A/N: Thank you all so much the follows, favorites and reviews! It's truly Christmas early for me to hear from you. Thank you to Iansarmy, Ellavm18, laurenroxbrough, PerfectlyGoodHeart, beverlie4055, Laby Anne Boleyn, Hopelessromanticatheart26, An Amber Pen, Wish-upon-a-story, PLL and Victorious RULE, lateVMlover, ilyreid, spongee09, DevilJolie, jessnicole, SarahCullen4, and all my guests!

Natalie? You must have a bit of a psychic twinkle. I was crafting the end of this chapter when I got your review last night. It made me smile. Great minds. =)

The next morning, things were quiet as I stared out of one of the dining room windows. I couldn't see much except the serene grounds around the mansion and I wasn't even allowed to walk outside and explore that. After the hybrid attack the night Rebekah and I returned with Kol, Clarice and her family, I was restricted to the house. Only problem was, I'd been mostly restricted to the house before that incident because of the two times I'd been attacked and allegedly to protect me from Marcel.

I understood why Klaus had made such a demand on not just me but Clarice and her girls. Clarice would probably be fine with the power she had. But the girls and I? We were the most vulnerable in the house and that was new for me. At least back in Mystic Falls, I wasn't the weakest link in the gang. Bonnie was now a human/anchor to the other side. Elena was a younger vampire than I was – not by much, but still.

Here? I was under the same orders as the kids. Maybe even less powerful than they were because while they may not be fully trained to use the considerable magic that their mother had, they still had it.

Under the same orders as the kids but in a very adult relationship. Two nights with Klaus had left me exhausted. I smiled as I slumped into the chair at the end of the table. Klaus was tireless, insatiable in bed. He did sex the way he did everything else in his life – full throttle. He made me feel beautiful, desirable. He took great pride and pleasure in working me up over and over, making me beg him for release until I was mindless and desperate. Then he'd begin again. It was the best sex I'd ever had in my life, mind-blowing and intense.

I picked up the blood bag, it was my second and it had chilled a little while I'd been lost in my thoughts, and began to suck it down. For strength. And that need for strength had me a little concerned. Would I be able to keep up with my obsessive new boyfriend? Would I disappoint him if I couldn't?

Would I ever be able to return to the hustle and bustle of life? Feeling cut off from friends, shopping, and activity in general had me feeling blue on top of all of it.

"A penny for your thoughts, Caroline."

I looked up to see Elijah walk in my direction looking surprisingly dressed down. Oh, he still had on his suit pants and a dress shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. But his shirt was wrinkled, his hair was mussed liked he'd been raking his hands through it in frustration. He looked as tired as I felt.

"Are you okay?" I had to ask.

Elijah smiled at me. "That's one very big reason that I'm glad you're here and with Niklaus, Caroline. Your kindness. I find you here, looking troubled, and you ask how I am."

"I wouldn't go all the way to troubled," I said to him, teasing.

His smile faded as he took a seat in the chair next to me. "I wish I could say the same."

"Was Clarice able to do a locator spell and find Hayley?"

Elijah shook his head. "No and I'm afraid of what that means."

My heart went out to Elijah. I knew he cared about the werewolf and we all knew Tyler was using her, using Klaus' child within her, to create the hybrids. How could either of them use an innocent life that way? And why couldn't a witch as powerful as Clarice locate them for Elijah?

"If she can't do a locator spell to find Hayley," I spoke my thoughts, "then does that mean they have a witch on their end blocking it?" The only thing I could think of to prevent magic was magic.

"I believe they do," Elijah explained. "It would take a witch of some power to prevent Clarice's spell from working."

I nodded. "Do you know of a witch that powerful?"

"I do. Her name is Davina," he replied. "She's powerful and young. An old protégé of my brother's offers her protection from the other witches here in New Orleans. She, in turn, informs him of any witchcraft being used so he can hunt them down."

"Hunt them down?" Okay, I was confused. "Why did she turn on her own kind?"

I sat mesmerized while Elijah spoke of an ancient witch ritual called the Harvest that happened every three hundred years. Apparently four young witches were prepared for the ceremony to renew the collective power of them all. They were sacrificed, but not told until that moment so they wouldn't bolt. Three of the witches were killed and Klaus' protégé saved Davina before the ritual could be completed. Davina inherited the power of the three fallen witches, making her a formidable force. The witches wanted to find her and kill her to complete the ritual. The vampire guarding her protects her by locking her away from the world and hunting down any witch daring to do magic in the French Quarter.

"But even with her power," I mused, "is she as strong as Clarice?"

Elijah's expression was grim. "I'm not sure she's as strong as Clarice by herself. She'd be no match against Clarice if she channeled the magic her daughters' possess."

"Then why not do that?" I asked. But I knew Elijah well enough, even as I asked that, to know there was a good reason.

"Our situation is complicated," he said slowly. "I do want to find to Hayley. I promised her my protection and you know I take my promises very seriously, Caroline. I want her to confess to me that she went with Tyler willingly, with full knowledge of what he intended to do. If she does, I'll deal with her as I'd deal with anyone who betrayed my family."

Hayley was in a tough spot. Elijah was nothing if not fiercely loyal to his family. He showed no mercy to those who betrayed him or his.

"If I learn she was misled or betrayed…"

There was that flicker of hope in his dark eyes. From what Tyler and Hayley said to me that night, I didn't think his second theory rang true. But stranger things had happened, right?

"So, wait, Elijah," I said, thinking this through. "If you know the witch who probably blocked Clarice's spell, then you have a lead to finding Hayley, right?"

"That's part of the problem. If Davina is the witch who blocked Clarice's spell, and I'm almost certain that she is, that means Tyler has joined forces with the vampire who protects her."

"Klaus' protégé?" Then it occurred to me. "Marcel?"

Elijah nodded.

"So he rules over the city, right?" I asked. "He's the current King of New Orleans. He controls the vampires here. Why would he join forces with Tyler? Tyler is using the werewolves to make hybrids. The werewolves want nothing more than to wipe the vampires out."

"Precisely." Folding his hands on the table in front of him, his gaze moved to the window. "Marcel is bright. It's hard for me to imagine that he wouldn't reach that same conclusion. Perhaps Tyler promised him immunity. Maybe Marcel thinks Davina can protect him. Regardless, they do share a common goal."

"To destroy Klaus." My heart clenched in my chest at that thought. They wouldn't succeed, would they?

"Oh no." A terrible thought occurred to me. "Davina informs Marcel when magic is performed so she can hunt the witch down. Clarice used magic at dinner last night. They'll come after her."

"Yes, they will," another voice said softly.

Elijah and I both looked up to see Klaus standing there, his expression thoughtful. Making his way around the table to me, he surprised me by leaning down to kiss me full on the mouth in front of his brother. His kiss, as usual, left me feeling dazed and he grinned at me, satisfied, when he pulled back to sit at the table to my other side.

His gaze fell to the blood bags before me, one empty and one barely started, and he frowned.

"Now we must consider how to go forward from here," Elijah continued our conversation. "I want to learn the truth from Hayley."

"I want Tyler Lockwood dead," Klaus said with conviction, his gaze meeting mine curiously.

I knew it was coming. I'd loved Tyler and he'd hurt me, left me. It didn't mean I wanted him dead. And I understood his anger at Klaus, perhaps better than anyone else. But the lengths he was willing to go to? Just to get revenge? Well, he'd placed himself in the situation he was in. Tyler's actions could set off a full-scale war between vampires and werewolves, or hybrids as it were. Humans would get caught in the crossfire. No good could come of it. So I was sad it had come to this but…

When I didn't say anything, Klaus turned his attention to his brother. "We will deal with Tyler, Marcel, the hybrids. We'll take our rightful place here in the city. We'll take back what is ours. With our three lovely witches, no one will be able to stand against us."

Elijah didn't share Klaus' enthusiasm. "Hayley and the child?"

I felt Klaus tense next to me. "We'll do what we can," he said in a low voice. "I realize, brother, that I haven't dealt with the entire situation well. You, however, have dealt with the situation and I'm grateful. And that being the case, once we find her and if she's not betrayed you, we will decide together how we move forward."

Some of the tension eased from Elijah's shoulders at that. Before my mind could spin what he'd just said into anything to put on my worry list, Klaus reached across the table for my hand.

"Be aware, brother, I will accept no possible scenario where the werewolf and the child are concerned that will have any negative impact on Caroline," Klaus explained to him carefully, his words burning themselves into my eager heart. His fingers whispered around mine, his touch warm and possessive. He was putting me first and it floored me.

Instead of taking his brother's words as warning, Elijah smiled, cutting his gaze to me and back. "I completely agree."

"There is, however, the problem with our dear Rebekah," Klaus added. "Her, shall we say, alliance with Marcel could be a problem."

"She still fancies herself in love with him," Elijah told him while I stared at him surprise. "Yes, Caroline, we know. And I don't want our sister hurt in this dealing."

"Nor do I," Klaus replied. "I think, for a time, our sister should be taken out of the equation."

"Oh, please don't tell me you're thinking about daggering her." My friendship with their sister had me balking at that. "Come on. There has to be some other way."

I knew Elijah didn't care for that idea either, it was plain in his expression.

"Even if it means she won't be hurt in the melee?" Klaus asked me.

I didn't want her to get hurt and he knew it. I didn't think the hybrids could actually kill Rebekah but there were witches involved too.

"There is also the matter of Davina," Elijah brought up. "I don't want the girl hurt."

"She'll be no match for Clarice," Klaus said with more than a little confidence. "I'm sure once she sees Davina, she'll have no wish to hurt her."

Elijah didn't look so certain. "Caroline and the girls must be kept safe," he said after a moment.

Klaus nodded. "When the confrontation happens, Kol will remain with them. He's grown quite fond of the girls. And of my girl, it seems."

He shot me a teasing smile, letting me know he didn't consider Kol a threat at all to him – at least for my affections.

Still, we were back to that. The kids and I were the weakest, needing to be protected. It wasn't a role I cared for. I was assertive, wanted to be on the front line with them. I wasn't helpless.

Rising from the table, Elijah leveled his brother with a look for warning. "We should all remain here at the mansion for the time being. I would expect their visit any time now. We'll deal with Rebekah when she returns."

In no particular hurry, Elijah left us there. Klaus tipped up my chin with a finger, looking into my eyes.

"What's troubling you, Caroline?" he asked, pressing his lips into a line. "Is it Tyler?"

Of course, that would be the first thing he'd ask. But the evenness of his tone told me he was trying to give me the benefit of the doubt and I was grateful. It was progress.

I shook my head. "No, he's brought that on himself."

"Then what's troubling you?"

Those sexy lips relaxed and I was trying so hard not to stare at them.

"Nothing really," I said, trying to put him off. Like that was going to happen.

"Not nothing. What is it?"

Shaking my head again, I pulled his finger from my chin, wrapping both my hands around his. "You'll probably laugh."

"I assure you, love, I won't."

I blew out an exhale. "I don't like this," I told him. "I'm used to being part of the team, part of the execution of the plan. Now I'm holed up in this house with Clarice's kids, so weak I have to be protected."

Klaus didn't smile, didn't laugh at me. "I don't consider you weak at all, Caroline."

"Then let me be part of this," I told him, willing him to understand that I needed to be involved. "I think fast on my feet. I'm good at being a distraction, as you know. Come on."

His gaze was steady on me. "No."

I didn't like the finality of that word in the way he said it. My temper flared. Dropping his hand, I got up from the chair and went back to the window.

"You just said you didn't consider me weak, Klaus. So either I'm strong and I can help or I'm weak and have to be protected. Which is it?"

Klaus exhaled behind me. "You're strong, Caroline, and you know that's one of the reasons I love you."

Still pissed at him, yes. But yeah, my heart did the flutter thing at "one of the reasons I love you."

"But I'm not willing to risk your safety in this. Not when faced with hybrids, incredibly powerful witches. Those who would hurt you just to get to me. No."

I folded my arms across my chest as I glared out the window. "So I am the weakest link?"

"I'm not willing to discuss this further, Caroline."

"So that's it?" I turned to level a glare at him. "Once upon a time you were going to show me the world, New Orleans, and now here I am. Stuck in this house, with the kids, and no shopping or people. I'm going crazy."

The set of his face let me know I was trying his patience. "Let me deal with the situation at hand. Once Marcel and Tyler are dealt with, and our family has control of New Orleans as it should, I'll keep every promise I've ever made you."

"Control." I nodded. It always came down to that for him. "Really? That's the most important thing, isn't it? Is this what my life with you is going to be? What I'm allowed and not allowed to do?"

Klaus rose from the table, his body tensed as he got in my face. "You're exaggerating the issue, Caroline."

"Am I?" I didn't back down, staring him in the eye. "Or is this just the beginning of a life where I'm kept under lock and key? I can tell you now, Klaus, that wouldn't work out very well. I'm not the girl who's just going to let you tie her to your bed post."

"You didn't complain when I tied you to my bed last night, love," he said with a smirk so sexy I didn't know whether to hit him or kiss him.

"Oh, snap, Nik!" Kol laughed on the other side of the table, clearly delighted with himself for walking in on that particular moment of our conversation. "I knew this girl was special. And kinky."

Grabbing the pepper mill from the table, I hurled it at Kol's head as hard as I could. He caught it easily, still laughing.

"Come now, darling, don't be like that," Kol told me. He caught the salt shaker I lobbed at him next.

"Kol, leave!" Klaus had reached the end of his patience as he stalked around the table in the direction of his brother. "Now."

Instead of making his way out, he made his way down the table in my direction. As put out with him as I was with Klaus, I glared at him. "What do you think you're doing?"

Holding up his hands as he came to a stop in front of me, he said, "I'm just here to deliver a message. That's all."

Klaus was at the other end of the table, staring daggers at his little brother. "What message?"

"Clarice has spelled the girls' rooms," Kol explained. "Once they are in, they can't get out until she removes the spell. Nothing human, supernatural or anything else gets in either."

The corners of Klaus' mouth curved up. "Good."

"Niklaus," Elijah called, walking briskly into the dining room to look at each of us in turn. "It seems Marcel has arrived."

Kol's grin widened as he looked at me. "Shall I?"

"What?" I asked him but now he was glancing at Klaus.

"I'll take her," Klaus told him. "But you will stand guard over them."

Kol nodded and Klaus stalked towards me. Using vamp speed, he threw me over his shoulder before my brain caught up. I began pounding on his back, trying to kick him, get loose. My efforts were in vain and he slapped my ass hard as he made it out of dining room with me.

"That smarted," Kol mused, waving at me as Klaus hit the stairs and Elijah shook his head at the entire spectacle.

"I'll deal with you later," I promised the irritating jackass who just laughed at my threat.

I had Klaus to contend with and I knew exactly what he intended to do. Clarice hadn't spelled the rooms to keep only her children safe.

"Don't you dare do this," I warned him as he walked by our room and headed for the wing where Clarice and her daughters were staying. "I mean it, Klaus."

He didn't break in his stride. "I'm certain you do, love."

"And if you think you're sleeping in our room tonight, if you do this," I went on, "you have another think coming."

"We'll see," he said.

I was dropped on my feet so fast, I thought I was falling. I grabbed his shoulders to steady myself and he took advantage of my pause to gently push me across the threshold of a bedroom. I turned around to find Anya and Christine standing at the window and chatting about whatever was outside with great interest.

Marcel was here.

And I was stuck in a spelled room. In anger, I rushed at the seemingly open doorway only to slam into an invisible barrier.

Huffing out a breath, I glared at Klaus. "This isn't over," I promised him.

"I'm counting on it." His smile widened. "I'm going to go and talk to my old friend, love. Keep our young family members company while I'm gone."