Stefan choked on the acidic feel of soot in his lungs, opening his bleary eyes, he struggled to make sense of the scene around him. A single circle of unburnt floor remained of the once illustrious mansion. The husk of the building smoldering around him, the fire destroying everything but the magical bubble of protection Bonnie managed to project around them. A hand to his aching head, he frantically looked for his Bride. Rebekah was still out less than a few feet from him, scrambling forward to check her for more serious injuries. Part of her face was still healing, she'd taken the brunt of the explosion protecting him from the more violent of blasts. He could die from fire, she could not, so his Bride had lunged in front of him to take the force of the explosion. She was rapidly healing, but her face still held traces of the trauma. Bonnie was worse for wear, held protectively to Kol's chest, her nose bleeding profusely, making her weak smile at Stefan red with her blood. "I did it, Stefan." Her voice was dazed, but held the undertone of pride. Her magic came through to save their lives, something she probably could have never counted on before.

Biting his wrist, he held it to Rebekah's mouth forcing his blood down her throat. "Yeah, Bonnie, you saved us. Caroline? Kat?"

Her face was frantic as she digested his this, Kol pulled her closer, hoping to comfort her with his warmth. "I couldn't see, I don't know…" She hadn't noticed their friends were missing.

"Bonnie, you did great. I'm sure they got out."

Rebekah came awake with a violent start, "That bastard! Compelling humans to blow up the plantation while we slept. I would have never thought Father was such a coward."

Kol, his arrogance covering up how shaken he was at how close his very mortal Bride had come to death. "He probably was too scared to face me, dear sister."

Rebekah rolled her eyes, sitting up, her face almost completely healed, assessing the damage. "At least he seems to have left, which makes me believe that Nik and Elijah are still alive, Father would have stayed to make sure they were destroyed and he wouldn't have left us behind. He must have seen them escape and gave chase."

Kol stood, helping steady the still weak Bonnie to her feet, "What about Finn?"

Rebekah carefully surveyed the rubble, "I don't see him or Sage in the remains, a couple of humans, but no Finn."

Stefan helped her up, "We need to get somewhere safe until we hear from Klaus or Elijah."

Rebekah flicked off some lingering ash, "Kol and I have been imprisoned for the last seventy years, don't think we'll be any help with that."

Bonnie's nose stopped bleeding, and she attempted to stand on her own. "I can't go to the coven, they won't let any vampires near. What about your brother?"

Rebekah raised an eyebrow at Stefan, "You have a brother?"

Stefan winced, explaining his tumultuous relationship with his brother to Rebekah was the last thing he wanted to do. "I don't see any other options, I know Damon will keep us safe, despite his many failings, he's always valued our brotherly bond over anything."

An hour later, Stefan found himself on the front step of his brother's mansion for the second time in a single month. The white mansion was as ill-kept as he remembered. Since his last visit the exterior had been painted a baby blue, haphazardly, and it looked like someone had taken a chainsaw to the previously well-kept hedges. The doorbell was fixed, with a new addition written in dark-red paint above the button, Do and die.

Kol chuckled at the hostile message, "I have a feeling I'll like your brother much more than I like you."

Bonnie and Rebekah sent him matching scowls. Stefan girded himself, reaching to knock on the imposing doors. When no one answered, Stefan turned away cheerfully, "No one's home. Looks like we'll have to find another safe house."

Rebekah rolled her eyes, stepping around him, pounding on the door while shouting, "Bloody hell! Open up! Immortals in need of protection!"

"Rebekah!" Stefan scolded half-heartedly, he was already getting used to her antics, finding them endearing instead of abrasive.

Damon swung the door open, annoyed at the rather rude summoning. "Who the hell do you think you are, pounding on my door in the middle of the morning?"

"Name's Rebekah Mikaelson, your Princess, now stand aside before I make you." Laying a calming hand on Rebekah's arm, Stefan apologized, "We need a place to stay Damon, Mikael just blew up our last safe house."

Noticing Stefan for the first time, he inched open the door, letting the singed procession through. Resting a grateful hand on his brother's arm, his look full of hidden meaning, "Thank you, brother." Damon nodded gruffly in response.

Damon grabbed his arm, pulling him into a parlor, letting the other three wander towards the back of the house. "We need to have a chat later, about the last century? Also, don't know whether to offer congratulations or sympathy for finding your Bride."

Moving to a sideboard, he handed Stefan a glass of bourbon, clinking his own glass against it. Stefan glanced in the direction Rebekah had headed, worried about leaving her unattended in his brother's house. Bonnie will keep her out of any real trouble.

Sliding into the leather arm chair, clasping the drink with both hands he took a hesitant sip. He opened his mouth to speak but Damon beat him to it.

"Rebekah Mikaelson, princess of the vampires, Bride to my brother, the problem drinker. Renowned in the Lore for being petty and selfish, Bloody Bex has accumulated a body count that surpasses even yours, brother."

Grinding his jaw, "You think I don't know that Damon? The legends say she kills with such lack of remorse, she surpasses all her brothers, even Klaus. I need to talk to her about it, but we haven't exactly had the chance."

He was a recovering addict, the red slowly disappearing from his eyes evidence of that. When he'd first been changed he'd left fragments of bodies along both coasts, until he managed to get a handle on himself in the early 1900s with the help of a vampire named Lexi, but he still struggled every day to not give in to temptation. Damon had never had such issues. A vampire's eyes only turned red when they drank a being to death, Damon's were still bright blue. Though Damon was far from a saint, he'd managed to never drink someone to the pit of their soul, preferring to use compulsion to prevent witnesses. Damon's stalwartness had drawn the attention of Kristoff, the Gravewalker. Another contender of the crown of the Horde, and cousin to the Mikaelsons, his soldiers were forbidden from taking from the flesh. The army consumed blood bags and animals instead. However, Kristoff's dietary needs also prevented him and his sister, Emmaline MacRieve, from claiming the throne. The Horde valued two things of their King, that he be legitimate and that he worships the thirst. A thirst Stefan struggled against daily, yet Fate matched him to someone who reveled in delivering death, why?

His frustration mounting, the crystal coming close to cracking in his hand, struggling with fate's choice for him, his reverie was interrupted by his Bride's scream, "I'll kill you this time, Katerina!"

Alarmed, both brothers sped out of the study, finding Rebekah pinning Elena to the floor of the parlor, close to killing the sorceress. Moving as a team, Damon and Stefan, both struggled to pull the much older vampire off her. Rebekah glared at him, anger making her eyes glow, "I'm due this revenge, Stefan! You know it to be true."

Again, opening his mouth to respond, Elena coming to a stand, her magic swirling around her, interrupting him, "Shut up."

When researching the Lore, in his decades away from humanity, he had read about the Sorceress before him, especially since hearing Damon married her. Elena Petrova, Queen of Persuasion, could make the most powerful of immortals take a knee with a single word. Unlike vampires, she had no limits in her Persuasion. Her magic took hold of Rebekah, sealing her lips together. Dusting off imaginary lint, she sent a warning glance at Bonnie and Kol, who were both stunned by her display of power. Though Katerina was renowned for the vicious use of her power in the Lore, Elena was demure and sedate, Kol had once thought the legends of her power a gross exaggeration.

Rebekah's attack had been too sudden for Bonnie to respond, and now she stood agape. Glaring at the thousand-year-old vampire, Elena continued speaking, her magic swirling in blue flecks around her. "I am not Katerina, I'm her twin, Elena. You will never attack me or Katerina, in fact you will forgive her for her betrayal, especially since you got a Groom out of it. You can speak now."

Her magic disappearing into the air, Elena calmly moved to one of the couches, gesturing for Rebekah to do the same, when the vampire did so without question, Elena spoke, "My sister did not betray your family lightly. Mikael had me, and was counting on Kat's ruthlessness and overprotective nature to succeed where he had failed for centuries."

Stefan joined Rebekah, placing his arm casually around her, instinctively moving to protect her. Both vampires listened enraptured to Elena's explanation of her twin, Stefan had spent weeks with the sorceress, even considered her a friend, but he knew more about her in two minutes with Elena, than three weeks of searching for the Mikaelsons. "When she did, it was too late. Mikael already knew what she was to Elijah, and would not allow any of his children even the possibility of happiness. So, when Kat returned to Russia, Mikael took her head."

Rebekah's mouth dropped open in astonishment, while Kol bristled in disbelief. "You must have your stories confused, Katerina is very much alive. A beheading is lethal, even to immortals."

Her eyes haunted by the past, she continued as if Kol hadn't spoken. "He threw the remains in the snow with me, smiling as he did. He didn't know… he couldn't have known… I persuaded her to heal and rise up."

Bonnie covered her mouth in horror, all immortals feared final death, to have experienced it and come back. It's the kind of thing that scars a mind beyond repair. Kat's blasé attitude about life made more sense, what could actually cause concern when you've seen what's on the other side?

Retaining that faraway look, Elena stood up, leaving the room without another word. Damon followed closely behind her, it was clear to Stefan, even though Katerina was the one who died, it shook Elena to her core, leaving scars similar to those he knew Damon bore. Maybe Fate didn't make such blind matches after all.

This place is a complete maze, Caroline thought as she turned into a dead end for the sixth time. Still fuming over Klaus's order, she'd deliberately tried every possible escape from the property, but he was too thorough. Accepting that she wasn't going to be escaping any time soon, and needing an outlet for her frustration, she set on another clever idea to accurately convey her annoyance. Grabbing what she needed from around the house, even ripping a few curtains off the walls, in less than an hour she was in the middle of the courtyard practicing her sword play on a stuffed dummy. A dummy, on which she'd drawn bloody fangs on and adorned with an aluminum foil crown, and spent two hours hacking to bits until goose feathers filled the courtyard. The head rolled away, having nothing to support it. Sweating, happy Klaus's closet had shorts and a sports bra, though she was curious about why he had these clothes, and still pretending it was curiosity instead of jealousy, she wiped her face off with a towel. Finally noticing a dark-skinned man leaning casually against the pillar behind her. How long had he been there?

Glancing at the feathers covering the courtyard, he raised a single brown eyebrow before clapping slowly. Standing straight he strolled forward, his voice coming out slightly accented and smooth, "I would hate to be on the other end of your rage, Valkyrie," glancing down at the head, fangs and crown askew, chuckling, "anyone we know?"

Caroline pursued her lips in annoyance, casually resting her hand on one of her swords, who was this? He was inside the compound so Klaus had cleared him to enter his sacred home, if a stranger appeared in Val Hall she would have attacked without question, but here in Klaus's compound, she knew the Hybrid would let no one close to his precious mate without ultimate trust. He would protect her at any cost, still didn't mean she had to like his highhandedness about it.

The stranger stopped just a few feet in front of her, dropping an ironic bow, "My Queen."

Caroline couldn't stop the snort of derision at the title, "Not your Queen, stranger. I'm Caroline."

Standing straight, a seductive smile on his lips, "I'm Marcel. One of the first hybrids changed by Klaus, and currently leading the revolt against Mikael's vampires." His eyes were intensely focused on her, as if analyzing her every flaw, it was just enough to make her uncomfortable. Her defenses went up like metal around her, this hybrid was looking for something from her, and she wouldn't be giving it. She kept her face carefully neutral.

Tilting her head in curiosity, "You're responsible for the guerrilla warfare waged on Mikael's vampires, some so flagrant you risk exposing the entire Lore?" The censure in her tone was overshadowed by how impressed she was.

Though the attacks were foolishly brazen, the hybrids almost always walked away with minimum casualties while laying waste to legions of Mikael's army. Her aunts admired the way they used their far smaller number to their advantage, attacking in alleys and between buildings, never meeting their foe on an open field. As immortals who had seen numerous battles over the last two thousand years, they were not an easily impressed group.

"You could say it was worth the risk of exposure, forcing Veritas to retrieve our king."

Color her even more impressed, Klaus's hybrids were not a recognized species in the Lore, they could only be made not born, and as an unrecognized species were not accepted into Veritas or Pravus. Without a voice to speak for them in those meetings they needed a way to force their hand, and their brazen attacks accomplished that.

"I'm trying to be outraged at another male thinking he can control my life, but I'm honestly more impressed by your tactics to be upset. Who taught you how to plan a war?"

Marcel's smile didn't move an inch, "Klaus, of course."

There went her admiration, any mention of the controlling hybrid guaranteed to send her in a bad mood. Turning her back on the hybrid, she gathered her discarded water bottle. Heading into what she'd discovered was Rebekah's wing of the house. Marcel cleared his throat delicately at her direction, "Majesty, your mate has sent me to retrieve you. He says you're to meet him in his study."

Throwing a casual glance over her shoulder, "Valkyrie's don't have mates, therefore, I'm not your Queen. Next time I hear you call me that, I'm going to start swinging."

Leaving the stunned male in the courtyard, she sauntered away with a spring in her step to Rebekah's wing.

Klaus struggled to pay attention as one of his hybrids made a report about Mikael's forces, trying not to think about a tumble of blonde hair and molten silver eyes a constant battle. Hybrids filtered in and out of the compound once he'd contacted Marcel from the plantation, though their numbers were reduced, more had survived war against Mikael than he expected. Expressing relief at their king's return, they clearly expected him to crush Mikael in short order. If only things were that simple, cutting Mikael out of New Orleans was like removing cancer, it just kept coming back. Without Elijah present to challenge his father for rightful control of the vampires, banishing Mikael out of New Orleans would be even more difficult when they fought against him. Vampires were territorial and blood thirsty, the Horde would not accept an illegitimate king on their throne. He also wanted to keep Mikael ignorant of his current location for as long as possible, his hybrids taking all precautions in appearing at his compound, utilizing the hidden tunnels to the property. Mikael had not hesitated to burn down the entire plantation, even though his legitimate children were inside as well.

Looking down at the map of the Crescent city spread out in front of him, his revenge against his stepfather took a more savage tone as a stray thought echoed through his mind unbidden, Caroline will never be safe until Mikael is dead.

His eyes turned with rage, his possessiveness about his unclaimed mate muting all other emotions. The hybrids crowding his office took a hesitant step back at his eyes, people died when his eyes changed. Ruthlessly regaining control, his eyes cleared and he waved his hybrids regally on. She's safe in the compound, and she'll stay safe until I'm using Mikael's head as a footstool.

He noticed Marcel slipping silently through the door, he headed straight for the liquor cabinet, pouring two glasses of bourbon. He'd sent the man to retrieve Caroline, why was he empty handed? Marcel, offering no clarification as to why he was alone, placed one glass of bourbon in front of Klaus and took one of the two-winged back chairs in front of the massive mahogany desk dominating the space sipping from his own glass. Klaus, appearing every bit the regent, standing behind the massive furniture. Those chairs were reserved for his siblings, an unwritten law all his hybrids respected, with the exception of Marcel, who enjoyed flaunting the rules other hybrids were bound by.

Cutting off the hybrid currently reporting to him about the status of the Quarter, "The main goal now is to grow our forces, bring me wolves, I don't care where you find them, just bring them to me."

The three hybrids bowed deeply on the way out, closing the study door, leaving Marcel and Klaus alone. Wasting no time, Klaus whipped out, "I believe I gave you an order."

Marcel mockingly saluted him with his glass before taking a long swig, "You told me to bring you your mate. Delightful creature, found her killing you in effigy in the courtyard, when I told her of your request she informed me, 'Valkyries have no mates.' Trouble in paradise already Klaus?"

Klaus picked up the glass Marcel poured for him, hurling it against the wall. "Where. Is. She."

Marcel disregarded Klaus's show of rage, raising a brow at the broken glass on the floor, "She was heading towards Rebekah's wing when I last saw her."

Turning to the study doors, he nearly ripped them out of the wall as he threw them open, following the scent of lilacs into his sister's bedroom, his rage boiling. He was one of the most powerful immortals to ever walk the earth and this baby Valkyrie thought to defy him. Throwing the double doors open, the door handles against the wall leaving deep indents in the plaster, and startling Caroline who was drying her wet hair in the bathroom.

Klaus noticed she had just stepped from the shower and was clad only in a long t-shirt without a bra, his rage notched even higher when he realized the shirt belonged to his brother, Kol. His mate should not be wearing another man's clothes! His jaw aching by how hard he was clenching his teeth, he said nothing before stalking to the bathroom and throwing Caroline over his shoulder. The hairdryer, still running, plunged to the marble floor. Stunned silent for a second, she made no comment on his barbarian ways before they were out of the room and heading down the hallway. Then she kicked up a fuss, "Put me down, Mikaelsson! I'm not your property to be at your beck and call!"

Emphasizing this, she struggled, causing the shirt she wore to ride up, almost revealing her delicious ass to the entire compound. His more animalistic side in control, he brought his hand down on her ass, hard. The slap made her gasp, going still for a moment before resuming her struggles with more fervor, "I warned you about defying me, mate."

"Guess what? You may have this cosmic certainty about me, but I don't have one about you! So, all I see is an asshole who thinks he can control me!"

His voice, barely recognizable, grated, acting as if he hadn't heard her "My mate defies me, I'll have to show her the consequences of such outright rebellion."

Slapping her ass hard again, Caroline tried to pull down her t-shirt, hiding how aroused she was becoming by his caveman attitude. It wasn't like she was in the middle of the cleanest of daydreams when she'd been rudely interrupted. She knew she failed to hide her arousal, when he froze mid-step, and turned his head towards her, inhaling deeply. His face was so close to her pussy, he could simply breath on her and she'd probably shoot off like a rocket.

Turning his head forward, he kept moving forward, but she noticed the tension in his jaw had lessened slightly. When the doors to his suite slammed shut behind him, he tossed her onto the bed. Scrambling away, in an attempt to flee the crazed hybrid, he stopped her when his palm encircled her ankle yanking her back to him, flipping her onto her stomach, his control a distant memory, he tore the offending garment from her body leaving her in nothing but a tiny thong.

Afraid of the punishment she knew she was about to receive, she made a desperate attempt to soothe the beast at her back. "Fine! I'll sleep in here with you!"

Unrecognizably rough, "My mate must learn."

Whimpering, confused at how horny she was, he dragged her to the edge of the bed letting her toes touch the ground, leaving her ass perched high in the air. Trying to turn to see him standing behind her, he placed a big palm on her neck pushing her face down, keeping her pinned. Helpless beneath him.

"My mate likes being at my mercy. I can smell you, Caroline."

She really, really wanted to shake her head in denial but all she managed was a moan. A moan that ended on a gasp as his hand came down hard on her ass. Massaging away the sting, she couldn't believe how turned on this was making her, she'd probably beg him to fuck her like this! A needy groan escaped her, when his hand came down again, and again when he massaged away the sting. The sting seemed hard wired to her core with each of his strikes she became more unbearably aroused, even moving her ass into his slaps. Satisfied that she'd learned her lesson about defying him, he leaned closer to her ear, nipping it playfully, he growled, "What does my queen want of me? She knows she has only to ask."

Past the point of caring about how pathetic it made her seem, "I want to come around your cock, my king."

Groaning as if in pain, she felt his forehead rest against her back, "My queen asks for the one thing I can't give her. I won't claim you Caroline, till you accept that you're my mate. When you're mine forever. The more you deny it, the more you deny what we both know you crave."

He made as if to move away from her, releasing his hold on her, but before he could leave her in such a tortured state, she slid from the bed to her knees in front of him. Her pale hand reached out to cup him through his jeans, her eyes molten silver, every bit the seductress as her voice deepened with arousal, "If my king refuses to put his cock in my pussy, I guess I'll have to put it in my mouth instead."

For the first time since meeting him, Caroline stunned Klaus into silence. Before an audible groan of agony escaped him, letting her slide his zipper and pants down, she bit her lip before pulling his cock out from his briefs. This time, she moaned.

Caroline was face to face to one of the most perfect cocks in existence and she was supposed to be finding ways to resist him. Worry about resisting him later, get your hands on that cock now! Leaving find ways to resist Klaus on her mental to-do list for tomorrow, she set down to her task. She grasped his length, licking him from base to tip, swirling her tongue around head. When she pulled the broad tip into her mouth, sucking lightly, he let out another pained sound. "Gods, the things you do to me, woman. Driving me mad."

His hands came down to hold her head to him, and seemed to be actively restraining himself from fucking her mouth. Pulling his cock deeper, Caroline felt the pressure build inside him, knowing he was close to coming. Humming deep in her throat, she took him to the hilt, driving him insane, "Look at me Caroline…"

Coyly, her eyes drifted to his, at the same time her fingers drifted to her clit. "You going to play with your pussy while sucking my cock? My mate loves my taste."

She was so turned on it took almost nothing for her to begin coming, her fingers vibrating her clit and her mouth moaning around him. Her wanton moans spurring him to ejaculate into her mouth. Drinking him down, her mouth made a sucking sound when he pushed her back from him. Gazing up at him, she felt a sudden flash of old insecurities flaring, she waited for him to kick her out or tell her how she failed to please him. Instead, he leaned down to cradle her in his arms heading for the closet instead of the bed. Placing her feet gently on the floor, he pulled the Henley he wore off and draped it over her. "You're not to wear another man's clothes Caroline, even if he is related to me by blood."

Pulling his jeans off, and a pair of loose pajama pants on, scooping her back up into his arms. Her limbs were languid with contentment, not protesting when he tucked her under the covers of the bed, climbing in beside her. His arms encircled her, squeezing her to him, whispering, "For a thousand years I imagined laying here with my mate in my arms, what she would be like. Now that I'm finally here, my foolish imaginings could never compare to the real thing."

Snuggling into her back, he smothered her face and neck with kisses almost reverently, before falling to sleep beside her.

How the hell am I supposed to resist him now?

Klaus awoke the next morning to find his arms empty, glaring at the sun slashing through the windows, he glanced about the room. No sign of Caroline. He couldn't remember the last time his sleep was empty of nightmares, no memory of waking up fresh and anticipating the day ahead of him. Was this how matehood would change him? Instead of the suffering dreams that seemed to taunt his ever-present paranoia, to sleep peacefully. The only thing that could have made the morning better was if Caroline was still asleep beside him. His reverie and calm was shot out the window when he heard enraged voices echoing outside, one of which he recognized as Caroline's. Sighing patiently, he changed quickly before striding out of the bed room. The yelling hit him long before he entered, "I don't give a damn if you're king of the Vampires or the Universe, I'm not going to let you chain Kat to your bed like some twisted sex slave!"

Looks like Elijah has arrived.

"Get out of my way, Valkyrie!" Was that his staid brother's voice? Instead of the coolly composed vampire of the last thousand years, his voice was shaking with rage and frustration, this I have to see, he thought, as he rounded the corner to the family room. His brother's appearance was haggard, eyes bloodshot, for once his attire was not flawless, wearing torn jeans and a shirt that declared "Reyes is a Pain", he scarcely resembled the icy vampire king.

Even more intriguing was the vaunted Queen of Illusions, who worn mystical manacles to prevent escape and the use of her magic, and was covered from head to toe. Baggy sweat pants and a neon green shirt proclaiming "Nïx's House of Horrors", it was the first time Klaus had seen her without full Sorceri regalia. Her head bowed in apparent submission, but was clearly bristling about being paraded around without her powers.

"I thought you were the reasonable one Elijah! I'd expect this kind of thing from Klaus but you?"

Elijah moved face to face with Caroline, shouting "My brother's mate or not, move Valkyrie or you will be moved."

Time to make my presence known.

"It appears we have some guests, love."

Whirling around, her blonde hair quivering in fury, her blue eyes narrowed on him standing in the doorway. "Your brother thinks he can stay here and keep Kat locked to his bed, because she's his Bride."

Raising a golden eyebrow at his brother's appearance, it was easy to see the desperation and know nothing he said was going to deter his brother from this path, "And?" He knew his brother, supporting him on this path, no matter its insanity, would be the first step in pulling him back from the edge he clearly teetered on. Caroline would forgive him, for letting this happen, eventually.

Caroline's lips sputtered, "And?! You don't see anything wrong with that picture? Kat is my friend!"

Klaus opened his mouth to form a terse reply, but the bound sorceress beat him to the punch, "I deserve it Caroline."

Three pairs of immortal eyes swung to her, "I appreciate you standing up for me, Care, I've never had someone who wasn't blood related to me care so much about my well-being. But I deserve this, for betraying him."

Bypassing Elijah, Caroline grabbed the sorceress's bound hands, "Kat no one deserves that."

The brunette's eyes were tortured when she finally looked up, "Let it go Caroline."

To Klaus's surprise, Caroline pleaded with him next, "Please, you can't let him do this."

Grinding his teeth against the ingrained need to grant her anything, his voice was unmoved, "Let it go, Caroline."

Standing stiffly, surveying the immortals before her, she paused to give each a well-deserved glance. To Katerina, confusion and helplessness, to Elijah, the promise of revenge, to Klaus, whom she saved for last as she headed out the door, disgust and renewed resentment.

With a flurry, she left the three immortals to their own devices storming from the room. Klaus glared at his brother, angry for forcing him to once again be on the outs with his mate. "You owe me brother. Make no mistake I will collect." His warning imparted, he strode frustrated for the courtyard, needing to work off his own annoyance.

Caroline realized she was being followed by the time she returned to Klaus's room. Two tall hybrids attempted to blend into the shadows behind her, and stood sentry at the door, no doubt sent by Klaus. Preparing to scold them, she stopped mid step as she lit on another idea. They thought she was their Queen? We'll just see about that. If she was going to play the royal, she would have to dress the part. Turning to the large walk in closet, gazing at the gowns she noticed when she first woke up here. Valkyries inherited Freya's acquisitiveness, most could become mesmerized by shiny jewels and fine items. Turning away the first time had been difficult for her, but her aunts had trained her to resist. Finally going through the Oscar worthy gowns, her claws curling, she landed on the perfect outfit, a gown with a split personality. From the back, it appeared a typical gown, blood red full skirt cinching into a tight long sleeve top, despite the color the dress said come closer. Only when glancing at the front did it scream, deadly to the touch. The blood red skirt spilt open and flared back revealing skin-tight leather pants, the bodice cut into a deep V revealing the midnight black corset beneath. She pulled on the gown, her claws curling, glancing in the mirror, she knew she looked like a queen. Looking over to the rack of high heels, she pulled knee high black leather Louboutin boots over her leather pants. Her hair tied up, and blood red lipstick to match, she looked every bit the Hybrid Queen. It was all part of her plan, looking so fearsome and acting regally, her hybrid sentries would not think twice before following her orders. Klaus's legendary temper and zero tolerance for insubordination would aid her, his reputation extending to her now as his mate. To deny her was to incur his displeasure, she was sure some of them knew she was kept here against her will, which is why the outfit was necessary. Klaus would never allow his hybrids to gossip about his relationship status, so she knew there was doubt about her imprisonment and she could work with that. Appearing as their queen, would cause chaos in the ranks, her sentries doubting the rumors, they would not deny her. Satisfied with her appearance, she drafted three identical messages, sealing them, before throwing open the door to the hallway and addressed the two sentries dismissively, "I need these delivered to the address written on them."

The hybrids glanced at her in clear confusion, "We're not supposed to leave our post, your Majesty."

Sending a look, she hoped conveyed royal annoyance, "Inside a protected compound, I believe two guards is a bit unnecessary, and as your queen, I would think you wouldn't hesitate to obey my orders without question."

Both hybrids nervously exchanged glances, the shorter of the two reached forward to take the notes from her hand. "Shouldn't we ask the king first?"

Too close to victory, she shook her head, wearing an expression of condescension "He is the one who tasked me with authoring these messages, mentioning that his hybrids would not hesitate to obey me."

Both snapped to attention, Klaus's history of violent retribution for those who defied him was legendary, the shorter one bowed before taking his leave, the messages nearly crushed in his hand. Turning to the remaining sentry, she continued her regal air, "Where are the witches loyal to Klaus?"

The hybrid kept his eyes averted in respect for his Queen, "They are housed in another building in the complex, your Majesty."

"Take me to them."

"But my Queen…"

"I believe I gave you an order."

"Y-yes, my Queen."

I could get used to this.

In another wing of the house, Elijah was sitting with his head in his hands, disgusted with himself. How had the Sorceress brought him so low? He didn't chain her to the bed as he intended to when he arrived. Instead, what she said to Caroline was echoing in his ears. I deserve this.

Did his Bride see being with him as some kind of punishment to be endured? He wanted her with him, safe, but she constantly looked for a way to escape him. He couldn't trust her to stay, to be with him willingly, and he couldn't be without her. He could have locked her in his rooms, but couldn't allow her the freedom to roam the compound, even with her hands bound, she would find some way to escape. Madness teetered at the edge of his mind, he needed to focus on Mikael! On regaining his throne! But instead the sorceress consumed him. Even now as she slept in his bed, exhausted from the journey, he could only think of joining her. Looking up as his study door swung open, Klaus headed straight for the liquor pouring generous helpings of bourbon for them both, handing one off to him before sitting.

"We need to talk about Mikael."

Elijah nodded, glaring at the amber liquid in his glass.

"Neither of our queens will be safe until he's dead."

That gained Elijah's undivided attention, "You think he would target them?"

"I have no doubt of it. We've given him a new way to torture us, one we would never recover from." When a vampire's Bride died, it condemned the vampire to walk alone for the rest of his eternal life, knowing any chance of children, or of a future that didn't stretch out before him endlessly, died with them. That's only if the vampire doesn't greet the sun first. He knew it was the same for Lykae, they revered matehood above all things. An old friend of the family, once believed he had lost his fey mate as she ran from him, Bowen had become a shell of himself. Wasting away, until discovering, a witch had tricked him into believing the fey was his mate, when he was destined for a witch by the name of Mariketa. Now that Elijah truly understood what Bowen believed he had lost, he was amazed the immortal hadn't ended it all.

Elijah frowned at the connecting door to his bedroom, he could hear Katerina's breaths as she slept.

"Elijah you're useless until you claim her."

Elijah's eyes turned glacier, "What exactly are you suggesting I do, brother?"

Holding up his hands in innocence, "Not what your mind jumped to. I'm worried that your tactics to gain her affection are backfiring in a way that will ensure you'll never gain it."

Elijah scoffed at his brother's advice, "I didn't see your mark on the Valkyrie." When a Vampire or Hybrid claimed their mate, in the throes they sunk their teeth into their flesh, though the bite healed, a visible brand, distinct to each immortal was visible. Members of their own species could view it, but others could not.

Klaus's eyes glowed brightly, flickering to ice blue, struggling to regain his calm, stating. "I play the long game, brother. Before the next full moon, Caroline will be my queen in every way." The full moon was just two weeks away.

Only Elijah could have detected the note of vulnerability in Klaus's claim, rejected by so many in his long life, his brother could never truly trust another's feelings for him, even his own mate's. Nobody knew each other better than the two brothers, though they hadn't always fought on the same side and even against each other, family was always a bond they could not break. The squabbling and bickering that dotted their history seemed so petty and small when they were all prisoners together.

"Niklaus, how do I forgive her for what she did? How do I move forward?"

Reaching out in an uncharacteristic brotherly moment, Klaus placed a warm hand on his brother's tortured shoulder, "Start by forgiving her for betraying us to Mikael. Without her betrayal, Nïx would have never sent such a colorful retrieval party. A party she was a part of brother, she knew when it came out what she did, you would hate her, and still she came."

Elijah's vision blurred as he thought back to when he'd first encountered his Bride almost seventy years ago. He first felt the beat of his heart walking in the Garden District, the power of it nearly driving him to his knees, across the street walking with determined strides was his Bride. With long ringlets falling down her back, she was dressed in full Sorceri regalia, her full breasts encased in a gold breastplate, the points of it flaring out at her shoulders to form deadly weapons. Her mile-long legs encased in tight leather pants, leaving little to the imagination. She was wearing thigh guards and vambraces, the swirling design continuing from her breastplate. Her mask covered most of her face, but he caught the full lips and with her ringlets tied back from her face, she looked prepared for war. Elijah followed her for another block, noticing that she moved out of the way of ignorant humans, who could not see her, she cloaked herself from humans, but not Loreans. Curious.

She darted into an alley, Elijah close on her heels but he wasn't prepared for when she disappeared completely. Searching the dismal alley for some trace of her, she appeared behind him a sword held to his throat. "Who are you? And why are you following me?"

Amused at his Bride's savvy, "My name is Elijah Mikaelsson." Spooking the wary sorceress with Bride talk would be unwise.

Her sword didn't lower, "Mikaelsson?"

Pushing back from him, she spat, "Stay away from me, I've business to attend to and the last thing I need is a leech on my heels screwing with my plan."

Before he could reach forward to grab her, she was once again invisible, he hadn't even gotten her name.

It was two tortuous weeks before he caught sight of her again, consoling herself with whiskey at one of his brother Kol's bars. Dressed like a man-eater, short red dress and killer heels she stood out from the demurer crowd of the time period. What surprised Elijah was that she drank alone, though numerous males approached her she turned them all away with a smile and a promise for another time. She radiates loneliness, but denies all chances of companionship, peaking his insatiable curiosity with her contrary attitude. Settling heavily into the seat next to her, he waited for her shocked gaze to meet his. He almost forgotten how beautiful she was. Her chocolate eyes raised curiously to his, "You."

"Me. I never got your name."

An armor of aloofness came shuttering down over her eyes, gone was the lonely woman in its place was the arrogant sorceress. If he'd blinked he would've missed it. Nudging him flirtatiously, "That's because I didn't offer it sport. Why are you following me?"

Elijah raised his glass and clinked it against hers, "Tell me your name and I'll tell you why I was following you."

A light of mischievousness was the only warning he had before she grabbed his face in her small palms, and placed an earth-shattering kiss on his lips. He barely began to kiss her back before she tore her mouth away moving to whisper in his ear, her voice seducing him, "If you can catch me one more time, I'll tell you my name, Elijah."

Reaching out to grab her, she was gone.

He was captured a week later, fresh on her trail, so focused on finding her, he hadn't noticed he was surrounded until it was too late. Before his neck was snapped his last thought was of her.

Savagely yanking himself out of the memory, his brother sat across from him immensely amused by his current turmoil. Placing his now empty glass on the desk in front of him, Klaus turned towards the door, before he exited he threw over his shoulder, "She may have betrayed you, Elijah. But the simple fact is she's your Bride. Don't forget, brother, you do not get another."

With those ominous words, Klaus departed, and Elijah shattered the tumbler against the wall.