Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or The Originals. The only thing I own are my OCs.

A/N: Hello everyone! Hope that you all had a wonderful week going back to school or work. I'm just happy that I survived my first week of winter quarter. Earlier I accidentally uploaded chapter 6 again. I didn't mean to do that. Sorry for the confusion. Anyways, hope you all enjoy reading this chapter. I want thank you all for the support. Much love!

Elijah didn't like how Kol would run off every now and then without mentioning where he was going or who he was associating himself with. All Elijah knew was that same car arrived at 'noon every other day and Kol would run out the door and into the vehicle that quickly sped out of the driveway. The eldest Mikaelson was able to catch a glimpse of a young girl in the driver seat, but he did not know who she was.

"Her name is Jess and she just so happens to work for Marcel." Shared Klaus one day after Kol had left in a hurry.

"How do you know that?" questioned Elijah returning to his seat in the living room and picking up his book he placed on the coffee table.

"Unlike you, dear brother, I don't sit and wait by the window hoping for Kol to divulge his secrets instead I go out and get it myself. A couple weeks ago when I was hanging around Marcel's bar, I saw this Jess girl and she immediately caught my eye or rather her scent."

"What do you mean?"

"You see our young brother's acquaintance is a werewolf. Which confused me at first since Marcel claimed to have chased them out of the city years ago. I asked him why he would allow this werewolf to roam the city. All Marcel said was that she has shown to be very useful as she keeps him informed on the ins and outs of the French Quarter. I think this girl could be very manageable in my plan to take back our home." Explained Klaus with a proud smirk on his face.

"How do we not know that this girl is using Kol for her own benefit?" Elijah asked concerned for his little brother. He didn't want some stranger manipulating Kol.

"I don't think she is as I have been watching them closely these past couple of days. Kol has shown signs that he trusts Jess and I can see that she cares for our brother. Not necessarily in a romantic sense, at least not yet. There is a friendship blossoming between them." There was a brief pause before Klaus spoke up again, "I think our brother might have something planned against us. I can't bring myself to trust him." Revealed Klaus honestly. Ever since he found out Kol came back a warlock, the hybrid has been keeping a close eye on him.

Elijah just sighed at Klaus's paranoia. "Klaus, do not push Kol away with your suspicions of him. He is just trying to get his life back. He has been through a lot and with Rebekah gone for the summer, I need you to help me look out for him."

"And that's what I have been doing." Said Klaus with an evil grin. "Why did Rebekah leave? Is she back in Mystic Falls following the Quarterback around?" he added in a condescending manner.

"Possibly, but I think she was jealous to be around Kol since he became what she so desperately wants to be. He'll get to have everything again while the three of us will never get the chance to, especially Rebekah. You too. Do you know where Kol is now?"

"Where he always is, with Jess." Said Klaus.

"I would like to meet this Jess." Insisted Elijah and went back to reading his book.

"Well, you continue to read, worry about Kol, and mope about Katerina; I'm going to go and meet up with Marcel." Declared Klaus and walked out of the house leaving Elijah alone.

Marcel "owned" many establishments in the neighborhood from restaurants to bars to jazz clubs. It was a way to keep his eye on what was going on within his neighborhood. When he got word of The Original family being back in town, Marcel immediately put his guard up. It had been centuries since he had heard from any of them. Klaus made his presence known right away. Marcel couldn't deny that he was happy to see his sire once again after all these years. The man had saved from a life on the streets. Marcel owed Klaus everything, but a part of him wasn't blind to how cruel and manipulative the hybrid could be. Marcel was aware that Klaus was jealous of his reign of the French Quarter and was waiting for him to make his move on trying to reclaim the territory.

However, what truly caught Marcel off guard was the reappearance of the one and only Kol Mikaelson who he thought was dead. So it came as a shock to find out that this former friend was alive and walking around the city with Jess. What made Marcel really become suspicious was that the scent of vampire could no longer be found, but instead the young Mikaelson reeked of human.

"I saw him talking to Sophie the other day." Said Diego, one of Marcel's right hand man.

"What were they talking about?" asked Marcel.

"She said that she'd be more than happy to help him get back in touch with his magic."

"Magic? So, he's not just some human. He's a warlock. Well, that is going to be a problem now isn't it! Not only are The Originals back in town, but one of them is now a warlock!" yelled Marcel furiously.

Now here Kol was right in front of Marcel sitting across from in office at the Maison Bourbon Jazz Club.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I was lead to believe that you were dead?" asked Marcel confused. The one thing he hated was to be lied to.

"I was." Kol stated simply taking a sip of the bourbon that Marcel had poured for him.

"What do you mean you were dead?"

"It means I was dead and now I am not."

"But you are no longer a vampire. How is that possible? How is any of this possible?" Marcel demanded. He was starting to get irritated.

"Relax. My brother knew of a witch who owed him a big favor. As to why I am now a human, well, nature wouldn't return an abomination. Does this answer satisfy you?" lied Kol.

Marcel just laughed and said, "You're still a slimy little shit, you know that."

Kol just raised his glass and drank to that.

"Why is your family here?" Marcel asked all of a sudden.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Kol lied again, then added, "But I will tell you this, I don't think my brothers are going to be leaving any time soon. You know that Klaus will do anything to take what is yours and Elijah will be right by his side to help."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want to help you keep what you have."

Marcel stood back in his chair and shook his head as a chuckle escaped his lips. He wasn't buying what Kol was selling him.

"Nah. I know how you Mikaelsons work. No matter what bad blood is going on between either of you, you guys always stick together. What was it that Elijah used to say, 'family above all'?"

"Which is a load of crap." Said Kol and got up from his chair. He dug into the pocket of his jacket, pulled out a lighter and some herbs and proceeded to burn it. The smell of sage soon filled Marcel's office.

"What are you doing?" asked Marcel.

"Doing a silencing spell. I don't want anyone to hear what is going on in this office, especially with what I am going to tell you."

"How do you know if your little spell is going to work? After all, aren't you a bit rusty?" teased Marcel.

Kol glared at the young vampire. He never liked to be the butt of anyone's jokes. "Keep up with the jokes and you'll have nasty migraine to worry about." Marcel immediately shut his mouth. He could intimidate the other witches in the neighborhood, but he wasn't dumb enough to try that with Kol. He was, after all, known as the unstable Original.

Once Kol felt that the room was secured from outsiders he sat back in the seat across from Marcel. Now, he wasn't going to tell Marcel everything he knew or what his plan was. At this point Marcel could not be trusted since Kol knew that a part of him wanted to be loyal to Klaus. Instead Kol had to resort to his brother's tactics of manipulation and paranoia in order to get things accomplished.

"I was murdered by two imbeciles who got the best of me. How that happened, I have no idea. Being an Original doesn't necessarily guarantee invincibility. The only thing that can harm an Original is a stake made out of white oak. Don't think of getting your hands on one and using it against Klaus, because the catch is to kill an Original their whole vampire line dies as well. In other words, if Klaus dies then you die too."

Marcel had a hard time comprehending what Kol had told him. It seemed too absurd to be true.

"As insane as what you just told me, it is starting to piece together a lot of things. See, a while back word got around that vampires were dropping like flies all of a sudden. I didn't believe it until a month ago when two vampires all of a sudden desiccated right in front of me and the guys. We all thought it was the witches doing, but now I guess those two were descendants from your line. That's crazy."

"What's crazy is that I keep thinking about my descendants and wondering if they had loved ones who still don't understand what happened to them. That the people they loved just dropped dead. It's really tragic." Said Kol sympathetically.

For Marcel it was unusual to see the Original show any sort of emotion that wasn't anger, bitterness, or jealousy. He was used to seeing Kol show little value to anything or anyone.

"Now all of them are stuck on the Other Side, like how I was; alone, angry, sad, frightened. Forced to watch their families never have any sort of closure. Or if they're like me, they see their family completely disregard what happened to them and show no sign of grief. My brothers and sister did not care what happened to me. Neither one of them avenged my death."

"What do you plan on doing to your siblings? It's like you said, you can't kill 'em without killing their entire vampire line." Reminded Marcel.

"I wouldn't dream of killing my siblings. All I want is to teach them a lesson and you're going to help me." Replied Kol, then made sure to add, "And if you think about going to Klaus, Elijah, or even Rebekah and telling them my little plan, then I will be forced to inform them that it was you who lead Mikael to where we were all those centuries ago. If Klaus were to ever find that his little progeny was the reason he had to start running from the one place he felt was truly his home, how do you think he'd react?"

When Marcel didn't reply, Kol was satisfied. He finished his drink, stood up out of the chair and walked out of the office. As he walked down the stairs Kol was pleased with how his first meeting with Marcel went. He knew that Marcel would be no problem and with him as his puppet, he'd soon have the rest of the vampires under his belt. Then Kol's next task would be to get the witches under his control.

It wasn't until seeing Klaus talking to Jess that Kol's smirk was wiped from his face and panic started to sweep over him. He could easily tell how uncomfortable Jess felt with his brother talking to her. After all, he did use to hunt down her kind and turn them into hybrids against their will. Kol had meant to ask how she managed to evade from being captured by Klaus. He figured the reason for that was because it had been a while since she's been part of a pack.

"Oh, here he is." Jess said when Kol appeared next to her. He gave her a small smile and a wink indicating that the meeting went well.

"What are you doing here?" asked Kol in a flat tone.

"I think the real question is, what are you doing here?" retorted Klaus in accusatory tone.

"Just being reacquainted with my good friend Marcel. No harm in that is there?"

"Of course not. Anyways, I was introducing myself to your friend here. I can't believe, you of all people, are hanging out with a werewolf." Said Klaus chuckling, "I mean, didn't you use to go on about hating these filthy creatures?"

Kol stared daggers at Klaus. He knew his brother was doing this to get a rise out of him. That's what Klaus liked to do. He always had to be the villain.

All of a sudden Jess spoke up. "I'm sorry, but aren't you half werewolf? I just find it weird that you're calling werewolves filthy creatures since you are one yourself." And with that the smirk on Klaus's face disappeared to be replaced with a cold and menacing stare. Before Klaus could do or say anything to Jess, Kol immediately stepped in front of her.

"Relax Niklaus. Jessica means no harm. She's just a curious little wolf." Commented Kol trying to ease the tension his brother was giving off.

"Sometimes I don't think before I speak. My mother always said that one particular trait would bring my demise. She's not the warmest or friendliest of mothers." Said Jess with a hint of sarcasm.

"I can relate to that." Replied Klaus who had appeared to have lighted up and took a seat at the bar. He ordered three shots of whiskey. When the bartender filled the three shot glasses, Klaus handed one to Kol and Jess.

"Let us raise a glass for a toast." Klaus requested.

"Oh, this is so sweet." Said Jess giddy. Kol just pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't tell if Jess was being naïve or just playing along. He hoped for her sake that it was the latter.

"To new friends and new beginnings." Klaus insinuated in his toast and the three quickly downed their shot of whisky fast.

"Oh my goodness. That'll put hair on your balls." Jess joked setting her glass down on the bar. Kol groaned the lack of filter his friend had, especially in front of his brother. He was just glad that Elijah wasn't here.

"Here's an idea. Kol, how about you invite Jess over for dinner sometime?" suggested Klaus. He figured he'd kill two birds with one stone: find out more about Jess and humiliate Kol in the process. "Would you like that Jess?"

Jess looked over at Kol for him to give some sort of sign on what she should say. "I…um…Kol what do you think of that idea?" she asked him nervously.

Kol repressed the urge to groan in annoyance. Not at Jess, but towards his brother who always had a habit of sticking his nose where it doesn't belong.

Sighing, Kol spoke up "Jess, would you like to come over for dinner?"

"Gosh, you sound so enthused Kol. I guess I'm coming over for dinner." Said Jess merrily.