Hello everyone,

Wow, that reaction! Over 30 in the first 24 hours, and we're now at 46. Never had that kind of response for any stories on my two accounts for a story and I cannot tell you how incredibly shocked, awed, and grateful I am for it. Please don't stop!

For those who don't know, this story will update around an hour ago on Monday's-that's London time, people. If you want teasers, you get them in pics on Fridays and in an excerpt on Saturday via Facebook-again, all on London time.. Check my profile for the link to my group or find me on facebook at Bexie Mc for the same reason.

Thanks to Chandrakanta for betaing this and for all of your help. You are amazing!

So this chapter we meet the Mikaelsons... :D It's short, but the next one is double the length of this so not to worry.

Chapter 2—Don't Stop Me Now

"Come, brothers." Niklaus smirked, his arms outstretched at his sides as his gaze flickered between an exasperated Elijah and mirthful Kol. Rebekah was even further away, listening in on the conversation but bored. "Sister, do you not believe it would be a perfect idea to go back to the city we built?"

She sighed and eyed her three brothers, lips pursed and eyebrow raised. "I suppose it might be. I'll join you. I'm bored of Mystic Falls. Too much bloody drama."

"Fantastic!" Klaus said, turning back to his brothers.

Kol shrugged. "I'm in. I wonder if the wolves and witches are still around. Should be a blast."

Klaus's smirk grew, and he turned to Elijah who was still thinking, his eyebrow raised as he sauntered closer to him. "Come, brother. New Orleans was the place we were happiest. After all the gloom from this town, and all that we have overcome, do you not think we deserve to go back to the city we built up from the ground? It was always the better environment for us all. Think on it, please. Or better yet, do not as there is no need. In New Orleans we can be a true family, be happy again; that is what you most desire, is it not?"

Elijah sighed and stood, pausing for a moment to look back at their other siblings before turning to the hybrid. He chose not to give a verbal response, instead nodding his acquiescence before turning and leaving to pack.

Rebekah and Klaus shared a look before she groaned, threw her hands up in the air, and left the room to follow after Elijah, muttering about her bloody idiot brothers and their penchant for spoiling a happy mood.

That left just the two most volatile Mikaelsons in a room together, and their smirks grew. Klaus got up and went to his younger brother's side, clasping his shoulder. "Well, brother… we should pay this town a final goodbye. For old times' sake, perhaps."

Kol smirked. "Of course, Nik. Let me just go get my bat…" With a final smirk reminiscent of the devil himself, he fled for his room at vampire speed, leaving a chuckling Nik in his wake.

After all, he had a score to settle. It had been an arduous task for the Mikaelson siblings, bringing their brother back to this plane after the doppelganger and her brother had murdered him. And he was in the mood for some blood and violence in the name of revenge.

But then, with Kol, when was he not?

In a flash, he was back down the stairs with his bat in hand, resting on his shoulder, a big devious grin on his face, one that Klaus donned as well as they walked out the door.

In his room, Elijah sighed and rose, Rebekah already at the door. "I'll tag along after them," she said, "clean up their mess."

He chuckled and did up his suit jacket, his fingers pushing the buttons through in a deft, smooth movement. "Rebekah, I guarantee that if you followed them you'd join in."

She raised an eyebrow. "And you wouldn't? This town has been hell for our family, Elijah."

The frown that marred his face then was slight as he sucked his cheeks in, thinking. "Very well then," he said with a smirk, "I do believe we should get our jackets and catch up to our brothers before they steal away all the fun to be had. Do you not agree?"

Rebekah smiled. "I knew there was a reason I regarded you as my favorite." She kissed his cheek and he chuckled, shaking his head as she disappeared.

The two of them were ready not even a minute later, out the door and running after their brothers.

"Ah," Klaus exclaimed as he spotted them walking closer, a smirk on his face as Kol, too, looked over. They'd already made it to the building in which Elena and Jeremy resided. Kol had not been seen by any of the supernatural residents in town since his return, so he was quite excited for the big reveal. The one thing spoiling their plans was that no one was home. "Look who decided to join us, brother."

Kol chuckled and threw a cheeky grin at the two before again looking back at the house. "Decided to join in on the fun, I see. Or are you here to spoil it as you so often love to?"

"Well," Elijah replied, as cool as only Elijah could, ram-rod straight as he stood with his hands in his pockets, a posh smirk on his face. "In light of recent events, we found we rather agreed. This town does deserve a little taste of retaliation. And of course, it was obvious you had some sort of diabolical plan in the works and it made us wonder." He looked between the two of them. "What is it?" He tilted his head to the side, eyebrow raised and a delicate smirk on his lips.

Klaus chuckled. "Relax, Elijah. We're just going to have a little fun with the Gilberts, here. Stir up a little trouble before we leave. A last hurrah, if you will."

"Well, it seems you chose the wrong time," Rebekah said, stepping closer. "They're not here. Are we to go find them then?"

"I suppose so," Kol said, standing back up straight as he turned. He inhaled to find their scents, scoffing and turning to his siblings. "Should be easy, as well. They've made no effort to hide their trails." His voice was bright then. "Come along, now. I don't believe you want me to get bored."

He walked off, Klaus following. The two others looked at one another then followed in silence. The four of them, in so much black they were invisible, movement almost soundless along the road, tracked the Gilbert siblings, Kol leading the way.

When it brought them to the Mystic Grill, Kol smirked at Elijah's hard-done-by sigh. "Kol, I am not in the mood to be compelling a whole bar full of people tonight, even with Rebekah and Niklaus's help. You will have to wait until they leave."

Rebekah smiled, arms crossed over her chest. "I don't know that he'll have to wait all that long. There they are now, coming out. Listen."

Listen they did.

Appearing out the door just a few seconds later, Kol smirked and walked toward them. Klaus walked backwards behind him, raising an eyebrow at Rebekah and Elijah. Rebekah shook her head, a long-suffering sigh escaping her as she muttered to Elijah, "Come on, let's make sure our idiot brothers don't kill everyone on site."

Elijah's lips twitched, but he nodded and followed behind the rest of his siblings.

Kol's excitement had overtaken him for a moment as he watched his two murderers. He took in the sight of them standing under the roof of the Mystic Grill and grinned, blurring to stand just a few feet from them.

Feeling the air around them as he appeared, they both looked up and gasped, their mouths dropping open in shock, color draining from their faces.

Kol smirked. "Greetings from the dead," he began with a dark, smug smile and tone to match. He stepped forward from the rest of his siblings, bat still on his shoulder as he looked between the two startled Gilberts. "Or perhaps I should say, the not-so-dead after all. Forgive me. I'm afraid I'm still a little fuzzy from my time on the other side." His nostrils flared as he glared at the two of them hard enough that they shivered, his head cocked. "I suppose I have the two of you to thank for that." He took the bat from his shoulder and patted it to the ground, smirking at them.

"However shall I repay you?" he asked them, his voice low and dangerous. But he sensed movement inside the establishment just behind them and sighed, straightening up. "Come along, then. I haven't all night. Follow me." He smiled at his siblings as he walked past them, the two Gilberts behind him following along.

There was quiet as the trio walked along the darkened road, the three other originals behind them. Elena and Jeremy were sharing glances, trying to figure out what the best recourse for their situation was, and failing. Elena, while a vampire, was nowhere near strong enough to take on four originals—especially with one being a hybrid and therefore invincible. And Jeremy, though he may have been a hunter, was new to the game in that respect and had no chance at all.

Sure, they'd taken Kol once, but he wouldn't be taken with such ease again. He was stronger, he was more aware.

And really, where was the fun in dying?

Besides, neither was fast enough to alert Damon or Stefan. Even if they tried, they wouldn't reach them in time; they were too far away for the unpredictable Mikaelson the other three had obviously decided to let loose tonight.

But curiosity was killing them as it had the proverbial cat. So Elena, sharing one last glance with Jeremy, spoke at last. "How are you alive? We killed you."

Kol chuckled, spinning around but continuing to walk. He was giddy as he looked the two of them over, a large, smug smirk on his face. "I was wondering when you would ask, darling. I suppose you really don't know so much about our family as you think you do." Then he turned and continued walking, swaggering almost in the power he had in the situation. He was biting at the chance to get his revenge, get even. It was so rare that he was allowed such without repercussions—a dagger through his heart, for example.

Klaus chuckled from behind, making the two Gilberts glance over their shoulders. All of the three other originals had identical smug smirks on their faces.

Elena looked at Elijah. "Why would you let him do this?"

His gaze hardened as he looked at her, a slight frown marring his face as his smirk dropped. He was angry, his vampire visage just beginning to come through. "I have told you before that my family means everything to me. No one hurts my family and lives. You murdered my brother. Therefore, you shall lay in the bed you made."

Elena swallowed and turned back to Kol, glancing at Jeremy. "What are you going to do to us?"

Kol chuckled, his hands out at his side, the bat still in one as he looked at her, head cocked. "Relax, darling. I plan on having a little fun, that's all. See, I was thinking that perhaps I would kill you. But then I thought I'd get even with a little torture and leave you here for your Damon—that is the Salvatore you're involved with now, yes?—to find you here, in the middle of the road. As for Jeremy… well, I am not too sure what I plan on doing to him. He is the one who thrust the stake through my chest after all. Maybe I'll kill you… maybe I won't." He grinned at them.

Rebekah rolled her eyes and sighed, arms still crossed over her chest. "Just get it bloody over with, Kol."

He scowled at her, but took his bat and smashed it across Elena's face. The force threw her into the nearby woods before he turned, head cocked, and stalked toward Jeremy, his slow movements putting Jeremy further on edge as he waited to see what the vampire in front of him would do. His face was cold, unreadable. Unhinged, the bat at his side, his hand gripped it so tight his skin was taut over the bone, white.

He saw Elena out of the corner of his eye coming toward him. Effortlessly, he stretched out an arm and took her by the throat, still smirking at Jeremy as he snapped his sister's neck and let her drop from his grip.

"Hmm," he hummed, pondering as he looked at the little Gilbert. "You know… I think I will kill you. Yes. Leave your body here for your sister to wake up and find after we're gone." A slow smirk lit up his face, and then in a flash, his face morphed into his vampire visage, and he growled low in his chest as he swung the bat, taking out his knee, then his back, before he bent down and picked Jeremy up. Holding him to his body, he sank his teeth viciously into the flesh of his skin and let the blood flow, pulling it down his throat leisurely, savoring the taste as he murdered the one who'd staked him until there was none left. The boy's heart puttered to a stop, and he let him drop to the wet cement.

"There," he said with a nod, "now we're even."

Then he stepped over his body, glancing up at his siblings, picked up his bat, and walked off back home.

Elijah crouched next to Jeremy, but Kol spoke before he could so much as touch the corpse. "Do not touch him, brother. I meant what I said. Their little protectors are to find them just as they are." Elijah sighed and stood back up from his crouch, adjusting his suit before slipping his hands in his long black jacket's pockets, pivoting and walking after him. Rebekah and Klaus turned and followed.

"Time to go home, then?" Klaus asked and Kol chuckled, turning around to face him while walking backwards still.

"Come now, Nik," he said with that devilish grin on his face, "I'm having such a good time. Why stop now? I am sure there is more we can do in this bloody town to knock it for six before we go. Where's the fun in a quiet departure when you can make a spectacle?"

Elijah rolled his eyes and Rebekah sighed, but they still followed their brothers.

Soon enough, they were walking down a street that was a little busier. It was when they turned the corner that an odd sensation hit Klaus so sharp he almost folded in half, a hand to his middle. His quick eyes darted up and around, trying to figure out just what had caused the sensation, and he breathed in to sample the scents, ignoring the glances his siblings were now sending him. First nothing, but on the second inhalation, two things happened.

He was bowled over by a scent, and then bowled over by the body it came from.

The warm female body bumped straight into him head on, her head down. He could smell the salt of her tears, hear the breath hitching in her throat. He staggered back, his arms falling around her without meaning to, and a noise escaped her. He swallowed, taking in another breath, and the feeling in his middle moved, now enveloping his heart. Looking down at the girl—brunette hair, small, supple body, sweet curves, pale skin—he was shocked to find himself aching to cup the soft skin of her cheek in his palm, to make her look up at him. An inexplicable urge was filling him to do so, somehow knowing it would do something to the pull in his chest.

He could hear his siblings behind him, wondering at what was going on. It was true; never before had he handled a woman so. But this girl, this girl was different. So bloody different.

And then she looked up.

Klaus had heard the stories. He'd heard and he'd scoffed. Soul mates, one true love at first sight—that poppycock was far more suited to his dear sister or Elijah than he. But in the brief moment that their eyes first connected, he felt it.

The surge went from his body to hers, the electrical wave now a livewire everywhere his skin pressed against hers. He felt that overwhelming need to protect and cherish and comfort the girl in front of him, possessiveness crashing into him like a tidal wave.

His lips parted, but nothing but air escaped them. He swallowed.

Before him, in his arms, was the mate that some part of him had wished for the past one thousand years but never thought he'd ever meet.

And all he could do was stare.

Bit of a cliffy, huh? Sorry about that (not).

How may this new connection impact the one Bella already shares with Edward, you ask? You'll receive the answer next Monday.

Until then, please continue to show me your love and support; it makes me so happy and you've no idea how much it helps me write even when I'm busy as I have been!

Thank you.

Let me know what you think of how I've written the Mikaelsons... I think I did an okay job of it. :)

Please review,

ncbexie25