Four

They arrived in New Orleans later that afternoon thanks to the private plane Rebekah had compelled. Though the group was hardly cheery, and it was driving Stefan quite frankly completely nuts. Rebekah and Katherine had hardly stopped arguing the entire car ride to New Orleans, Caroline kept complaining about the sun burning her delicate pale skin, and it took all of Stefan's will power not to lose his temper.

When he finally recognize the familiar streets of the French Quarter, he finally relaxed. They were in New Orleans which meant Klaus was not far behind. "Ok, Rebekah what is Klaus's address? I will put it on the GPS."

Rebekah opened her mouth to respond, but a blank look appeared on her face. "I don't know actually. I never asked Elijah, and well our old house-" She stopped suddenly.

Katherine snorted. "What kind of idiot are you? Who agrees to go to New Orleans and then doesn't know where their own brother is? What a complete imbecile."

Rebekah's face darkened with fury as she gripped Katherine's wrist so hard, Caroline was positive she heard a crack. "Call me that one more time and I'll ask Nik to make your torturous death last 500 years," she pursed her pink lips. "And you know he'll do it for me. Elijah won't be around to save you anymore, Katherine."

Caroline was growing frustrated. "Bekah, can't you call him or Elijah so they can give us their address and we can finally get out of this ridiculous sun. Please?"

"Blondie had a point." Rebekah reached into her purse to grab her phone, but Katherine by some sort of miracle even with the shackles on managed to grab the phone and tossed it out the window. Three seconds later it was crushed under the wheels of a Jeep. "Now, you're really dead!"

"Are you nuts?" Katherine pulled back as she looked at Stefan and Caroline. "We cannot go to Klaus's location. There is no doubt in my mind that, that asshole is locked away in some plantation far away from the quarter. We need to do this little exchange here. In public. Where he can't visibly decapitate me. Especially since Stefan is still refusing to take these stupid shackles off."

"Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you shoved the cure down my throat, Katherine." Caroline snapped back as she looked at her own phone, she grimaced when she saw it was dead. "How about you? Do you have your phone on you?"

Stefan nodded as he ignored Katherine and dialed, Klaus number. When he didn't answer, he tried Elijah, but there was no answer either. Stefan noticed a small café in the corner of his eye. "Listen, this is what we are going to do. I am going to go look for Klaus, see if I can find him getting drunk at three in the afternoon. You three are going to get some late lunch and a lemonade so Caroline can get out of the hot sun."

Katherine snored as she leaned forward, her curls hitting Caroline in the face. "You do realize this is not a bachelorette's weekend, right?"

Caroline narrowed her eyes innocently. "Or if you want you can stay in the car and become an easy target. You and I know you won't be going anywhere with those shackles on."

The doppelganger grimaced as the shackles jiggled. "Lemonade it is."

Stefan sighed as he entered the third bar he had gone to since he arrived in New Orleans. Even though it was early in the afternoon it was already filled with packed tourists who were obviously very drunk.

He looked around the crowded bar and frowned when he saw there was no one that fit Klaus' description. He was about to turn around when he suddenly felt a cold hand on his shoulder. He turned around and he found himself staring at the amused expression on Klaus Mikaelson's face.

A smile curled on his lips. "Well, well small word Stefan Salvatore. Tell me what brings you here to New Orleans. It must be something important if you are sneaking around all over the city."

"You have informants." He responded dryly and Klaus gave a small shrug, not really wanting to respond. "Yes, I've been looking for you. It's important."

"What is it, pray tell?"

Stefan ignored his mocking tone. "It's about, Caroline."

Klaus's face darkened as he turned to look at his former friend. "What about, Caroline?"

Stefan didn't say anything for a few minutes, but eventually he found the words when it looked like Klaus was going to strangle him. "I think you better sit down."

"Why are they taking so long?" Rebekah asked irritably as she started fanning herself with the cheap restaurant menu. They had been sitting down at the café for more than an hour and still they had not heard from Stefan or either of the Mikaelson brothers.

Katherine was trying to balance tipping the margarita glass towards her mouth, while Caroline drank her hot lemonade. Rebekah stood up and announced. "That's it, if neither of them are going to answer their phones I am just going to go look for them."

"Wait," Caroline perked up. "You aren't seriously leaving me with her." She pointed to the Petrova doppelganger.

"Will you relax?" she pointed towards the shackles on Katherine's hands. "She can't do anything. Her hands are tied. If she tries anything just stab her with your knife."

"This is a butter knife!"

Rebekah ignored her as she left the café with her hips swinging. She wondered where Elijah and Klaus could possibly be staying. She knew for a fact that they had to be staying at the grandest house in New Orleans. There was no way they would be staying at some dingy motel or run off the mill house.

She continued walking towards where she knew the grander houses were. Her face froze when she saw a familiar figure. Tall, handsome, and with a smile that could kill. Marcel.

"Marcel." The name escaped her lips before she could stop herself.

Marcel turned to look at her, he was smiling but his eyes were cold. "Well, who is letting all of the Mikaelsons loose?"

Katherine waited for Rebekah to leave before she stood up. "Well, I'm heading out. I'll be right back.'"

Caroline looked at her in surprise like a frightened deer. For someone who apparently hated her it did look like Caroline wanted her to stay. How ironic. "Wait, where are you going?"

Katherine thought back to the vision of her younger sister, Kristina. For some reason she couldn't get her out of her mind and if there was anyone who would be able to tell her if her sister was trying to communicate something "beyond the grave" it was a New Orleans witch. "I need to find a witch."

"A witch won't be able to remove the shackles. That's what Bonnie said."

"I know what little Bon Bon said, it's not about the shackles trust me."

"Wait," Caroline sounded pathetic. "What am I supposed to do? You just can't leave me alone."

Katherine raised a dark eyebrow. "Figure it out, Blondie."

-End of Chapter Four-