New Orleans, at night, during Mardi Gras...I would never forget the sight.

Klaus and I speeding to the edge of the city in one of his cars, then jumping along the rooftops until we were right in the center of the celebration. There were lights and decorations and people everywhere...

So many people. My mouth began to salivate at the thought of all the blood flowing down in those bodies, and Klaus chuckled.

"I know what you're thinking, love, and you can't quite go on a rampage yet...We haven't even gotten settled."

I looked at him oddly. "What do you mean? We left our bags back in the car, which I'm almost positive you sent someone to pick up and stash at some house or hotel." Klaus grinned and I knew I was right. "I'll hold off on the rampaging...of those people, at least."

His wicked grin widened at my words. "Well, I never did to finish satisfying you after you fed on me earlier..." I remember when I fed on him. We would've finished, if not for the news of my Expression troubles. "I think I'll do that now."

I was whipped away from that line of thought as Klaus pulled me to him and ran his hand down my spine, making me shiver.

"You're lucky I want to be distracted right now, or else I'd be mad at you."

"Hmm..? And why's that?" He bent down and skimmed his nose along my throat and I almost melted in his arms.

"Because we're outdoors...in a public place...where anyone can see us..."

Klaus stood and said "Nobody is on the roof, and they're all worried about the celebration down below anyway. Now, where was I..." He put his mouth to my neck and kissed it and I shivered again.

Knowing he wasn't going to change his mind, and that he was probably right, I decided to go with it. What harm could a little outdoor fun do?

I pulled Klaus' face off of my neck and brought it up to mine and kissed him hard, and he responded enthusiastically. His hand curled around my thigh and pulled it up to his waist, and I saved him the effort of pulling up the other. I could feel his desire against my groin and smiled against his lips.

"A bit of an exhibitionist, are you, Dani?"

"I thought you were the one that liked to show off?"

"Indeed. And right now I feel like showing off you." Klaus broke the kiss and with a flick of his wrist he tore my shirt in two and it fell to our feet in pieces. "Oh, and one more thing..." Another flick, and my bra joined my shirt, freeing my breasts.

His mouth quickly fastened to one and I buried my fingers in his hair, loving the feelings he was giving me. Klaus knelt down and laid me

flat on the roof and continued his little merciless assault until I was moaning his name under my breath.

He surfaced with a grin and asked "Have you had enough already?"

"Not even close...The rest of me would like some attention too though." He put his hand on my face and I thought he was going to kiss me, until I felt his other hand undoing my jeans and sliding them off my bottom. "Why, Mr. Mikaelson..!"

As he stripped my pants the rest of the way off he said "That is the name of my family...I am my own man. Now I'll show you why." He dipped his head down between my legs and my gasp was so high-pitched it was like bats could've heard it.

This man was an expert with his tongue, almost as good as a certain other part of his body.

And when he surfaced I was determined to see that part, so I pushed him down on the roof and began pulling his clothes off.

As I fiddled with his belt and eventually just tore it, he remarked "Someone sure seems earnest."

"Someone hasn't been able to relax and really enjoy herself because every other vampire is trying to kill her."

"Well, I'm glad I could help you relax, Miss Taylor." When I pulled his pants off he flipped me over again and said "Let's see just how 'relaxed' I can get you..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Klaus, look!" In the afterglow of our lovemaking, I was sitting on the edge of the roof we were on, looking out over the parade. I still hadn't put my shirt back on, so the night breeze was fanning lightly across my tender breasts. Tender, because of how Klaus had ravaged them.

He made his way to me, also without his shirt, and looked down at the people on the balconies throwing beads. "I thought they didn't really do that?"

"Tourists love to come and do it anyway...Why, going to try to score a few strands of plastic beads for yourself?"

I grinned. "Maybe...Hey! Hey!" I shouted down at the people below me on one of the balconies and they all swiveled their heads to see where my shout had come from. A chorus of happy, surprised cheers followed.

I looked back at Klaus and said "Let's see how many beads I get."

I reached my hands out to grab several bead chains they were throwing up in the air, and the ones I missed fell to the crowds down on the sidewalk. I screamed loud and giggled, and heard several suggestive remarks from some of the guys standing below.

I put some around my neck and wrapped others around my wrists, and I was soon jingling everywhere with the little plastic beads. I retreated back onto the roof and said "How'd I do?"

"Excellent...Now don't go letting anyone else see your chest, because these," I yelped as Klaus pulled me to him and grabbed my breasts in his hands, "are all mine. Right?"

"Right..." My voice was horse with want, but Klaus released me and climbed to his feet. "Come, we must go get settled. I have a feeling you'll love the place I've chosen for us."

I pulled on Klaus' black two-button blazer since he'd torn my shirt to shreds and he pulled his dark T-shirt back on and we set off.

We ran and jumped across several more rooftops and then down onto the ground, where Klaus led me down a couple of crowded streets to one of the most beautiful houses I'd ever seen.

It was a mansion, in the French Quarter I think, and had a short stone wall with wrought ironwork surrounding it, and columns holding up a second floor balcony stretching across the whole front of the house. There were hanging plants that draped almost to the ground and the whole thing looked like it was pulled straight out of a Civil War-era photograph.

"Oh my God, It's beautiful! Whose house is it?" Klaus smiled and I gasped. "Why didn't you tell me you had a place like this? I would've come here ages ago!"

"I did help build this city, even this house personally, and it always has been one place I loved above all others...Now you can love it too."

"Oh, I do...Who takes care of it?" I ran my hand along the iron fence-work as Klaus held the small gate open for me.

"I have a vampire compelled to stay inside the house and take care of it. I pay the bills and send her nourishment every so often, just in case I decide to drop by." Nourishment, that's an interesting way to put it.

"Wait, did you say her?" Klaus nods and I feel jealousy bubble up inside me, though I don't know why. I haven't even met this woman yet!

I think he knows what I'm thinking, because he chuckles and says "Don't worry, it isn't what you're thinking. Come inside and you'll see."

I followed Klaus inside the lavish plantation house and I saw our things resting in the corner, and a tall red-haired woman of about 30 came out to meet us with a smile on her face.

"Niklaus, it's been too long!"

"So it has, Amanda." Klaus motions to me and says "Amanda, this is my fiancée, Dani Taylor. Dani, this is Amanda, my vampiric caretaker of this beautiful house."

Amanda looked at Klaus in horror. "You didn't tell me you were engaged when you called!" She turned to me. "Dani...I don't know if I should congratulate you or feel sorry for you, but nice job snaring this one's heart. I didn't even know he had one." I held in a laugh as Klaus glared darkly at her. "I'll have Kai take up your things."

Kai..? I was confused until a black-haired, green-eyed man strode into the room and picked up all of our things in one armful. I wondered if he was a vampire too.

Almost in response to my question, Klaus said "He's one of the nourishments I had sent here, before Amanda decided to sleep with him." She made a face and I did laugh this time. "He used to be one of my warlocks."

"So he's human?" Klaus and Amanda both nodded.

Amanda said "He managed to steal my heart in a matter of no time. He goes shopping for me too, since I'm not allowed out of the house..." Klaus shrugged.

"Can't have anyone knowing I'm here, can I? Besides, I allowed your lover to stay here with you, so you have nothing to complain about." Amanda grinned briefly, then her face fell.

"Yeah, that has been nice...Let me see what's taking him so long..." Amanda sped off up the stairs and I could hear her and Kai shuffling around upstairs. The thick floors were muffling their voices, even to my super-heightened hearing.

"What's with her?"

"Can't you guess?" I shrugged and Klaus shook his head. "Amanda has been here almost as long as the house has, and she's in love with a human. She dreads the day Kai will grow old and die."

"Can't she turn him into a vampire?"

"She's like you, she doesn't want to put this burden on him, and he doesn't want the burden of having to feed on humans."

"Burden?" I turned to face Klaus once more. "Since when have you thought being a vampire is a burden?"

He smirked. "I don't, but she does. Amanda wishes she was human more than anything...Like Stefan had wished when he was with Elena." I gritted my teeth at the mention of their names. They weren't exactly my favorite people right now.

"Well, maybe she'll get her wish..." Klaus' eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open. I had to suppress a giggle; it wasn't often that he was surprised. "Don't look at me like that, you know I can do it."

"You aren't to cure anyone under any circumstances, Dani. Not until we find out what it's doing to you."

"It's not doing anything to me." Klaus raised his eyebrow as if to say Oh really?

"Then why did you fall unconscious and almost kill me the last time you tried?" I stuck my tongue out and he chuckled.

Amanda and Kai came back down the stairs and Amanda over-happily asked "So, anyone hungry? We have human food to cook, and blood in the fridge, for those of you that prefer it..." She looked pointedly at Klaus as she said this.

"We'll both have some food. Thirsty, Dani?" I nodded fervently. "And we'll both have some of that blood."

Amanda nodded and asked "Do you cook Dani?"

"Yeah...why?"

"Because Kai can't cook to save his life, and it'd be nice to have someone to help me." Kai elbowed Amanda and she grinned.

I looked at Klaus and he nodded and I said "Okay..."

"Great! Follow me!" She grabbed my hand and dragged me away from Klaus and Kai's chuckling faces.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While we were waiting for the Parmesan Chicken to finish baking, Amanda started asking me some of the questions I'd guessed she'd been holding in her head since I got here.

"How did you and Niklaus meet?"

"I moved back to Mystic Falls from Virginia Beach, and he and another vampire tried to rob my apartment."

"That didn't bother you?"

I shrugged. "A vampire hunter that they knew had lived there before me. I was more bothered when Klaus kidnapped me, multiple times."

"He what?" Her voice was raised loud enough that I knew Klaus would hear her, wherever he was in this large house. "How..? What..? Please explain!"

I giggled before continuing. "He kidnapped me because my blood gives him more strength than human blood, but after I escaped multiple times, we made an arrangement that he could continue to feed on me as long as he didn't try to take me again. That worked for awhile until we got into a relationship, then a bunch of crazy stuff happened and we found out I'm a half-vampire."

"How is that even possible?"

"It gets weirder...We also found out I can cure supernaturals and turn them human again." She gasped and I remembered what Klaus said about her wanting to be human to be with Kai. "I cured a ghost and brought him back from the dead, but a bunch of weird stuff started happening, so Klaus brought me here to get away from everything...He proposed while we were at his Florida beach house."

I held up the giant ring I still wore and Amanda gasped again.

"Oh. My. God. Niklaus finally settling down and getting a sense of reason..Who knew! And you said you could cure people? Like vampires?" I nodded. "Wow..."

"While you were upstairs earlier, he told me that you wanted to be human to be with Kai..." Amanda's eyes widened. "I could do that. It's risky, but..."

"You'd do that?! Thank you!" Amanda suddenly pulled me in for a very tight hug, one that would've crushed a normal human's ribs. "I've been with Kai for five years and all we want is to be able to leave here and get married and have kids...Thank you!"

5 years? "I guess Klaus had a heart even before he met me if he let Kai stay here...But Klaus doesn't want me to use my power because it's dangerous for me, so you can't tell him anything about it."

She nodded hastily. "I'm on vervain under his orders, so even he can't compel it out of me...When do you wanna..?"

"It will have to wait until Klaus is asleep or leaves the house...If he even suspects what we're doing, he'll stop it in an instant."

When I though about just how he could stop it, I automatically rubbed my neck. I prayed that he wouldn't try to snap it again when he discovered my plan, which I knew he eventually would.

There were footsteps echoing through the first floor of the house and Amanda and I quickly went back to cooking, pulling the chicken out of the oven just as Kai entered the kitchen.

"Niklaus wishes to speak with you, Dani."

"Alright, I'll go up as soon as we have this ready."

"He said immediately." I stared Kai down and he shifted uncomfortably on the balls of his feet. "He was very insistent..."

I glanced back at Amanda and asked "You can handle this yourself?" She nodded and I made my way out of the kitchen.

I eventually found Klaus in what looked like the master bedroom upstairs. He was putting our things away in one of the big mahogany dressers; I noticed the enormous bed frame was of the same dark wood, as was a large trunk at the base of the bed.

He looked up at me from his tedious task and asked "What were you and Amanda talking about?" I swallowed loudly.

"She asked how we met, and was really surprised when I told her you'd kidnapped me...She thought I was insane for being with you after you took me prisoner multiple times." Klaus smirked. "Is that all you called me up here for?"

"No...Are you still thinking of curing her?"

"Yes." I wasn't going to lie about that, because he'd know I was lying. I wasn't about to tell him that we'd already made plans to do it, though. "She's been here with Kai for five years, and all they wanna do is get married and have babies, and all those things that normal people get to do...I know you aren't very sympathetic to that cause, but I am."

"Just because I have no desire to ever be human does not mean I don't know their struggle. If it were not at such a price for you, my love, then I would let you cure Amanda right now. But if it means you might die or even surrender to that other evil woman within you, then no." I frowned deeply.

"I knew you wouldn't understand..." I was less mad about him saying no then about the part about him becoming human. I have no desire to ever be human... Fine, if he wanted to play that game! "The food is finished downstairs. I'm going out for a while."

"What?" I grabbed my jacket and sped out of the room, but Klaus quickly caught me halfway down the main staircase. He grabbed me by both wrists and I didn't even try struggling out of his grip; I knew I wouldn't be able to. "Where do you think you're going?!"

"I want to go out...If you're going to act obtuse like that, then you can go to Hêll." I couldn't believe the words were spilling from my mouth, but they were the truth. He had to understand why I wanted to do this.

"Act like what?! Is this all because I won't let you cure Amanda!?"

"So what if it is?!" I knew Amanda and Kai would be able to hear us in the kitchen with how loud we were getting. "I want to cure her and you're not going to stop me!"

He looked even more angry and confused. "Why? Why risk your own life to cure one insignificant little vampire?"

"Because I'll never get to be human!" Klaus froze and i was finally able to pull my hands out of his grip. "I've led my entire life knowing I was different from other people, and ever since the moment I found out I was a half-breed, I've wanted nothing more than to become human. My vampire side will prevent me from aging and keep me from ever being able to have children. I know you're not interested in those weak human things, but I want a son or daughter to love and care for and continue my bloodline..."

Klaus sunk to the floor with his head in his hands, as if he couldn't understand what I was saying.

"I knew it...I knew you wouldn't want that to happen. You just can't bare to let the threat of curing someone leave, can you? You'd rather keep me around as a weapon against your enemies than as your wife. Well, you can forget about that too." I yanked off the diamond ring he'd given me and threw it at his face, where the hard diamond made a thin cut across his cheek.

I stomped down the stairs and out the front door, past Amanda and Kai's shocked faces. Down the walkway and out the gate, where there was still a full-fledged parade going on. Even someone as adept as Klaus would never be able to track me in a crowd this big.

I used my super-speed to weave in between people and parade floats, heading in no particular direction. Up and down random streets until the crowds began to thin and the parade noise began to dim.

After a while, I found myself at the banks of what I knew was the Mississippi River, and contemplating jumping into the slow-moving waters. They would have no problem dragging me down, but I knew it wouldn't kill me. Dâmned vampire half.

Yeah, I was being irrational, but so what?! Klaus was being an idiot! Why couldn't he just let me do this one thing with having some over-protective, super-controlling thing to say about it!?

"God, sometimes I wish I'd never MET you!"

"Those are awfully strong words...I can only wonder who you're talking about." I spun to see a dark-skinned man walking up from a distance. I knew immediately that he was a vampire. With how much of Klaus' blood I drank on the way here, he probably thought I was a vampire as well.

"Who in the hêll are you?" The man chuckled.

"Just a friendly neighborhood immortal, like yourself...Who happens to know you sped all through the streets of my city at top-speed." I stiffened. "You smell familiar...Have we met somewhere before?"

If I smelled familiar, than this guy probably knew Klaus. And knowing Klaus' reputation with most other vampires, that was probably not a good thing.

"No, I can definitely say I've never seen you before." The man smirked.

"I'd have to agree...I think I'd remember seeing hair like this." He reached out to touch one of my silver locks of hair and I jerked backwards. "You're a twitchy one."

"And you're awfully audacious. Just because you live here or whatever does not mean you can touch me."

"Oh, but Niklaus can?" I froze. "I do recognize that scent that's all over you, I just wanted to see if you'd tell me the truth...And now that you've lied, maybe you'll tell me the truth?"

I sneered. "I don't know you, and I already don't like you. I'm not telling you anything."

The dark-skinned man stepped forward and said "My name is Marcel, I was sired by Klaus a couple hundred years ago. Now you know me."

"I still don't like you."

"Well, we'll just have to fix that, now won't we?" He sped forward and his hands were around my wrists, but his grip was nowhere near as strong as Klaus', and I broke out of it easily. Marcel looked surprised. "So you're older than me?"

"Actually, I'm only 20. I just happen to have a very powerful friend that I get my strength from." Now Marcel's sing-songy smile disappeared and was replaced by a frown. "I suggest you get out of here, because I can guarantee that he is out looking for me, and he won't be happy to see you harassing me."

"I think Klaus will choose his own protogé over some woman he's been sleeping with."

"Not if that woman is my fianceé." We both spun to see Klaus making his way over now, and I felt my face go deathly pale.

After everything I'd said to him, I didn't actually expect him to come looking for me. I was just trying to threaten this man that looked like he wanted to throw me into the river with my feet encased in concrete.

"Klaus! My old friend, how are you?" Klaus didn't smile or return the cheerful greeting.

"Dani, my side. Now." Though I didn't want to be near him right now, I wanted to be near this Marcel even less, so I scurried over to Klaus' side. "Marcel, you are my friend and my student, but you have overstepped your power. Threaten Dani again and you won't live to see the next century."

Marcel surprised me by chuckling wickedly. "Look who's overstepping his power! I love ya Klaus, I do, but you don't have any power in this city. I'm the king around here, and I don't care if it's you or your little piece of âss right there, my rules are what goes."

"Well, your rules can go to Hêll as far as we're concerned. Let's go Dani." Klaus put his hand on the small of my back and started to lead me away.

Marcel called out "It'll only be a matter of time before my people find your house and then you'll have nowhere to hide!"

I turned and saw Marcel had sped away.

Klaus almost growled as he said "Don't worry, I've got the house in Kai's name so no vampire can enter without my permission."

"But what if he's got witches?"

"We have those too, remember?" Klaus looked down at me as we walked with a pained look, and my eyes immediately shot down to the ground. "You have my permission to cure Amanda, but only if we have some of my witches on standby in case anything should go wrong."

"Really?" He was finally beginning to see my point of view...but I still wasn't forgiving him. "I mean...thank you for finally seeing it my way."

I could see the side of Klaus' mouth pull up into a smirk.

He held up my ring but I shook my head. His face twisted into a scowl but he said nothing, only wrap his arm tightly around my waist as we walked.