Chapter 35:

Cooperative Hindrance

"Ugh, finally!" Katherine groaned with pleasure as Matt parked the car along the side of the crowded streets. Yes, they had finally reached New Orleans.

It came to the point where Jeremy, Matt and Katherine were glaring ahead with bags under their eyes and gritted teeth. They had come to the point during their drive to New Orleans where Katherine had done the extremely cliche 'are we there, yet?' thing.

All three of them were grateful to see that 'welcome' sign on their drive in.

Katherine grinned with pleasure at the sound of the truck's rumbling engine stop, along with the continuous vibration. She was too busy being on the verge of writhing with pleasure to notice the dark, mischievous look Matt and Jeremy exchanged. The two boys got out of the car swiftly and simultaneously.

Katherine didn't care. She just grinned at the satisfaction of un-clicking her seatbelt – which she now wore with paranoia of being newly human. Katherine opened the door, savouring every moment for the time her feet would finally touch the floor.

And she didn't realise what was happening fast enough before Jeremy grabbed her by the wrists and roped her to the interior door's handle. "What the hell, Gilbert?" She sneered with not a single trace of surprise. A few hundred years or two and you learn not to be surprised.

Jeremy concentrated on knotting the ropes around her feeble wrists. "Did you really think we could trust you?"

"You're a known flight risk, Katherine," Matt added from the newly open truck of the car. "And you've been known to betray us... like... a lot. And you also have a history of kinda killing us..."

"Yeah... Good times," Jeremy said sarcastically with a weak smile and a nod in agreement. Matt smiled sadly with a mirrored bob of his head.

Katherine widened her eyes in mockery. "Boy, you really hold a grudge..."

Both Matt and Jeremy stopped to glare at her.

Katherine rolled her eyes. "So what's the plan? Lock me up until you trade me in for your little barbie doll?"

Jeremy did the finishing touches on his knotting then looked up at her. He forced a smile. "Uh, yeah. Pretty much." Jeremy then grinned with genuine and rather impure pleasure. Jeremy then left her sitting there with the door open and met Matt at the trunk, who was fishing stuff out of a different duffle bag amongst other duffle bags.

Jeremy frowned. "Uh... Matt?"

He sighed quietly to himself with sadness.

"Dude," he said, still frowning but now with a smile. "What's with the luggage?" He asked. "Were you planning on leaving, or something...?" He cocked a curious brow. "Dude?"

Matt looked up at him with those sad, tortured baby blues that just made you want to hug him and give him cookies.

"I, uh... I sorta made plans with someone on graduation, but uh... It didn't really work out..." He then gave Jeremy a crooked smile to show he was okay – which he obviously wasn't.

"Who—?" Jeremy stopped his question due to the look on Matt's face; a mixture of sadness, discomfort and pleading. "Never mind," Jeremy said with a small smile. Matt pulled out a wooden stake and shoved it down the back of his pants.

Jeremy frowned.

"What good's that gonna do?" He asked, but before Matt could get to the 'uh'ing part of it all, Jeremy reached into the bag and pulled out what must have been a vervain grenade and shoved it into Matt's jean jacket pocket. Matt was about to protest, but Jeremy gave him a warning look that said 'just incase'. And he was right.

The two exchanged one more cautious seeming glance before walking away from the trunk, after pulling the tarp back over his stuff, and back over to Katherine.

"Alright," Jeremy sighed with premature irritation, "Me and Matt will be back for you later. And now that you know our plan to trade you like a 'carton of cigarettes', you're gonna stay here."

Katherine gave him a 'duh' kind of expression, then shifted her wrists as much as she could manage, bringing attention to it. "Like I have a choice..."

Jeremy smiled fakely, then went to close her door.

"Wait," Katherine said calmly with a vague sense of arrogance making both Matt and Jeremy tense up. She smirked up at them. "How exactly do you plan on finding your precious Caroline?"

The boys hesitated, suddenly realising their predicament.

"God, please tell me you weren't the geniuses behind taking down me? I mean... that's just embarrassing," she said with a look of exaggerated disgust.

Jeremy glared at her, while Matt shifted from foot to foot uneasily, knowing that he unfortunately had nothing to do with any plan. For a moment he felt miserably and irrevocably useless. And he sucked at hiding it. However, Jeremy remained unfazed. "We'll figure it out... From what I know – Klaus isn't into the whole silent scene. He's more... loud and proud."

"Much like a drag queen," Katherine joked with a tight smile, which got no response. Then her look became completely serious. "I've been running from Klaus for over five hundred years. Nobody knows him better than me." Then she raised her chin with pride. "You need me."

Jeremy folded his muscly arms over his chest stubbornly. "Tell us something helpful, or shut up."

Katherine smiled wryly. "Mm... Getting tough, are we, little Gilbert?"

"I'm not so little, anymore," Jeremy said through gritted teeth. Perhaps the nick name was getting to him. Just a little bit.

Katherine grinned further. "You child," she sneered.

When Jeremy took a threatening step further towards the bitch who once killed him, Matt stood in his way, being the mediator. "C'mon, guys. Cut it out." He looked at Jeremy. "Just remember what's important," he said, "Caroline."

All Matt wanted was Caroline. He wanted to know that at least one of his friends was safe. And a little part of him just wanted to be able to say he's the one who made it possible. He wanted to prove he wasn't completely useless.

"Katherine," Matt sighed tiredly, working on only about four hours' sleep. "If we bring you with us, will you promise to help out?"

"And keep your mouth shut?" Jeremy included. Matt bobbed his head in agreement with that included term.

Katherine took her time, contemplating the offer. "Hm..." Then she smirked. "Anything to get out of this stupid car."