catch and this interesting to talk to." He knelt so he was eye level with her. "I can't have you running around my city, but I'm a fair man. I can give you a chance to leave here with your life intact, as long as you promise never to return." His smile dropped. "Or alternatively I can hand you over to my men and look the other way and whatever happens, happens. The choice is yours."

It was Elena's turn to laugh.

"I've noticed over the years that when any vampire gives you a choice - run or die - it's never a choice at all. You don't know what I'm capable of, so maybe I should take my chances on your men," she said, cocking an eyebrow as if presenting him a challenge that he had to respond to.

"Without your weapons, you'll be torn to shreds in seconds. I might rule with an iron fist, but I don't like taking lives unless it serves a purpose, especially human ones since we rely on your kind to live. I suggest you take my offer and leave and never return."

"What if I've booked a holiday here?" Elena pouted. "I don't have traveller's insurance, and it'll be a nightmare to cancel without good reason..."

Marcel gritted his teeth, showing signs of annoyance for the first time since he'd walked in.

"Is this how you get your victims? Riling them up until you piss them off enough to attack before you slaughter them?" he questioned.

"You call it slaughter; I call it protecting humanity from monsters," Elena returned coolly.

"You actively seek vampires out to kill them. That's called murder in my book."

"Call it whatever you like, I'm still looking out for my people."

"And what started you off on this little quest, hm? See, the way I look at it, there are various reasons why someone becomes a killer, whether it's for profit of some kind, or to get someone's attention, or because they're so insanely in love with someone they'll do just about anything to be with them, but the top reason for murder? Revenge. And I'd bet my entire city that you didn't just stumble into the world of vampires by happenstance, did you?"

Elena didn't flinch.

"I'm going to take my time killing you," she promised, venom soaking her voice. "But first, a little demonstration is required to prove just how easy it is to underestimate someone."

She immediately sprung free from the chair, having spent the entire duration of her conversation with Marcel working her slim hands out of the bonds which had very badly been trussed together, and at this moment, Caroline, who'd spent her time not so much unconscious but biding her time until she could spring into action, mirrored her actions, and the two of them, taking Marcel by complete surprise, lashed out in frightening unison. Elena, who was more prone to using her fists, punched him squarely in the face, forcing him to reel back in shock, whereas Caroline, the kicker, used her legs to aim a well placed kick between his legs with her heels, a feat that caused two levels of pain to go shooting through Marcel.

He crumpled, and the girls took their chance to run, unfortunately ill equipped to permanently dispose of him.

"You took your time waking up!" Elena hollered back at Caroline.

"Sorry. You're just so much better at talking down evil villains to the point where they drop their guard."

"Evil villains..." Elena snorted at the choice of phrase as they linked hands so they could increase their speed simultaneously. "Is there any other kind?"

Caroline gave a non-committal grunt and pulled her down a side passageway, the two of them freezing as Marcel came blurring past, stopping right beside them as he growled with undisguised annoyance, the darkness their only disguise. They held their breaths as he waited a breath longer before he ran on, cursing angrily.

Foolishly, he seemed to have left the building he'd kept them in unguarded, so they resumed running, surprisingly unopposed, spinning out into the still partying streets of New Orleans where they threw themselves into the crowd, hoping to blend in.

"What now?" Caroline hissed. "We have no way to get back. If they found our weapons, they found our car, which means that's long gone."

"We knew it was a risk going in, same as we always do," Elena pointed out. "We'll hijack another one and go back to Mystic Falls and call Bonnie back."

"Why? We know what we're up against. We just need weapons..."

"No. We need an army." Elena still felt a little shaken; that much hadn't been faked. "Marcel has control over an entire city, which stands to reason that he has more than just a handful of vampires guarding the streets. I'm sure Rebekah didn't do that much research otherwise she would've warned us."

Caroline shot Elena a look that clearly showed her doubt over Rebekah's researching skills, but she didn't argue.

Smart vampires Elena could handle.

Smart vampires who could control entire cities and who knew her name was another story entirely, but Elena knew they would have to up their game if they wanted to defeat this particular enemy.

And all the while there was this nagging feeling in the back of her mind that there was a piece of the puzzle she was missing, some vital clue that could've given her back the edge she'd lost, some mystery person who lay in the shadows who knew her background and had tipped Marcel off, because she highly doubted it was just a lackey. It had to have been someone who knew what to look for.

Her first thought was her parents' killer, the blue eyed demon with the unfairly handsome demeanour, but she knew if he'd wanted her dead she'd be dead.

Maybe she was over thinking this, paranoid that someone somewhere had a bigger conspiracy against her and her friends, but Elena had learned over the years it was better to over think and cover all possible scenarios, than to underestimate and lose everything because of you'd gambled everything over a hunch. Elena had lost so much already, she couldn't bear thinking about losing anyone else, and she'd decided long ago if she couldn't fix her own pain, she'd help prevent this type of horror from affecting anybody else.

Was it an impossible goal? Probably.

Did it make her any less determined to carry it out? Absolutely not.

.

..

...

"Well, that went stunningly to plan."

Rebekah whirled around on her brother, who was sprawled lazily across one of her chairs, wearing a wicked grin, his eyebrows about level with his hair.

"Helpful, Kol, really helpful," she sarcastically responded.

"You could've picked a better way of distracting your friends without involving Marcel," Kol remarked casually. "You know his biggest flaw is his ego, and with it standing in the way he never sees a surprise attack coming...even from humans."

Rebekah rubbed her temple vigorously, restraining herself from physically attacking her tactless brother. She knew involving Marcel in her plans was a risk. It had been a long shot approaching him in the first place, particularly since for a long time her family had believed him dead, and vice versa. He was a survivor though, first and foremost, and still slightly smitten by her, as within only moments of reuniting with him he'd agreed to help her however he could in exchange for only one thing.

A promise to ensure Klaus never got his hands on New Orleans again.

Marcel had built quite an empire for himself, and had even found a way to reign the witches in so that he kept them under his control, and he was always slightly paranoid that someone much more powerful would come and snatch it all away. Now why did that sound familiar? Rebekah, even though she knew her brother might eventually look in the direction of New Orleans in the future as a means of extending his power, gave her word she would try and assuage any of Klaus' efforts in doing so, although they both knew once Klaus had his heart set on something, you'd have to conjure a succession of miracles to persuade him to drop it in favour of something else.

"How did he let two measly humans overpower him?" she asked rhetorically, fuming at Marcel's incompetence.

"Easy - you trained them, and he's an idiot," Kol supplied.

"I suppose, but he has an entire army of idiotic vampires at his command and he found the need to leave them unguarded just because they were humans? I can't decide whether to be impressed that Elena and Caroline overpowered him, or infuriated at Marcel for underestimating humans. I'm sure it's a sexism thing as well..."

"In Marcel's defence, Rebekah, if he was sexist at any point in his miserable life, I'm sure he changed his tune the moment he met you, and if he hadn't, you would've beaten it out of him anyway," Kol pointed out.

Rebekah had to smile at that.

Despite their differences, Kol always seemed to grasp her in a way none of her other brothers had. Klaus might profess to know her, and Elijah certainly seemed to feel he had her best interests at heart, and Finn... well, Finn liked to believe he knew what was best for her, as only older siblings do, but only Kol actually understood her. For being startlingly immature for a thousand year old vampire, he had a very modern understanding of women, although that didn't stop him from dropping the occasional revolting comment by way of flirtation. Deep down, she suspected he only made misogynistic comments to see which women he could get the sharpest response from. As he liked to say so often it bored her, he preferred women with sharp tongues. She secretly hoped he one day found a companion who could not only match his wit, but also shoot him down with their own from time to time.

"So, what now?" Kol asked, pouring himself a drink, making himself at home.

"Now they'll come crawling back here, if they have any sense, to regroup," Rebekah sighed, running a hand through her thick blonde locks. "I'm sure I'll get an earful about how I haven't done my research properly. Luckily, I have a backup plan."

She retrieved a dozen or so files from a cabinet in the room and tossed them onto the coffee table in front of Kol, who perused them lazily before putting them back.

"And these are...?"

"Case files of other, smaller locations where vampires can be found and, more importantly, killed. None of these will be hard to kill; they'll not even chip so much as a fingernail, that's how easy to kill they are. There are a number of unpleasant exes of mine who happen to be in amongst them as well. This'll keep them occupied, if nothing else, and as a bonus it'll also rid my life of unwanted cretin I cannot believe I had the misfortune to date."

"You always did know how to pick 'em," Kol remarked, picking his teeth absent-mindedly. "Remember Caleb?"

"Which one?" Rebekah snorted.

"The Caleb who just about broke my spine in two because he believed we were dating," Kol responded, smirking at the memory.

"It was amusing that you actually let him believe he could take you before you compelled him to go take a long walk and think about his life decisions."

Rebekah recalled her long list of dating choices and realised she'd dated some truly horrendous people. Mostly men, if she was honest, but a couple of times she'd been entranced by a few women, a couple of whom had gone on to make history. No one would've believed her if she'd revealed who'd been on her dating list; it would've completely rewritten the history books, not to mention caused scandal in the education system to believe that anything other than heterosexuality had existed up until the twenty first century.

"I think I'm going to go take another look at Mystic Falls," Kol announced, cutting into her thoughts. "Maybe it'll suddenly become more interesting." He gave Rebekah a parting smirk. "Hope you have fun with your girlfriends."

He disappeared before she could say another word, although a scathing response had already formed on the tip of her tongue.

Not that she would've responded anyway; she was too lost in her own thoughts. Thoughts that revolved around concealing a begrudging admiration to a certain brunette... and yes, even a certain blonde as well.

Not that she'd ever admit that of course.

Better to die with a lie on your lips, then to acknowledge a painful truth and watch it burn your world down.

A/n: So, so sorry for the slow update. To make it up to you, this is a longer chapter. Next chapter will see how Rebekah came into Caroline, Elena and Bonnie's lives, and we'll start to see the roots of her relationship with Elena. This is a slow burner so it'll take some time before we get to any romance, but I hope it is worth the wait. Also next chapter, we'll see what Bonnie's been up to and she'll be interrupted by an unlikely and unwelcome visitor. The Salvatores won't feature too prominently in this, but they will pop up now and you're not a fan of them, this fic is for you haha :P Thank you again for bearing with me and I hope you enjoy this. I plan for this story to have a sequel at some point which will feature more in the world of The Originals series, although it won't be in line with canon events, as I do enjoy making my own plots out of the show, and there will be plenty of Marcel in that. I'll try and get the next update up quicker although no promises.