"The French Quarter. Why are we here?"

"Don't worry, love, this won't take long. I have some business to attend to first." Klaus brought his hand to his ear, clearly overhearing something Katherine couldn't. "Stay in the car."

She listened and stayed in the car until Klaus was out of sight before she opened the taxi door and stalked after him, seeing him walk over to a crowd of people. Was it vampires?

She saw Rebekah and an unknown man wait for him with stern looks in the middle of the crowd. Katherine really wished she had vampire hearing now, since she couldn't hear what they were talking about. She could only guess that this confrontation wasn't exactly friendly.

Katherine turned around soon after when she heard soft Jazz music start playing behind her. An older man had settled down at the end of the road and put up a show for the passersby. She stood there for a while and just listened. The calming music soothed her previously agitated spirit and made her feel at ease. On second thought, Katherine didn't think living there would be too bad. The place was utterly beautiful.

Her calm was quickly interrupted by loud banging, screaming, and growling, and her attention quickly turned back to the compound. She ran silently over to the building again and peeked her head out to carefully check what was going on. It was then she watched in terror as vampires upon vampires were attacking Klaus, dragging him across the ground and chaining him up. However, the biggest shock to Katherine was when she noticed that Rebekah was simply watching what was happening, not moving an inch to help her brother. If Katherine had learned one thing over the centuries, it was that Rebekah and Klaus Mikaelson always came to each other's rescue.

What didn't come as a shock to Katherine, however, was when Klaus suddenly snapped out of it and pulled himself out of the chains before attacking everyone in sight. His eyes flashed yellow, and his fangs were shown on full display as he bit into a dozen of vampires. The unknown man that had held hands with Rebekah suddenly yelled something that made everyone freeze as he proceeded to pick up a small item on the ground. Katherine moved even closer to get a look at what it was, now hiding behind a large plant. It looked like he was holding a small coin.

"Well...well...well. The great Marcel, self-proclaimed king of New Orleans, bowing before me," Klaus smirked, walking closer to the kneeling man.

"There," the man spat and threw the coin at Klaus's feet. "I hereby pledge my allegiance to you. You have the keys to my kingdom. It's yours."

A familiar evil smile formed on Klaus' lips at his words. "Ah, how nice of you." He shifted his attention from Marcel to the direction of Katherine's hiding spot and raised his voice slightly. "Sweetheart, you can stop hiding now."

Katherine's heart made a jump. How did he know she was hiding there? Well, he was a hybrid, after all. He must have sensed her.

She carefully walked out of hiding and went to stand beside Klaus, surrounded by vampires that didn't look so friendly. Had she ever been in a scarier situation? She couldn't recall. "Um..."

"Never mind the pit stop. This is where you'll be staying now, our new home." Klaus opened his arms to show the entirety of his new kingdom before he shifted his attention to Rebekah and dropped his smile drastically. "As for you, sister, I suggest you stay at our old mansion. You know how I feel about those who betray me."

Rebekah scrunched her nose in disgust as she looked at Katherine. "What the hell is she doing here-"

"Rebekah!" Klaus yelled. "Get out before I decide to dagger you."

Rebekah quickly shut her mouth and sent a glare at both of them before speeding out of the compound.

Katherine spread out on the gigantic bed in one of the guest bedrooms and sunk into the soft mattress. It was getting late into the night, but Klaus had strictly told her not to sleep before he talked with her. She had waited for him for hours now, but he still wasn't finished with his 'business.' Soon after the incident, he had been arguing back and forth with the unknown man that had been identified as Marcel. She wasn't quite sure what they had been talking about, but she assumed it was either about Marcel's attempt at immobilizing Klaus, or Klaus's new plans now that he had taken back the city.

Katherine felt herself almost drift off to sleep due to being both physically and mentally exhausted from everything that had happened, until she heard two abrupt knocks and the door handle being pulled open. She quickly shut her eyes open and jumped up from the bed as Klaus entered the room. "I thought I told you not to go to sleep before I stopped by?"

"I was just resting my eyelids," she quickly explained, making Klaus hold back a snort.

"Right. Well seeing as you're living in a vampire estate, and you're now a human, I feel like you should have one of these." He opened his hand and revealed a bracelet similar to what he had given her a while back when she was trapped in Alaric's apartment, only that this was probably a vervain bracelet, not a sunlight one.

"Vervain, right?"

"Yes, it's just extra protection against compulsion. I'll have guards by your side within tomorrow to make sure you don't get in danger, I just have to sort everything out first."

Katherine resisted the urge to roll her eyes in frustration as she grabbed the bracelet from his hand and attached it to her wrist. "I don't want any annoying, compelled vampires looking after me. I'd rather run the risk of getting attacked at that point."

"Well, Katerina, I simply put do not care about your feelings on the matter. You might not care whether you die or not, but I'd rather you not when I've already gone through the trouble of bringing you here. So don't complain, because I won't change my decision."

"Fine," she groaned, waiting for him to finish up so she could go back to sleep and forget about the day.

"I'll also have the clothes I got you imported from my old house within tomorrow afternoon, so don't worry about that."

"Great."

Klaus folded his hands behind his back. "Well, I believe that's all. Get some rest, and try not to die in the meantime."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah," she mumbled, quickly crawling under the sheets as soon as Klaus left the room. She couldn't wait to sleep away the memories of the night that had just occurred and finally give her mind some rest.

"Breakfast is ready," Katherine heard someone yell from the other side of her bedroom door. It was Rebekah's voice.

Katherine furrowed her brows and walked over to the door to pull it open, staring at the blonde before her. "Rebekah? I thought you were told off by Klaus?"

"Let's just say he had a change of heart," she said sarcastically before turning away to walk downstairs to the dining hall.

She reluctantly followed Rebekah down to the table and took a seat. Despite the 100 mile distance Katherine wanted to put between herself and the girl that was the root cause of her current misery, she was hungry. And quite frankly, human hunger was a stronger feeling than the grudge she held against Rebekah for turning her into a human.

The table bore freshly baked bread that gave off a smell so good it made Katherine's mouth water. There were also all sorts of meat and fruits and juices and several cans of brewed coffee. The two women just sat in silence for a few minutes before Katherine got impatient.

"So? What are we waiting for?"

"My brothers," Rebekah said stiffly and folded her hands on the table.

"Elijah's here too?" Katherine blurted out. She had forgotten all about the fact that he might be living with Klaus when she had accepted his hospitality the night before, and realized she might have made a wrong choice. Her being there could make things awkward, considering where they left off.

Rebekah nodded her head at her question and greeted Klaus as he sat down next to her. Katherine was surprised at how quick the two of them had managed to resolve their grudge, since both of them acted as if nothing had happened the previous night.

"Katerina, Rebekah, good morning," Elijah greeted as he entered the room soon after Klaus, taking a seat next to Katherine. He didn't even raise an eyebrow at her presence, so Katherine assumed Klaus had told them all about the minor incident they'd had last night.

"So... How come you're friends so soon?" Katherine questioned when no one decided to say something further after greetings.

"Oh, a little fight won't tear up the Mikaelsons. In other words, Klaus need them for something. I was hoping that since Nik and Bekah separated, I'd be rid of their bickering for a while but... Anyways, how are you?" Kol chatted casually as he was the last to enter the room and take a seat around the table.

Katherine let out a confused utter. "Kol? How is this possible?"

Kol started making himself a sandwich, throwing together the first things he could spot on the table. "Our mother did a little spell. No big deal," he shrugged as he took a big bite.

Did he just say their mother?

"Okay..." Katherine answered, still confused.

"Is anyone going to say anything?" Rebekah asked in response to the silence that soon followed in the room.

"Very well," Klaus started. "As I've already informed you of, Katerina is going to stay here with us in the French quarter. She is not to be harmed."

Rebekah dismissed him with her hand and shook her head. "No not that. I want to know if it's true. Did you really try to kill yourself last night?" Rebekah asked, the question directed at Katherine.

Katherine suddenly found her choppy, red-polished nails very interesting. She nodded hesitantly, not wanting to admit such a weakness to a person as insensitive as Rebekah.

"And why aren't you dead?" she asked, half-disappointed, half-curious. Katherine nodded towards Rebekah's half-brother. "Aha. Saint Niklaus, always at the rescue," she cooed sarcastically. "But why did you save her Nik?"

"Sister please. May you focus on your breakfast?" Elijah pleaded as he passed her the apple juice.

"Rebekah, sweetheart, I suggest you don't test your limits. Especially after the trick you pulled yesterday," Klaus warned her, making her shake her head in annoyance.

"Fine, Nik. Whatever."

The Mikaelsons. The infamous family known for their unbreakable bond, that stuck by each other's side through thick and thin and would stop at nothing to take down their enemies. The family was currently driving Katherine crazy, and she had only been staying there short of a day. Klaus constantly ran around yelling orders at people, arguing with his brothers, and sending vampires to watch over Katherine 24/7. Rebekah was either sneaking around or irritating Klaus, and Elijah... Well, things were awkward between him and Katherine, considering they hadn't talked since the breakup. The only one that didn't drive her crazy was Kol.

Katherine groaned as she dragged a cloth over the shelf plate, cleaning off all the dust that had stacked in thick layers. It fell to the floor, and Katherine stepped to the side to not get any on her shoes. She dusted off the books and other antiques on the shelf before turning around to the two men watching her.

"There, happy? I've cleaned the entire shelf, can we do something else now?" she begged, only growing more irritated by the fact that she was the only one that did something while the other two just watched. The two men, Jean and Jaden, were a couple of vampires that Klaus had assigned on 'Katherine-watch duty,' and the evil bastards had forced her to clean the library, as if she was some sort of maid.

Why did I agree to come here again? Everything from last night is a bit fuzzy. I should leave before Klaus remembers that he hates me and snaps my neck.

"Katerina, there you are." Speak of the devil.

Katherine tensed up slightly as she saw Klaus step into the library. She couldn't help but still be cautious around him after all he had done to her. It was just an instinct at this point. Besides, Katherine had always suspected he had some sort of telepathy power since he always knew what she was thinking, so maybe he had heard her thoughts and come to go through with it.

Klaus dismissed the two guards as he walked over to Katherine, stopping a few meters away from her when he sensed that she was wary of him. "I need to talk to you."

Katherine threw the dirty cloth in a nearby corner and crossed her arms. "Did you bring me here to clean? Because if so, I'd rather you snap my neck right now."

Klaus raised his brow. "You're telling me this isn't just you having found a new passion in cleaning?" he snorted. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to, I have my own people for this sort of thing. I'll let the two of them know," he said and nodded towards the entrance where the two men were waiting. "Onto something more important. There will be held a gala here later this evening. It's formal, so find something appropriate to wear."

"A gala? Why?" Katherine wondered how she would find an appropriate dress in only a few hours.

"It's a peace offering. The werewolves and witches will be there too, so be careful in case a fight occurs."

Katherine nodded in response. She had to admit, Klaus was a fitting ruler of the place, seeing as he had already managed to arrange a peace treaty with the two primary enemies of vampires in a single day.

Klaus looked hesitant, as if he wanted to say something else but not sure of what. "I have to go make arrangements, I'll see you later," was all he said before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.