-Elijah's POV-

It was easy to find a service that would purchases and deliver the things they needed. They even had a groceries option. So he made a list of the food him and Klaus liked. Then because a nagging feeling at the back of his mind told him too, he added in things he knew Kol and Jeremy would like. He gave the short red haired woman leeway with the linens, bedding and bathroom supplies. But told her nothing flowery or bright colored. She smiled and told him to trust her. He had added, pillows for the beds and couches, a detailed list of art supplies for Klaus, dishes, pots and pans, and rugs to her list. He had thought the number of items would have bothered her but instead her face light up and she seemed thrilled at spending the next few hours shopping no matter that the sun had set hours before. He didn't question it. Just gave her a card and let her go.

Klaus was gone when he returned home. So, instead of staying home he left to find a local bar.

He ended up at a bar he was certain was here when he had lived here before. Rousseau's seemed like a nice bar and when he entered it was fairly empty. The pretty blonde bartender greeted him with a smile when he sat at the bar.

"Hello," he said, returning her smile.

"What can I get you?"

"Bourbon, neat."

She nodded and turned around and grabbed a bottle.

"You new here?" She asked as she poured him a glass, then pushed it towards him.

"Just returned actually," he said, picking it up to take a sip,"but it's been many years."

She smiled, "Well then," she poured her a shot of something clear, "Welcome home." and took the shot. He gave her a smile and took another drink of his.

"Soooo," She said leaning forward over the bar, "tell me about you? Single?" Her grin was contagious and he felt himself give her a genuine smile. "Taken, I'm afraid." She gave him a small pout that faded back into her cheerful smile after a second.

"Tell me about her?" She said.

"He is beautiful, artistic, and stubborn." he said with a slight shake of his head as he thought about Jeremy.

She laughed, "Ah, an artist. Sounds like trouble."

They fell into an easy conversation after that. He found himself telling her a little about Jeremy and she in return told him about herself, once she mentioned a brother but whatever had happened to him made her sad and Elijah was careful to lead the conversation away.

They were debating who was better, Hemingway or Steinbeck, when the door opened and Cami cursed under her breath.

She moved towards the end of the bar, towards the door.

"Can I help you?" She asked, hands on her hips.

Elijah didn't move from his seat though he did turn to watch the newcomers. A group of two women and a man. It was the man that spoke.

"We need a word with the vampire," he said. Elijah watched as Cami's head snapped towards him in surprise and then back towards the group.

"This is neutral ground." She said a clear authoritative voice. Elijah found himself surprised. He hadn't guessed she knew about the darker things in the world, but it was clear that she did and that she held some position of power even if she was human.

The man glared at her, "I'm aware."

Cami gave Elijah a small apologetic look and then backed off. He gave her a small smile letting her know it was okay.

"My name is Eric and my leader Evie sent me to extend an invite to meet with her." The man said as soon as he walked up to Elijah.

Elijah finished off his drink and placed the glass on the bartop and then turned to look at the man.

"And if I refuse?" He asked.

The two women shared an uncomfortable look behind their male friend. But the man's eyes narrowed at Elijah. "I won't ask nicely twice."

Elijah thought about it. He really did. For all of about two seconds. But rumor was this Evie wanted him and his siblings dead. So any meeting would be a trap.

"Please tell your leader that I'm not interested." He said. He didn't move from his seat but he braced himself for an attack. He wasn't sure what neutral ground meant here in New Orleans. But he had experienced it before in other places and normally the places were warded to prevent fighting. He hoped that was true now, but if not. He could handle three witches.

The man sneered at him and went to raise his hand, but one of the women reached forward and grabbed his arm. "Not here." She whispered.

Eric turned to glare at her then back at Elijah. He pulled his arm free from the woman's grip, "You will regret this." The man said before he turned and stormed out of the bar. The two woman hurrying after him.

"Well that was fun." Cami muttered from behind the bar. He chuckled and turned to look at her.

"Neutral ground?" He asked.

She nodded, "Magic doesn't really work here. This place has been neutral for decades. Back when all the covens worked together, they made a few places in the city like this for meetings or get togethers. Originally it was just witches but eventually vampires and wolves were added." She shrugged. "My family has always been involved. We are part of a group of humans in the know that try to keep everything hidden and out of view of the rest of the world."

She met his eyes, "You know they are just going to wait for you to leave right?" He nodded.

"I can handle them." He said. Her eyes narrowed, and she looked like she didn't believe him.

"Look you seem nice, but witches and vampires in this town don't get along. If they want something from you, your best bet is to give it to them or get the hell out of town, her concern warmed him.

"Cami, I'm not a young vampire that believes he is invincible. I am old enough to know from experience what witches are capable of and I know I can handle these three." She looked a little less doubtful after his speech, though she still seemed like she wanted to stop him from leaving.

"I'll be—-" He was cut off by the doors opening again.

"Cam—" Marcel's voice called out but the dark skinned vampire stopped when he saw him.

"Elijah." Macel said walking over to stand next to him.

"Marcel." He said in return. There was a tension in the air and Elijah got the impression Marcel was worried about Cami.

"Relax Marcellus, I'm just here for a drink." He said, gesturing to the seat next to him. Marcel glared at it. But when Cami slid a glass in front of the seat and took and refilled Elijah's, the younger vampire sighed and sat down.

"I take it you two know each other?" Cami asked.

"Used to," Marcel said with a huff. Elijah looked over at him. Marcel was looking at his glass, an unhappy look on his face.

Elijah looked up and saw Cami watching Marcel as well.

"My brother raised Marcel." He told her, he didn't have to look to see Marcel glaring at him. "When he was old enough he turned him, unfortunately it seems past mistakes have caused Marcel here to hate my family now." Cami's eyes widened and she looked back and forth between him and Marcel. It seemed she was getting an idea of his age, probably still not even close to his true age. But if she knew enough about Marcel then she knew he was older than the local vampire leader.

"Oh." She said.

"Past mistakes?" Marcel asked with venom in his tone. Elijah bit back a sharp reply. He needed to tread carefully, if he wanted his brother to be able to speak to Marcel in the morning like they planned.

"I assumed that was the reason you didn't let us know you were alive." He said gently turning to look at the man he once considered family.

Marcel looked angry but there was something else there hurt and guilt maybe. Elijah wasn't sure. "Your family was the reason I almost died. Your family was the reason the witches in this town hate vampires. Your fami—"

"Enough Marcellus." Klaus's voice broke through Marcel's rant. All three of them turned towards the entrance where Klaus had walked in unnoticed. "Elijah, your strange little personal shopper is at the house demanding to know where you want everything." Though he was addressed his brother never took his eyes off his child.

"Cami. " He turned to her, "Thank you for tonight. It was a pleasure to meet you." He gave her a tiny smile and slid a hundred onto the bartop. Then he got up and walked out of the bar.

He didn't turn his hearing into the bar. Whatever was said between his brother and his child was between them. Though as he walked towards their temporary home, he wondered about the guilt he had seen in Marcel's eyes. Something about it bothered him.

Klaus and Marcel's conversation must not have gone well, about an hour after Elijah returned home, Klaus came in slamming the door behind him. He didn't say anything to Elijah just stomped up the stairs and slammed his bedroom door closed. Elijah was grateful he had already made up Klaus's bed with the new clean bedding. He didn't want to deal with a pissed off Klaus tonight. Instead, he locked up the house and made his way to his room.

After making his bed and changing, he crawled in. Missing Jeremy as he fought to fall asleep.

He woke the next morning to Klaus slamming things down in the kitchen. He sighed. It seemed a night of sleep hadn't helped dampen his brother's anger. He was about to go down and ask if Klaus wanted to talk when his phone beeped. He picked it up and noticed several messages from Kol, Jeremy and Ric, but the new one, from an unknown number telling him an address and meeting caught his attention first.

He had ten minutes before his meeting with the witch leader Vincent. He sighed, rushing around the room, getting dressed as quickly as he could. He stopped by the kitchen before he left.

Giving Klaus the address, just in case. His brother nodded at him before he went back to whatever the hell he was doing.

The meeting was in an old warehouse that looked like it had been retrofitted into a living space recently. He knocked on the door. Alana opened it and invited him in. He felt the magic around the house as he entered, and questioned silently if this was a good idea. But it was too late to turn and leave now, so he smiled at Alana and followed her into a lounge like area.

There was a young dark skinned man sitting on a long dark grey couch and young brown haired woman sitting next to him. They were the only people in the room, so Elijah assumed this was Vincent.

"Hello," the man said, standing to greet him. Vincent held out his hand and Elijah shook it. "Thank you for coming."

"What is it exactly you think me and my brother can do for you?" He asked and followed Vincent to the couches. The young witch who had been sitting there, jumped up and moved out of their way without saying a word.

"You and your siblings are the Original vampires. You are stronger, faster, more powerful than any of the vampires here in town, and the witch Evie seems to have it out for you. I'm hoping you will work with me and mine to put a stop to this war. I'm tired of losing my people."

"Do you know why Evie hates vampires?" He asked.

The witch leader shook his head, "No one really knows much about her. She appeared in town suddenly and her hatred for vampires was already there. I have tried talking to her, but she…" He hesitated, "I don't think she's sane. Not completely. When she looks at you. There is something in her eyes. It's like she's not really there. She feels wrong to me. I've heard several others say something similar, but it seems only a handful of us feel it. Most find her compelling and charming." Vincent looked away from him, "I think she doesn't care about the witches here. I think she had a vendetta against your family and she is using the ones that follow her to get what she wants."

Something dropped in his stomach. Everytime a witch has singled his family out in recent years things have gone horribly. He didn't like the idea of it happening again. He looked at the witch in front of him. Vincent seemed genuine. The man cared about his people and all he wanted was to protect them and keep them safe. Elijah could understand that. Unfortunately it also meant that if this Evie was smart she would offer protection for Vincent's witches for his betrayal of Elijah and his siblings. It what Klaus would do. So while he wanted to expect the man's offer to be allies, he was cautious.

"What's to keep you from betraying us to her?" He asked.

Vincent gave him a sharp angry look, "She is the reason 10 of mine have died in the last 8 months including my wife. She is the reason the vampires have been hunting us for sport. There is nothing she could offer me to join her side." There were tears in the other man's eyes and Elijah only slightly felt guilty about his question. He looked away, giving the man a second to collect himself.

"I'll speak to my brother." He said, before standing up and rushing out of the building.

He ended up back at Rousseau's pacing the small area in front of the bar, while he asked Cami what she knew about the local witches.

-Klaus's POV-

For some ungodly reason he had thought that organizing the kitchen would distract him from his thoughts about Marcel. He had been wrong. Now the kitchen was a disaster and he knew his brother was going to bitch about it later. He didn't have the patience to place everything neatly back where it went, so he stacked it all up on the counter and figured Elijah would do the rest.

After that he found the shower closest to his bedroom. He stripped and stepped into the hot spray of water. Resting his head against the cool tile wall he let the water run down his back.

He thought back to the night before and Marcel's anger. The man he had once thought of as a son had screamed and yelled at him about all the slights he could remember. Everything from Elijah's ignoring him, Kol's jealousy and cruel lessons, to Rebekah. Klaus had tried to explain things to him. Elijah pulling away because of his own jealousy. Kol's anger at not being the youngest brother anymore and for being pushed aside for a human. And how Klaus had pushed Marcel and Rebekah apart because he was worried about what would have happened if the two of them had gotten together.

Turns out it was a justified worry, as Marcel in his anger let slip about how in their desperation Rebekah and he had sought out Mikael. Which was how their father had tracked them down. Macel had realized what he had said and quickly tried to explain about how they just wanted to scare Klaus away so Rebekah and him could be together and how they had tried to stop right after they did it, but it was too late.

Klaus had been so furious, everything in him screamed out to attack Marcel. But a small voice in his head told him he would regret it. A voice that sounded unsurprisingly like Jeremy's. So instead, he had raced away from Marcel and the bar. He hadn't had it in him to tell Elijah about what he learned.

New Orleans was one of the last times they had been happy together as a family. After that Rebekah had closed off and Kol had spent the next 90 years in a box. Even him and Elijah had started to pull apart. Both angry and upset over Marcel's death and the fight with their father. It was a gap they hadn't been able to fix over the years. In fact it seemed to have just kept widening. Until Jeremy.

For the first time in a long, Klaus's family wasn't splintered and broken. Sure, they were separate. But Elijah, Kol and he now lived together, he received texts and photos from Rebekah almost daily and at least one call a week from Finn. They were finally starting to fix what had been broken for so long. And he didn't want Marcel's confession to destroy it.

He sighed and reached for a bottle of body wash. As he lathered it up and started washing his body, he thought about what Jeremy would say. He knew their boyfriend would tell him to tell Elijah, too tell all of them. Get it out in the open so that it didn't come back to bite them in the ass later. And a part of him knew he should, but the fear of breaking his family again gnawed at him.

He tried to let the fear and anger fade away as he rinsed off his body, but it felt like it was just simmering below the surface. He swallowed and tried to take a calming breath as he got out of the shower and towel off. He knew he slammed his drawers harder than necessary as he searched for clothes, frustrated that Elijah had put his things away the night before. Finally when he was dressed. He headed out. He left his phone in the kitchen, not in the mood to deal with anyone.

He found a small bar at the edge of town. He knew Jeremy would be angry at him when he found a young couple and compelled them to dance with him. And would be disappointed in him when he leaned in close and bit them while they danced. Though he hoped Jeremy would be less upset with him, that he left them alive and still dancing when he finally left.