The evening arrived and they had all made there way to the airport and boarded the plane, it wasn't too long of a flight, Elena and Rebekah had spent most of it together just chatting away; the brothers had spent it making a plan on how to approach Finn and what they where going to do if he had already resurrected the original witch.

Klaus had been somewhat ill-tempered during the flight, he was angry at Finn and scared in case Esther would return, she was the only one with the power to kill them all and that made him nervous; he didn't leave any room for error in there plans.

The best case scenario was that they could catch Finn in time before he completed the ritual and bring him home, if he couldn't be trusted, he'd be daggered. The politics within this family where simple, there was no room for betrayal, Klaus had only ever wanted to have the unconditional love of a family, with his siblings and Elena, he may just achieve this.

Once they landed, they all exited the plane and headed straight for a hotel; they where trying to keep there arrival a secret for as long as they possibly could. Elena was mesmerised by the French quarter, it was loud and full of energy, the people in the streets where having the time of there lives, she could see what Klaus meant about this city.

They checked into there rooms and left there bags in there before they all joined in Klaus' room, he obviously had to have the best suite whilst the others didn't care too much.

"Does everyone know the plan?" Klaus asked, most of them nodding there heads in agreement.

"We're a little foggy, brother," Rebekah raised her hand and pointed towards herself and Elena, both of them shrugging there shoulders lightly.

"Well, if you had stopped talking about all the boys in Mystic Falls for even a minute, Rebekah, then maybe you'd be aware," Klaus rolled his eyes, "you're doing recon with Elijah, scope the quarter and get as much information as you can; Kol is keeping a look out in the local cemetery's and I'm going to find Marcel."

"Marcel is here?" Rebekah sounded surprised; Elena looked over to her, she seemed somewhat happy about the news, she waved it off when Elena tilted her head in confusion, "I'll tell you later."

"Yes, sister, he never left or so I've heard."

"Wait," Elena paused there conversation, "where am I going?"

"No-where," Klaus answered immediately, his voice firm, "you're staying here where it is safe."

"I'm not staying here," Elena stood from the chair and folded her arms across her chest in protest, "there's no point to me staying here."

"There is, you'll be safe," Klaus was in protest too, neither of them where going to agree on this, he was too paranoid about her safety and she was too stubborn to be left behind when they're all risking there lives.

"Past experience has taught me that whenever i'm alone, someone always manages to take me anyway," she argued, "for example, you."

"Ooh," Rebekah and Kol spoke simultaneously, both of them chuckling under there breath.

"Oh, shut up you two," Klaus took a deep breath, unable to handle the thought of her being in danger, "you're not coming, end of discussion."

"I'll go with Elijah and Rebekah and help them spy," she shrugged her shoulders, looking towards the two siblings; Rebekah was nodding her head happily, she wanted the company but Elijah didn't look too pleased, "I can't sit here all night wondering what is going on and if you're all safe."

"Go with Kol," Klaus gave in after a few minutes, he didn't want her in the immediate danger of being out in the open with the others, Kol was the safer choice but he didn't like that he wouldn't be able to keep an eye on her.

"Thank you," she said quickly, a small smile appearing on her lips.

"That's great, stick me with the human," Kol spoke somewhat sarcastically, a small smirk on his lips.

"Stop your whining, brother and keep low, if you see Finn, call us immediately and wait for our arrival," Kol nodded his head at Klaus' words and stood up from the chair, walking towards the door and past him, "and keep her safe."

-w-

Kol and Elena had been walking along the outskirts of town, checking the more discreet and obscured places in the city; Elena was happy to be involved with the plan, even if it meant she had to walk for hours.

There had been some small talk between her and Kol, any other conversation they had involved there plan; they where walking to the last cemetery on the list, it was the one with the most witch activity, the Lafayette cemetery.

"So, Kol, tell me what you like to do," Elena tried to bring up a casual conversation, although it seemed silly, he was the last sibling she had yet to connect with and if she was going to be spending a lot of time with them, she needed to be able to get along with all of them. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face her.

Kol looked at her with a puzzled expression, shocked that she would bring up such things on a mission but he played along, "tall blondes, you?"

She shook her head slightly, a small chuckle escaping her lips; she wasn't expecting anything less than a sarcastic answer, she was starting to realise that was who he was, "mostly vampires, apparently."

"So I've noticed," he continued walking towards the cemetery, he was somewhat amused but also uninterested, Elena was going to change that.

"We're not subtle, are we?" She commented, coming to the realisation that now all of the original family knew about her time spent with Klaus.

"About as subtle as a flying brick to the face," he smirked.

"Changing the subject now," she paused, racking her brain for another topic but she didn't know Kol well enough to speak to him personally.

"Why did you insist on joining us in the plan to stop my brother tonight?" Kol asked, curiosity overcoming him.

"A few reasons," she started, her mind wandering, "I was being serious when I said bad things always happen when I'm left behind, nothing good ever comes for an alone doppelgänger and when people I care about are risking there lives, I can't just sit back and do nothing, if something happened and I didn't know, I couldn't handle it."

"Fair enough," he quipped, "you really care about my family?"

"Of course."

"But Nik kidnapped you? And from what Elijah has told me, he wasn't that kind to you at the start."

"I know," she forced the flashbacks from her mind and pushed them aside, she didn't need the reminder, "but it's in the past, I've learnt that with vampires, any vampire, that there's always going to be some bad, you've just got to move past it the best you can."

"Yes but there's some bad and then there's my family, we're not just average vampires and we're certainly not the Salvatore's," he shot a glance at her, her facial expressions changing, "Elijah told me about them, I was curious as to why you agreed to join us in the first place and he filled me in, you're very strange in your choice of company."

"It's a doppelgänger curse," she joked, her ancestors had never been great at making life choices, her bloodline had prevented her from having a normal life right from the start, "I've made my choices and I'm going to see them through, even if it means trekking around New Orleans in the dark, trying to find a homicidal original vampire who for all intensive purposes has been dead for 900 years."

"Fair enough," he smirked slightly, her words bringing him amusement, he had always known his family was dysfunctional but she makes it sound worse, "I suppose you're not that bad, Rebekah seems to trust you and Nik definitely likes having you around."

She rolled her eyes slightly, a small laugh escaping her lips, "everyone has to stop teasing soon."

"Probably not," he shrugged his shoulders; they continued on the walk to the cemetery, Kol was keeping a watchful eye out on his surroundings, he had to make sure they weren't being followed and no-one could know of there presence in the city.

Once they arrived at the cemetery, the iron gates where locked, a chain and deadbolt looped around the two gates; Kol grabbed a hold of the chain and pulled it, it instantly snapping in two, he dropped the pieces to the ground and pushed open the gates.

"I don't like this," he spoke ominously, his eyes scanning the area; it was dark and eery, something was telling him that danger lurked here, there where many dead witches buried here, it was a powerful space. He took his phone out of his pocket and quickly sent a text to his brothers before returning it to his jacket pocket, "stay behind me."

Elena nodded her head and followed him through the gates, she kept quite close to him and kept a cautious eye on the area; it was completely silent, in most cases, this would be a good thing but not when it comes to cemetery's at night.

As they walked further in, they noticed a crypt; the door was wide open and there was a orange light emerging from it, there was a fire burning in there and Kol could hear several voices coming from inside, one was male and he sounded like Finn.

"We have to wait for the others," he lead her further away from the crypt, trying to keep there presence a secret, "I can't put you in danger, Nik will kill me, we'll stay back here."

"What if he's reviving your mother now?" She spoke, panic filling her voice, "we have to get in there and do something, we don't have time to wait."

"We have too, I might not be enough to match him and witches."

"They'll be here soon, you texted them, right?" Kol nodded his head at her words, his gaze returning to the crypt, "they'll be on there way and here to help, let's go before it gets worse."

Kol reluctantly agreed and against his better judgement, he and Elena entered the crypt; they walked further inside and saw Finn, accompanied by three other witches and the coffin that housed the original witch, the seal on the lid had already been broken and she assumed there chanting was the spell to bring her back.

Kol used his speed to grab one of the witches by the neck and throw her across the room; Elena couldn't just stand there and do nothing so she looked around the room, trying to find anything she could use as a weapon when she saw a large rock in the corner, she picked it up and ran towards one of the other witches, landing it on the back of her head.

The last witch was still chanting whilst Kol had attacked his brother.

"It's nearly done," the witch spoke out painfully, the spell she was trying to complete alone was strong and blood started to trickle from her nose; the witch Kol had threw across the crypt was starting to come too, she raised her hand at Kol and he started screaming, his hands pressed against his head from pain.

"No," Elena spoke under her breath, Finn had tackled his brother to the ground and he was unable to move; Elena ran towards the witch and collided her foot with her face, she dropped her hand and lay flat on her back. Kol had recovered and got the upper hand, subduing Finn.

The witch had finished chanting and the flames in the room had extinguished, she was so weak from the spell that she fainted, her body went limp and fell to the floor; Elena looked towards Kol, fear apparent in his face but Finn was smiling, all too happy that his plan had worked, he watched as his mother slowly sat up in the coffin.

Kol used his speed to get to Elena, his arm wrapping around her waist, "we have to get out of here now."

They sped off into the night, as far as they could from the cemetery; Kol was furious with himself. He stopped at the hotel and waited outside, pulling his phone out once more and texting his brothers to return to the hotel and that the plan had failed.

"This is bad," Kol kept repeating in a hushed tone, as he tried to call one of his siblings, no-one was answering the calls or responding to his texts, he was starting to worry, "something is happening, there is no way they would ignore me on purpose, not now."

"Let's go find them," Elena suggested, panic starting to rise within her; she knew they could all handle themselves but they where in a new place with all different types of threats, they may need help.

"Elijah and Rebekah have each other, we'll find Nik in case he needs back up," Kol spoke before grabbing Elena once again and speeding off into the distance. Klaus had originally gone to look for Marcel, so the best place to start would be a vampire hangout, probably any bar they came across, which happened to be Rousseau's.

They walked inside, Kol was scanning the area, looking for any sign of his siblings; he went straight to the bar where there was a young blonde girl serving, "what can I get you?"

"2 beers please, darling," she nodded her head and fetched two bottles from the fridge behind her, she popped the tops of and handed them to Kol and Elena.

"That's 10," she said before Kol handed her a twenty out of his inside pocket in his jacket.

"Thank you," he smiled charmingly, her response was what you would expect when Kol flirted, "so what's your name?"

"Camille."

"You haven't happened to see my brother and sister In here tonight, have you, Camille?" He questioned, taking a quick sip of beer, "ones loud and blonde and the other is boring and always in a suit."

"Sure, they where here a couple of hours ago, asked me a couple of questions and went on there way."

Kol stared into her eyes, there pupils dilating as he began compulsion, "what did they ask you?"

"Mostly about Marcel and where they could find him," she sounded mindless and enslaved as the compulsion took effect, "I told them about the compound."

"Where is that, love?"

"It's just down the street, the largest house at the end, it's called The Abattoir."

"Thank you, you've been incredibly helpful but you won't remember this conversation and we where never here," just as she blinked, they where gone; she took the beers from the bar and tossed them in the trash, completely oblivious to the last few minutes of her life.

"Elena, you can't come in here with me," Kol insisted as they walked further down the street, checking the signs on every building they walked past, "it'll be full of vampires and it will be dangerous, you're also the doppelgänger, Marcel will take you to get to Klaus."

"I can't just-"

"Yes you can and you will, just stay outside, if someone sees you or tries to hurt you, just scream and run, one of us will get you," he sounded serious so she reluctantly agreed.

Once they found the compound, Kol had found a bench across the street she could sit at whilst he went in to find his brothers, she felt completely helpless, "just stay here, I'll be back as soon as I can."

Before she knew it, he was gone and she was alone.

-w-

Kol stormed in the front entrance, his eyes shooting straight to his siblings; the room was surrounded by vampires and Marcel was standing on a platform at the top, they where unable to leave.

He plunged his hand through the back of the first vampire that crossed his path, ripping his heart from his chest and letting it fall to the ground.

"I leave you alone for a few hours and you end up in this mess, brothers," a cocky smirk spread on his lips, "so, what's going on?"

"This is my city," Marcel shouted across the entire compound, all vampires turning to face him, "you can not just come here and start dictating what happens here."

"Why aren't you all just leaving?" Kol questioned, slightly amused, "this is a pathetic excuse if a party."

"It's spelled, Kol, we can't leave," Rebekah answered, her frustration apparent in her tone of voice; two vampires where holding her arms back and preventing her from escaping also, same with the two brothers.

Klaus was enraged, he could escape the vampires with no problem, he'd just massacre them all but he couldn't leave without knowing what Marcel was doing here with the wolves, the witches and the vampires, something suspicious was occurring and he didn't like not knowing the secrets of his enemies,

"Enough of these games, Marcellus," Elijah spoke, his voice loud and firm, "call of your lackeys and de-spell the room, we can talk."

"I don't think so, Klaus come in here, telling me what to do and demanding I share my business with him, when I refused, he bit one of my brothers, courtesy no longer applies."

Elijah just rolled his eyes, becoming bored with all this, "either stand down or we will kill everyone."

Rebekah suddenly pulled the arms of the two hybrids that we're holding her back, they tossed over her shoulders and landed to the ground; she stuck her hands in both of there chests and ripped there hearts out, tossing them to the side and licking the blood from her fingers.

"How much do you care about your family of vampires, Marcel?" She asked, folding her arms across her chest and walking to the centre of the room, "in about 10 seconds, my brothers will break free from the hold your unsurprisingly weak vampires have on them and end them all as brutally and as violently as they possibly can, let us out and we'll leave."

"I'm not going anywhere," Klaus spat, his temper uncontrollable at this point.

"Calm down, Nik," she rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to Marcel, "I didn't say we'd leave forever but obviously, a break is much needed here."

Klaus had become impatient and used his speed to break free from the vampires and appear behind them, he snapped the neck of one and bit into the neck of the other, blood smeared across his lips as the body fell limp to the floor.

"Fine," Marcel shouted as he watched his brothers fall around him, he pulled out his phone and sent a text, they assumed it was to the witch who was sealing the compound.

"We'll be seeing you again soon, Marcellus," Elijah spoke amusingly as they walked out of the compound, slamming the gates shut behind them.

"Elena?" Klaus spoke, his demeanour completely changing when he saw her sitting on the bench opposite; he used his speed to cross the street and appear in front of her, he was knelt down with his hands entwined in hers, "are you hurt?"

"No," she was relieved to see him, "no, I'm fine."

She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him in, sharing in a long and intense embrace; she pulled him back and noticed the blood smeared on his face, "are you all okay? What happened?"

"Our meeting with Marcel did not go well," he answered as simple as he could, it wasn't the best place to discuss this.

"Did you tell them yet, Kol?" She asked, turning her gaze to him; he just shook his head, not looking forward to divulging the bad news.

"Tell us what?" Elijah asked.

"Finn succeeded," he spoke solemnly, his voice filled with regret, "she's back."

Elena looked to Klaus, his face completely changed; she could see the fear and rage within his eyes and he was pacing.

"We have to get back to the hotel and re-group, we're too much in the open here," Rebekah suggested, they all agreed and sped off back to the hotel, it took them mere minutes too arrive and all join together in Klaus' suite.

They where all feeling defeated and tired, there wasn't much they could say with the little information they had, they didn't know what the original witch was planning yet and Marcel was a threat that they knew nothing about.

"Maybe we should just leave, Nik, there's nothing left for us here," Rebekah spoke, her voice empty and weak.

"I cannot spend another 1000 years running, we've just finally killed father and reclaimed our lives, I'm not letting her do the same to us," he poured himself a large bourbon from the drinks counter next to the sofa and drank the lot within seconds, "this time, we're going to stand together and fight them."

"I agree with Niklaus," Elijah spoke, walking beside his brother and placing his hand on his shoulder, "we cannot separate again, we're stronger together, always and forever."

"Always and forever," Rebekah spoke, joining her two brothers.

"As long as I don't end up daggered in that coffin again, I'll fight," Kol spoke sarcastically before joining his siblings, engaging in a rare group hug.

"Elena, get in here," Rebekah lifted her head from the hug and nodded towards them all; she smiled and obliged, standing between her and Klaus, her arms wrapping around there backs.

"Who wants a drink then?" Klaus spoke after a long minute, he enjoyed being this close with his family; he smiled as they all separated and went to take a seat on the sofa, Klaus grabbed the glasses from the cabinet and grabbed the bourbon, he half filled the glasses, assuming everyone would need a good drink after losing both battles tonight.

"I'll be right back," he took a large swig and set the glass down on the table, "I have a little something on my face."

He laughed slightly, referring to the blood smeared across his face; he went into the bedroom area of the suite and entered the bathroom.

Elena watched as he walked out of the room; she tried to sneak away whilst the others where talking and walked quickly towards the door.

"A room full of originals vampires and you thought we wouldn't hear you leave?" Rebekah chuckled slightly, "have fun."

"Shut up," Elena stuck her tongue out playfully at Rebekah before entering the bedroom, she closed the door behind her and walked to the bathroom, it was completely closed but she knocked anyway. Klaus came to the door, a smile appearing on his face at the sight of her.

"Everything okay, love?" He asked, walking into the bathroom.

"Everything's fine," she followed him in, closing the door behind her, "I just wanted to check if you where okay? It's been a long day, I was worried."

"No need to worry," he reassured, placing his hand in the top of her arm, "I'm not going to turn into a monster because of one bad day."

"I didn't say that," she placed her hands on the back of his neck, staring into his eyes, "I meant a lot has happened today, your mum was revived and the meeting with Marcel didn't go well, I was wondering how you where feeling about it, just letting you know you can talk to me about anything."

His heart warmed from her kindness and he placed a soft kiss on her forehead, "considering everything you mentioned, I'm doing fine, Elena."

"If you're sure?"

"Of course," he pulled her in, holding her in a tight embrace, "thank you for coming in here, it means a lot."

"Anytime, I'm always here for you," she rested her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding onto him for a little bit longer.

"As am I, don't forget that."

She turned her head upwards and landed her lips on his, embracing all these moments that they have together; she knew after the events of the day, things where going to change and not for the better, Esther was coming and Marcel was set on running them out of New Orleans,she didn't know what to expect from the future.