AN: Hey guys! Again, this is slightly early as I won't have access to internet tomorrow! Things are starting to pick up now! We're on chapter 11 of 18, where has the time went! The chapters are slightly shorter now as quite a lot is happening so this keeps it in order! I hope you enjoy and I just want to put out a disclaimer that I have never watched an episode of The Originals. So any familiar characters I've probably butchered so I'm blaming it on poetic license. Please leave a review and I hope you enjoy!
Have a great day!
SONG RECS: 'Bottom of The River' by Delta Rae, 'Bloodletting' by Concrete Blonde, and 'House of the Rising Sun' by The Animals.
The flight to New Orleans wasn't nearly as eventful as the one to New York.
The flight to New York has been boisterous, wary, and obnoxious and...cold. They were more at ease with each other now, and there was less full on fighting. There was still bickering, of course, but that was normal when you had such a large group with such large personalities. Whilst there had been definite sides on the last flight, this time the group intertwined, showing no split or way to differentiate them. The group of eight arrived amidst parades and carnivals, with people on stilts and live jazz bands keeping the crowds happy and pulsing with the atmosphere.
"Smart buggers," Rebekah remarked, "staying in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. That many tourists flying in, no one would suspect a thing."
They were silent as they thought about what they were about to embark on. They had to be here. It had to be here. There was no other choice, no other option. The painting had to be here, or they'd hit a dead end. If they'd hit a dead end...Caroline didn't want to think about that. Not when they were so close.
Not when they'd lost so much already.
No, Caroline thought. She refused to think about him and what he had done to them. The first time she met him, she wanted to best him.
This time she was determined she was going to.
She shoved all thoughts of a certain Mikaelson to the back of her mind.
They only problem they faced in New Orleans is that they didn't know who they were up against. Tyler had given them a name-Hayley. That was all they knew. No one knew her last name, where she came from, who she is, or who her parents are.
Except Rebekah, who had an inkling she knew just the person who could find out. "Come on," she said finally, deciding the silence had gone on long enough, "we'd better hurry up. Our only hope is we take him by surprise, and he has people everywhere. They'll spot us."
"Rebekah!" A handsome, dark skinned man with a massive yet lazy smile that strongly reminded Caroline of the Cheshire Cat greeted them as the group stepped into the bar. The man was sitting on a raised platform in the bar, his feet on the table in front of him.
"Marcel," Rebekah greeted coolly, and it was obvious there was history between them.
"What a surprise to see you here, baby girl," he said easily, but it was staged as a question.
Rebekah batted her eyes. "Oh, of course it isn't, Marcel. You knew I'd come back to you, my heart belongs to you, I'm yours," she bit out sarcastically.
Marcel raised an eyebrow. "How you wound me."
Rebekah sat in front of him, pushing his feet off the table. "Here's the deal, sweetheart," she said, and Caroline felt a pang in her heart, hearing such familiar words. "I need information."
"And why would you think I have information?" Marcel asked.
"Cut the crap, Marcel," Kol cut in, earning a look from Elijah. "You're the 'King of New Orleans'. You know everything about everyone here."
"I did learn from the best," Marcel deflected. "Trust nobody, know everything. Keep your enemies close," he winked at Rebekah, who looked at him in disgust. In a split second, she tipped his chair back and had him on his back and her heel pressed to his throat. "I don't have time for this," she hissed at him. "We are on a tight schedule, that's the problem. Who is Hayley?"
"Hayley? Now where do I know that name…." he mused, and Rebekah pressed down harder. The girl behind the bar looked terrified and as pale as a sheet. Obviously not in the business, then, Caroline thought. "You need to work with me, Bek's," Marcel said casually. "Let me up so I can speak." Rebekah glanced back at Caroline, who had become their sole leader since Klaus left. Caroline nodded, and Rebekah moved reluctantly, not before landing a sharp kick to his ribs. Marcel chuckled as he slid into his seat. "Still hasn't forgiven me," he announced to the thieves. "Cami, darling, be a dear and get me a beer, would you?" he called to the girl behind the bar.
Cami quickly got a beer and left it in front of Marcel on the table. Before she could fully step away, Caroline had grabbed Cami and a knife from the table behind her and was holding the shaking blonde to her, the knife poised against the girl's throat. Stefan hissed at her "what are you doing?"
Caroline ignored him.
Damon shifted from one foot to another. Neither Salvatore brother liked it when Caroline got like this. Dangerous. They knew she was a thief, but Caroline wasn't like Damon, who was emotional and rash, or Stefan, who was always too lenient and forgiving. Caroline, however-she was cold. Calculating. Only doing something if she knew she had to. That was what made her worse than her brothers-she knew exactly what she was doing, and she was able to justify it. While Damon acted in blind rage, and Stefan hated himself after, Caroline felt justified.
"Well then Marcel, we have ourselves a bit of a predicament," Caroline said coldly as she tightened her grip. "You have something I want, and I have something you want. How's about we swap? Give me all the information you have on Hayley, and I'll give you your waitress back. Deal?" Marcel glanced uneasily between the two blondes before he nodded to a hulking man standing near a door. He disappeared, and soon came back to tense silence holding a file. Marcel nodded at it. "Here. This contains all the information I have on Hayley Marshall." Damon took the file and Caroline released Cami, who stumbled over to Marcel. He caught her, scanning her for injuries before handing her off to another one of his men.
"Thank you for your co-operation, Marcel," Rebekah said, smiling sweetly. The thieves started to walk past the King of New Orleans when he whistled. "I have to admit, I'm glad your brother isn't here, Rebekah. Don't fancy him taking what I worked for here."
"You mean what you took over?" Rebekah asked bitterly. Caroline bristled. So He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named had been the original King of New Orleans. Marcel grinned at Rebekah. "I still ended up ruling, didn't I?" He eyed up Caroline. "I can see why he likes you. You're his girl, aren't you?"
Caroline didn't react at first, but as she stepped closer to get past Marcel, her hand shot out and grabbed his shirt, pulling him close. "I'm nobody's girl."
XXXX
"What the hell was that?!" Stefan demanded the moment they were out the door. Caroline kept walking.
"You could have blown the bloody thing! Do you know who he is?" Rebekah exclaimed.
"Yes, and I also know that the way he was looking at that waitress and the way she was staring at him meant there was budding young romance there. My bet was that he wouldn't budge if we threatened him, but if we threatened her? He'd crack. We got what we needed, didn't we?" Caroline stated matter-of-factly.
There was a long pause, until Bonnie asked finally, "Were you going to hurt her? The girl?"
"It didn't come to that."
"But if it did?"
"It didn't come to that!" Caroline insisted.
"Jesus Christ, Caroline!" Bonnie cried. "She was an innocent girl. What is the matter with you?"
"What is the matter with me?" Caroline mused, "Let's see….my best friend has been murdered, my mother is being held captured by a crazy mob boss, and I have less than two weeks to get a painting that probably doesn't exist or she-and you-die. So it's actually quite a lot, isn't it?" She spoke bitterly.
Caroline didn't think she should bother saying she'd been used and messed with by Klaus, who she definitely didn't start developing feelings for.
No way.
"Caroline, at this rate you're going to get yourself killed, and then we won't get your mother back," Rebekah snapped.
"Hey, lay off her!" Katherine protested. "I'd like to see you in this position."
"We've been in this position, dear," Elijah said gently, and Katherine whirled round to him. "What?" she asked sharply.
"Our mother was held by someone Father had gotten on the wrong side of. She was murdered because he didn't give a damn," Rebekah said icily, and Kol shuffled his feet. Bonnie bit her lip, and reached towards him, taking his hand and squeezing it. Kol smiled gratefully at her.
"Nik wasn't very impressed with that," he remembered bitterly. Rebekah shushed him, and Caroline's face hardened. "Then you'll know why this is so important to me-I will stop at nothing to get my mother back. I've already lost two fathers and a best friend. I won't lose my mom too," she finished with determination as she walked away.
"Dad didn't die for you to get yourself killed," Damon called after her.
She didn't look back.
"This is ridiculous," Bonnie stated exasperatedly.
"She's going to get herself killed," Kol agreed.
"Like hell she is," Rebekah snapped and then turned to Stefan. "Do it."
Stefan was already walking away from them. "Hey, it's me. You know the way I said I'd keep you updated? Well, here's the thing….."
