"Alright, let's make this quick," Marcel began, nodding at me, "I won't let you get away with killing one of my men but, as a curtsey to Klaus I'll make it quick."

I shook my head, starting to speak, "I-"

Klaus hooked one of his hands on my waist and pulled me back, stepping forward to shield my body with his.

"How about calling it a draw. I let go of the fact you still haven't delivered Elijah to me and I'll keep her in the mean time. I'll think about giving her back once you can keep your promises," Klaus said.

I peeked behind his arm.

Marcel made a sound of acquiescence, "I'll give you your brother back, in time."

"Well then I'll be holding onto this beauty for the time being," Klaus said, dragging me away from Marcel.

He leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Meet me at Russo's. I'll be there in a moment."

I nodded, stumbling out of his arms, feeling oddly cold without him beside me. I mentally shake myself. I just need to grab a jacket.

"A little drink won't hurt," he coerced, trying to slip the pink martini glass into my hand.

He looked cute enough, golden hair and blues eyes.

I sighed, looking into his eyes one last time. I was a sucker for blue eyes. They always made me melt.

What the hell, I gave him a flirtatious wink and leaned in to whisper in his ear, "Last chance, follow me out-or don't." If I were you, I'd pick the latter I thought as I picked up my purse and walked out.

Despite all the warning signals that no doubt went off in his head, he wouldn't stop.

I led him to the side alley where no one visited. Everyone in this town feared the vampires -even if the sun was shining.

I could hear a click behind me as I stood with my back to him.

"I'm guessing you're not going to offer me another drink?" I ask.

He grunts and he throws a line of blades toward me from his sleeve, "No."

I duck and turn to face him.

His blades, dipped in wolfs-bane stuck to the brick wall, the metal thin enough to waver with the wind.

I put my hands on my hips, "Now what did I ever do to you?"

"You're alive," was his retort as he lunged at me again. I could make out a deep scar that ran from the back of his hand up his arm before it disappeared into the sleeve of his jacket. It looked very much like a claw mark you'd find in bear attacks.

I dodged his blows -he was quick- and manged to grab him by the back of his neck, breaking one of his hands as it tried to reach behind and stab me in the thigh with another wolfs-bane coated knife.

"Fuck!" he cursed, nursing his injured hand against his side, "You bitch!"

I blinked, "Watch your language! I was having a perfectly content time until this crazy pervert -that's you- lead me into a shady back alley to turn me into Swiss cheese. Last time I checked Hunter you're suppose to go after rabid weres & vampires, not ones enjoying a drink a daylight."

He was muttering under his breath.

I didn't bother binding the crazy guy. I shouted up toward the roof instead, "When you're done watching the show, could you help a lady out?"

Klaus pushed off from a roof above me and landed gracefully in font of me.

"You didn't tell me you could fight. I thought you'd only stuck to your magic tricks," Klaus said appreciatively.

"I still can't handle swords though," I offered, "never got to learn.

Just then, the guy broke from my grip, slashing my cheek with the blade. It stung -but no more than normal.

With the adrenalin pumping back into my system, I went on autopilot; raising my hands, I levitated his body of the ground, watched it drop back down four feet to the concrete and slammed him into the wall near a large green garbage bin for good measure.

I snapped out of my trance to moment I saw the blood pooling under him and rushed over, flipping him over so I could see his face.

I patted his cheeks and opens his eyes, looking for signs he was still alive, his heart-beat was weak and the rest of him silent.

"Please don't die, please live, I promise I won't do that again," I pleaded, lightly slapping his face.

I looked up at Klaus who was staring at me peculiarly. He didn't know. But he could save him.

"Save him. Give him some of you blood," I snapped,grabbing his wrist and tried to pull him closer toward the dying hunter.

"Give it a rest love," Klaus advised, "he's dead already," he gave the body a gently kick before turning back to me, "or he will be soon."

I looked into Klaus' blank eyes, tears welling in my eyes, blood frozen cold with fear.

"Please save him. I'll do anything. Please," I begged, scrambling to hold his warm hands in my, "I promise, anything you want. I can't kill a human -just save him!"

"Anything?" he asked quietly, voice contemplative.

I nodded.

Without another word, Klaus bit his wrist, knelt and tilted the dying man's head, letting the dark liquid drip down, forcing him to close his mouth and swallow.

"Is he going to make it?" I ask.

Klaus' face was grave, "I'm afraid he's going to have a terrible headache when he wakes."

I sigh in relief and practically vault over the still unconscious man to hug Klaus, "Thank you," I breath out.

His arms wrap around me for a moment and a breath him in. The leather of his jacket mingled with some sort of liquor, wood... and caramel.

"We have a deal," he simply said before releasing me and wrapping me up in his jacket, "Let's get you cleaned up."

I clung to him as he drove us out of the French Quarter on a stolen motorbike.

I paid no attention to the whipping wind and could only wonder at what the people around me were laughing about.

I'd been so close to loosing it all.

If I'd triggered my curse, Ester would have dragged me down to hell herself. I could still remember the screams coming from behind the bars, the rotting, half bloodied fingers reaching for me during Ester's tour of the Other Side.

"I can't trigger the curse," I whimpered aloud, "She'll kill me.."

"What's that love?" Klaus shouted over the roar of the motor.

I blinked, "Did I say something?"


Klaus

I steadied the bike and stepped the side stand down.

She was too shocked to move so I carried her inside. Lex reeked of fear as I set her by the fire.

"Don't say a word," I warned Rebekah as she peeked into the living room where I'd set Lex down, "get her a change of clothes."

Going into the bathrooms, I found some of the rubbing alcohol and first aid supplies Elijah had stocked for Hailey and a small bowl of water.


"Why are you so scared? You've said so yourself; you've killed before," Klaus asks, wiping the blood off me.

Rebekah had come in a little while ago with some fresh clothes.

I watched as he dipped the bloodied towel into the bowl of water once more before setting it aside and moving the bandages. I'd been so close to loosing it all... again.

"Why won't you give me your blood?" I ask, "It'd heal me faster than that," my chin tilted slightly to the bottle of foul liquid and gauze in his hand.

"In my experience, your kind doesn't want any blood -especially from a monster hybrid like me- when given a choice," he explained.

"I'm not picky," I assured him.

He assessed me for a moment, "You're not trying to turn yourself into a hybrid by any chance? I know that shock and fear can make -"

I shook my head, "I'd just die anyways -even if we did have the doppelgänger's blood."

He waited for me to explain further.

"Later," I replied, the fatigue suddenly rushing back to me, "It's fine if you don't want your blood in me. Give me the bandages and I'll bind myself up," I said though I doubt I'd have the energy to even pick it up.

"Only if your sure," he says.

Knowing what he means, I nod.

He bites his wrist and holds it in front of my mouth.

I brace his arm with my hands and I drink from him; the metal tang of blood overpowered by the heady and intoxicating taste of power in his blood, a delicious mix of spice and warmth flooding into me.

I continue drinking, my grip tightening on his arm, unwilling to stop... until I'm shocked from my stupor by an ahem!

I look up at the voice, confused until I realize it's Klaus.

I grin sheepishly, "Sorry, I'm...I'll give you your arm back."

He unconsciously shakes his arm and I grimace as I catch a glimpse of my teeth marks on his wrist before they healed.

"I didn't take too much did I?" I ask, worried.

"You didn't take anything. It was only ten minutes," He shrugged.

"A normal person would have bled out," I gasp in revulsion. How many pints of his blood had I'd downed? "What you must think of me."

He grinned, "On the contrary. Anyone who wants to survive needs to be bloodthirsty," he chuckled, "Remind me to keep you off my Persian rugs and antique furniture. You're a very messy eater."

I reach up to wipe the blood dripping from my chin. He reaches out and stops my arm.

"Let me," he orders.

I sit there as he cleans me up again. I look down at the dark stain on his blood in the floor, what a waste, "Are you sure I didn't take too much blood? I don't want you to -"

"I'm the Original Hybrid -I'll be fine. Unless you're offering..." he suggested, a sly gleam entering his eyes.

"I promise I'll explain everything," I vow, ignoring his last comment.

He looks down at me again, pressing a bundle of fresh clothes to my chest, "I don't doubt that."