A/N- Super long chapter to get the ball rolling again. Some of the references I make in this chapter re: Kalijah are part of my New world canon and can be found in Moving In, Chapters 2 & 7.
TW- Abuse
As far as the supernatural community of New Orleans was concerned, life beyond the Bayou was non-existent.
Yes they were aware that they weren't the centre of the world but the Original Family were the epicentre of the supernatural world.
This made the French Quarter the capital of their world, the stomping ground for the vampires with a small cluster of streets known as the Cauldron and inhabited almost exclusively by witches.
The rest of New Orleans was simply places to venture when one grew bored or wanted to play human for a little while.
The Bayou was werewolf territory but no-one else had an interest in the miles of swamp land.
It was hot there, the air reeked of damp earth and rancid water, it was filled with mosquitoes and other bugs, the few bars there only served local beer which was drunk by people not worth feeding on.
So it was considered to be the outer limits of their supernatural world and anything beyond that was utterly human to the point of being absolutely no use to them.
Who would consider setting foot in places that didn't even have the status of being one-horse towns?
The answer to that was Annabelle Mason.
And she hated the tiny cluster of houses and one general store that was wedged between Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Saint Catherine, past the Bayou and only kept alive by the nearby highway and the gas station that was the last resort of truck drivers who hadn't been smart enough to fill up when driving through NOLA.
However, all these things that made the place terrible and inhabitable for someone who had grown up in the wondrous London, also meant that an Original wouldn't set foot in the place nor even stop their car there.
So she sighs and tries to stay positive as she once again blasts herself with bug repellent.
Bug repellent and bags of no-name, no-brand tea because the general store didn't stock tea leaves and ordering them in would raise too many questions.
She could barely go outside or be seen around the town as it was, even with her British accent buried as much as possible she couldn't manage the Southern twang which meant that she attracted notice as an outsider.
The damn sacrifices she made for the cause.
The knock on her paint-peeling, cheap wooden door momentarily distracts her from her musings,
"Entre" she calls in French, because she needs some culture in this miserable little place.
Ashley comes in with a young woman in tow.
A woman whom Annabelle can tell immediately isn't entirely human.
She's not exactly sure what it is, perhaps her appearance, perhaps her outfit, perhaps her demeanour but Annabelle raises an eyebrow,
"Gypsy?" she asks, careful to keep the long ingrained prejudice out of her voice, mostly she is curious.
It was rare to find one of their kind still practising or capable of the magic outside of Europe.
The woman gives her a disappointed look, "Traveller is the non-racist term"
Annabelle grimaces, "Of course, forgive me" she stands and extends a hand, "Annabelle Mason"
The woman has a firm handshake, "Scarlet Rose"
"Pleased to meet you" she gestures to the threadbare couch, "Do sit down"
After her mission in New York was concluded, Annabelle had brought Ashely back down South with her.
Despite her initial decision that it would be too dangerous to try and infiltrate New Orleans, she's quickly realised that it would be too dangerous not to.
Whatever happened in this city, whatever happened to the Original family or their immediate allies would have a ripple effect on the rest of the supernatural world and the balance of Nature.
However, Jesse was still in Salem trying to gain access to the Bennett coven and figure out what their contingency plans were, all he could manage to find out was that, even though they'd barely survived the last tussle against the Original family, they were apparently planning another attack.
He wasn't making much headway there but Annabelle would just as rather he stay in Salem for the time being, she was cautious about having a person of colour wandering around small towns in the South, she didn't want to have to deal with white supremacist groups or everyday racism while also trying to deal with the supernatural as well.
"Scarlet Rose found me" Ashley confessed as they settled down, "I'm not sure how but she approached me and figured me for a spy"
Annabelle wasn't sure whether to be worried or deeply impressed by this, she thought she'd trained her people better but the Traveller witch shrugs off the feat,
"You spend your life being ignored by mainstream society, you learn to watch and tell who else doesn't fit in or is pretending to be someone they're not"
She looks between Annabelle and Ashley, "Who are you exactly? And what is your interest in the Original family?"
Now, wasn't that a long story.
One Annabelle wasn't ready to get into just yet,
"At the moment, we wish only to observe them" she offered smoothly, "Provide a level of protection for them against a coven we know means them harm, but only if we can manage it without revealing ourselves"
From the look on her face, Annabelle can tell that Scarlet doesn't believe her but considering that Scarlet Rose likely isn't her real name, she's not about to go around accusing people of falsity.
"And the child?" she questions, "Erik? What are your intentions towards him?"
She shrugs, "In all honesty, he's of no concern to us at the moment nor will he likely be for at least another decade or so. Not that we won't be interested to discover the extent of his powers and strength but we aren't planning to interact with him when his father still has the memory of his kidnapping fresh in his mind"
Scarlet Rose nods, "You should know that he is currently being protected- in a way- by the remnants of his grandfather's pack. The Crescent Wolves are making a fuss about him being their heir and their right to him as Hayley's son but it's his paternal relatives that will claim him as their own"
"Who exactly is he being protected from?" Ashley asks carefully and the witch sighs and shifts in her seat,
"At the moment? Elijah Mikaelson. The man has been growing steadily bad tempered over the last few months, lashing out at everyone, including his fiancé"
"He was nearly killed in Mystic Falls last year" Annabelle offers as explanation,
"Perhaps he's still recovering from that?"
"The way he's behaving I wouldn't say he's recovering at all" she remarks drily,
"He's warded against the very worst hexes and curses but still, if he continues on this path he'll find himself daggered before summer"
"Which will leave Klaus Mikaelson vulnerable to attack" Annabelle predicts, growing cold as she realises just how close to the precipice the supernatural community was,
"And with him will go Katherine, Caroline and Rebekah"
Their new ally nods, "If you can avoid it, I'd tell you to leave now, otherwise the best you can do is monitor the situation and help me try to rebuild once everything starts falling apart"
Students who started an in-depth conversation just as the tutorial was due to end were just idiots in love with the sound of their own voice, Caroline decides uncharitably as she races across campus, resisting the urge to use vampiric speed as she dashes to the parking lot and curses when she sees that every last damn person in attendance at Tulane had apparently decided to leave the university for the weekend.
She was going to be late.
And yes, technically the party didn't start until the Originals turned up, but that didn't mean that it was fair to keep everyone waiting because she was stuck in traffic.
There was a masquerade ball being thrown tonight by an actual English Countess, a friend of Katherine's who she said threw the most amazing parties.
Caroline was excited to go, really she was.
Even though it was slightly jarring to go from college parties in cheap bars to glittering ballrooms where she spun across the dance floor with her nine hundred year old boyfriend.
While people watched them both.
While they watched her and tried to figure out whether to treat her like a woman or a queen.
When Caroline had committed to moving to New Orleans and having a long-term relationship with Klaus, she had thought the hardest thing would be adjusting to her first real adult romance.
It turned out that having your boyfriend go grocery shopping with you, cook meals and share Netflix before you stayed over for the night was nothing compared to having every witch, vampire and wolf know who you were. It had made her slightly paranoid whenever she caught a stranger's eye around town, unsure whether they were checking her out or watching Klaus' girlfriend.
She couldn't even wear sweat pants outside anymore and the ugg boots she'd bought herself as a treat after everything she'd survived last year barely made it past her bedroom door these days.
Thankfully, she had her life separated into two neat compartments. Normal, human college life and vampire life. Which was why she was headed over to the Garden District- Katherine had first, second and final approval on her ball gowns and masques and if that woman knew anything it was fashion.
She's almost forty minutes behind schedule when she parks her car on Fourth Avenue. Leaving it in the street so she can flash inside, up the stairs to Klaus' bedroom, she's shedding her shoes and outer layers as she goes, nearly down to her lingerie when she reaches the threshold of the ensuite bathroom and finds herself suddenly changing course, flying across the room and landing on the bed.
"No" she says firmly even as she bounces across the mattress,
"Not a chance, we're already running late"
Klaus appears above her with a cheeky grin, "Party doesn't start until we get there sweetheart" he points out,
"So technically whenever we arrive is the right time"
She fixes him with a pointed glare and he struggles to turn his smile into a pout,
"But…" he begins before breaking down laughing at her annoyance, "Very well love, you have your freedom"
He gestures grandly to his bathroom and she tries to look dignified as she strips off her bra and thong, testing the water under her hand before stepping into the shower,
"Remind me when we get home tonight" she says, not even noticing how easily she refers to Klaus' house as home.
Who knew there were so many ballrooms in the French Quarter?
"This was a speakeasy back in the day" Katherine told her as they climbed out of the car, both of them stopping to pick up the skirts of their gowns as they ascended the stairs.
"I've seen the photos, it was a cute little place with the whole flapper vibe…it's almost a shame that it's lost the underground vibe and became a place for the uber-rich and powerful to play"
"Yes" Elijah comments sarcastically as he and Klaus walk behind them,
"What a shame that it's no longer a bar serving moonshine and you're no longer running for your life, progress truly is terrible"
Caroline blinks in surprise at that statement, assuming that it was meant to have been a joke that just wasn't delivered properly and looks over her shoulder to see Klaus shooting his brother a glare.
Katherine laughs however, turning to deliver the seductive, secretive smile that Caroline tried to mimic a hundred times in the mirror in her bedroom in Mystic Falls.
Never successfully.
"Everybody ready?" she asks before they step through the door, the four of them slipping on their masques,
"Good and remember my lord and love" she slips her arm through Elijah's playfully, "We have to show our true faces at midnight!"
"Do you even know how to do that?"
Whatever Katherine's response would have been is lost when they enter the ball room and the hostess sweeps over to them full of smiles and gracious welcomes,
"Katherine dearest, it has been too long…oh I know, my fault entirely I foolishly went home to England for a spell…no not an actual spell, that would have been more productive. Now you must introduce me to your lovely friend"
Caroline fixes the smile on her face so that it's polite instead of mocking. She had been so worried about meeting a Countess, a titled woman was so out of her realm of training but this is just the Founding Family society of her home town on a larger scale.
"Countess Salisbury" Katherine takes her hand and places it in Caroline's, "Caroline Forbes, an absolute darling and a vampire of my own making"
She takes the woman's hand with a smile and they air kiss, "Lovely to meet you"
The Countess is beautiful with blonde hair and grey eyes, eyes that show her good nature,
"Dear child" she coos, even though she would barely have been a decade older than Caroline when she turned,
"So grand to finally meet you and I see that with you even Niklaus Mikaelson deigns to attend my little parties"
Klaus grins and slips an arm around Caroline's waist, throwing an inane comment to the hostess before whisking her away to the drinks table.
He picks up two glasses of champagne and toasts her,
"Drink up sweetheart" he tells her, "Don't even think about the people watching you"
Caroline hadn't until he spoke, now she was aware that the guests surrounding them were trying to surreptitiously watch their every move.
The problem was that even in their masques, people could still tell who they were, they just studied all the blonde couples in the room until they spotted the ones either standing beside the brunette couple with the tell-tale curls and pristine hand-made suit.
Or even if they were alone there weren't so many blonde couples in the New Orleans supernatural society that they could go unnoticed.
"I'm thinking of dying my hair red" she comments drily and he chuckles, "Change can be good"
"Speaking of change" she lowers her voice and runs her hand up his arm, giggling and pressing her mouth to his ear, trying to lower her voice to the point where only Klaus would hear her,
"What is up with your brother?!"
Klaus only shrugs, apparently not as concerned with secrecy as she is,
"This happens every so often sweetheart, it's a simple case of ennui. Occasionally immortality weighs heavily on the head and heart" he looks to the dance floor where the brother in question was dancing with his fiancé,
"He just needs to find something new to interest him"
Caroline quirks her eyebrow to show her doubt but then is distracted when a warlock she'd met in one of her classes comes over,
"Caroline" he laughs and she joins him,
"Vincent, hi"
"Masquerade" Katherine sang in her head as Elijah led her off the dance floor "Masquerade. Stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you"
Certainly, if nothing else people were smiling. But they weren't the usual simpering, eager to please smiles that followed her and Elijah wherever they went.
There was a hint of cruelty to these smiles, a touch of malice and perhaps even some schadenfreude?
The question was why?
Well, she would find out soon enough.
She loses Elijah in the press of people and when she can't immediately find him again shrugs to herself and turns her attention to an aerial silk performer, she's idly wondering whether she could pick up the skill when a gentle hand touches her arm,
"My lady" the soft voice with lingering Italian accent reaches her ears,
"Your spoiling it" she sulks, not looking away from the performance, "The point of a masquerade is to be hidden, to make strangers of friends…"
"And friends of strangers?" Giacomo Farnese finishes for her, before taking her free hand and placing it on his arm,
"I need to speak with you urgently"
He begins walking her around the room, their full face masques covering their lips,
"Is Nadia…?" she begins, not entirely sure what she's asking. Surely even her daughter wasn't brazen enough to gate crash the party but he shakes his head,
"She is fine, it is you I am worried about"
"There are rumours pervading the Quarter," he reveals to her, turning them both so that they are staring out a window that would have to have been added after the Prohibition, their breath fogs up the glass and Katherine can see that they're being watched in the reflection,
"Rumours that I know for a fact are untrue and I say so to anyone who is stupid enough to repeat them in my presence"
He is obviously reluctant to divulge these rumours to her and she resists the urge to tap her foot,
"They are saying that you have been or are being unfaithful to Elijah," he swallows,
"That you are engaging in an affair which is why you have been disappearing for hours at a time, of course this means that somebody has been noticing that you disappear for hours at a time which means…"
"Unfaithful?" Katherine echoes the deceptively beautiful word in disbelief, even as her cheeks flame with humiliation.
She supposes that it's not an entirely unfair lie to speak of her, her reputation was made on the deception of brothers and the breaking of hearts but since starting her life over with Elijah she had taken great pains to show her loyalty to him.
It hurts that someone was so thoughtless of her efforts that they'd made up this lie to amuse themselves.
"It is a stupid piece of gossip" Giacomo announces derisively, seeking to comfort her but in her pain she snatches her hand off his arm,
"There are rumours that I'm cheating on Elijah and you take the first opportunity to be seen with me?!"
He scoffs, "Nobody who knows you would think…"
"Everybody who knows me knows of you and everybody that knows you knows your love for me" she snaps,
"It is the worst kept secret in this damn town, if not undisputed fact. Perhaps in your attempt to keep me from danger you led me straight into the pyre and are now lighting the match"
She can tell by the set of Giacomo's shoulders that she has hurt him beyond words, he had always been proud of his chivalrous love for her but it can't have been easy to adore a woman who not only didn't return his feelings but was deeply in love with another man.
"Forgive me for intruding on your evening Ms Pierce"
She holds the masque tighter to her face so he doesn't see her flinch and turns away, nearly colliding with an all too familiar chest.
Wonderful.
"Shall we dance my lord?" she suggests but Elijah clearly has other ideas, grabbing her wrist and dragging her through the crowd, through a doorway and into a grimy hall where the prohibited alcohol had likely been carried through back in the day,
"I know how much fun you have playing with people as if they're toys that exist for your amusement" he lectures as he presses her against the wall,
"However I do not feel that I am being unfair if I ask you to please consider my reputation and feelings when we are out in public"
He is invading her personal space and she experiences a moment of fear before brushing it aside.
He wouldn't strike her in public, or even raise his voice when there's the chance of them being overheard.
"I always consider your feelings" she swears, "Think Elijah! Why would I cheat on you? For pleasure? Even now when we can barely manage a civil conversation, every night you come to our bed and we have our fill of each other so I would not need to satisfy my desires elsewhere. For money? I have all the wealth I need. For power? The only person in the world more powerful than you is your brother and even if I were to dye my hair blonde I could not steal his heart from Caroline. What reason would I have to be unfaithful to you?"
For the quickest of seconds she is hopeful that this logic will be the breakthrough needed to get their relationship back on track. Their relationship which was five hundred years old and yet had not even clocked its first year.
His eyes are flickering uncertainly as he studies her face, scanning for the little tells every human shows when they lie.
He won't find them, not even because she's being honest but because the last few months have disconcerted her so much that she's sunk back into the façade of Katherine Pierce.
And she was the best liar she knew, so talented that evens he could no longer discern between truth and fiction.
"You gave your maidenhead to a man that you loved and would have married and then when he was accused of witchcraft you stood aside and watched him burn" he snorts disdainfully,
"You don't commit actions based on reason Katerina, you commit them because you love chaos"
He storms away and she doesn't bother going after him. Her cheeks are burning with humiliation and hurt, she wants to look around and make sure that they weren't seen or overheard but she doesn't want to give people the satisfaction of thinking she cared what they thought of her.
"Dance with me"
She looks up to see Klaus standing there, a hand outstretched.
They haven't danced together in five hundred years and don't partner well together, too stiff and stilted to dance properly but Klaus pulls her close and they move about the floor slowly in a shuffling, two step.
But Klaus hadn't asked her to dance for her grace and talent. He asked her to show everyone here tonight and in the Quarter that he was her ally.
"Do you know what is happening with my brother?" he asks, his mouth close to her ear,
"It's got to the point where even Caroline's noticed and she barely even knows him"
She laughs lightly, pretending that he's said something amusing,
"No" she whispers, "All I know is that it can't be magic destroying our relationship, I had precautions taken"
She shifts her hand to his shoulder and notices the bruise already forming on her wrist, Elijah's fingers having pressed hard enough against her skin to leave distinctive marks and she has nothing with which to hide the injury.
"I am going to Bourbon St" she tells Klaus, turning to leave him, not caring what people will think about her departing so early.
"Katerina…" he begins but she tenses, "Don't…"
She swallows and tries again, "Katherine" she holds her mask over her face, "Katherine Pierce"
Not one person made a move to stop her as she swept out into the night, although their eyes burned the skin on her back.
She wants to run.
Her first instinct is always to run.
Her second instinct is to go to Woldenberg Park and breathe in the scent of the Mississippi River.
But instead, she heads to Bourbon St, the lamps casting a golden glow on the street as a light rain began to fall.
"Masquerade" Katherine sang under her breath as she walked,
"Paper faces on parade, hide your face so that the world will never find you"
For centuries the world was flat and the centre of the universe.
Nowadays it was round, orbited the sun and has an axis that it had apparently tilted on because Klaus was at a bloody masquerade party trying to maintain the family reputation while Elijah was acting like a jealous fool.
And Rebekah, who must have gone to great effort to sneak in undetected was at the bar and not trying to be the centre of attention.
Was this what his family looked like in peacetime?
If so, he wouldn't mind another enemy crawling out of the woodwork to try and destroy them all.
Nothing like the threat of death to really unite the Mikaelson unit.
Caroline- who despite all common sense, loved him- was in the corner chatting with that student friend of hers.
The one who didn't seem to realise that practising witches carried the scent of herbs on them that even an unturned werewolf could probably pick up.
Another issue that Klaus would have to deal with but one problem at a time.
He finds Elijah in conversation with a witch of his own, one in a boring black gown and without a masque. Either a gate crasher or someone who considered themselves above the festivities.
"Big brother" he interrupts, clapping a hand on his shoulder, "Drink with me"
Elijah huffs in annoyance but politely takes his leave of the woman, granting her a smile that only a year or so ago Klaus would have called flirtatious by his older brother's proper standards.
But now that the engagement ring was firmly on Katerina's finger, he called it overly friendly.
"What is it, Niklaus?"
He raises his eyes at the exasperation in his brother's tone and fakes an expression of innocence,
"Nothing at all, I simply wanted a drink with my brother. I thought we could sip fine whisky, reminisce and perhaps even catch-up on our goings on. I'll go first shall I? I'm enjoying playing house with Caroline although I can see that she's unsure whether or not her role as my lover includes interfering in my ruling of New Orleans and I'm still trying to figure out how to approach that"
They reach the bar and Klaus orders the whisky even as he keeps an eye on his brother, tossing up whether or not to give him a little nip if he tries to walk away.
"Your turn" he prompts when they both receive their drinks, "How's things with you?"
Elijah rolls his eyes, "Wonderful, I'm not sure if you're aware but the entire Quarter seems to be of the opinion that Katerina is indulging in an affair which unfortunately would explain her disappearances and secretive nature of late"
Klaus' eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Surely you don't believe that foolishness? Your lover is a survivor, it would take a great passion to turn her from you and I would have noticed if such a one capable of exciting such emotion had come into town. No" he sips his whisky,
"If you want a reason behind her secretive nature and constant disappearances perhaps look no further than your treatment of her?"
If Elijah had been expecting sympathy from his own blood he was sadly mistaken and the betrayal shows on his face but Klaus is monitoring his actions, trying to see anything new or strange in his brother. Anything supernatural that might explain this behaviour.
"Perhaps I am simply realizing that great loves don't hold up so well under the strain of the everyday banality" Elijah finally confessed,
"Perhaps I am tired of the constant charade of endless desire and eternal happiness"
Oh Hell.
Klaus had hoped, for the sake of peace in their new realm that Elijah would have at least a decade or two of matrimonial bliss with Katerina before the cracks began to show.
Would it have killed the two of them to have managed to be happy with one another until Erik was in his late teens and able to fend for himself?
"My condolences" he bites down on an ice-cube, "But if you are going to end things with your fiancé could you please have the decency to give me some warning first? After all, this wouldn't be the first Southern town that your dear doppelganger burnt down to the ground"
"Of course Niklaus," Elijah sighs, "Far be it from me to prioritize my romantic life over your wants and needs"
Right.
One sibling down, one to go.
"Little sister"
He smiles as Rebekah jumps back from the werewolf she's been running around with for months now, there's a look of surprise in her eyes and he bites back on his smile.
Did she honestly think he didn't know? Why did everyone around him forget that he could pick up on the scents they carried on their bodies?
It was his werewolf nature that had made the wolves so fascinating to him, that had driven him to sneak out and watch them change month after month, that had kept them from attacking him and lured him into the false belief that Henrik would be safe to watch them as well.
It was his werewolf nature that had led to Henrik's death, to their mother cursing them to become the monsters they were, to the centuries spent running from Mikael.
How did Rebekah and Elijah of all people forget who he was, what he was?
He barely gives her flavour of the hour a glance, "Run off and play puppy" he orders, "I want to speak to my sister"
The blonde werewolf scampers off so quickly that Klaus writes him off immediately as an unsuitable consort for his sister.
Poor thing really did have the worst taste in men. Everyone she fell for was either using her in an attempt to kill the Original Family or wanted her purely for her power and her willingness to drop her knickers.
Maybe in a year or so he could ask Caroline to speak to Rebekah, give her some pointers on choosing acceptable men?
Then again, Caroline had chosen him…
"What do you want Nik?" Rebekah demands, shaking him out of his thoughts,
"I was having fun before you interrupted me"
"Only to ask if you'd noticed anything strange about Elijah lately" he admits as he sits down beside her,
"Or if you'd sensed anything out of the ordinary"
Her terrible choice in romantic partners aside, Klaus had always put stock in Rebekah's instincts, if he had to guess he'd say that they were the remnant of what little magic she'd picked up from their mother and carried over into their life as vampires.
She sniffs derisively, "If you mean do I know anything about Elijah's problems with his trollop? No, I don't but I can't say I'm surprised, Katherine Pierce is known for being a slut"
"Stones and glass houses my sweet sister" Klaus chastened playfully, careful to hide his disappointment.
He should be relieved that Elijah alone was the cause of his own unhappiness and drama, there has been no trouble in town since they'd returned from Mystic Falls and peace is a good thing.
Except that with no enemies to fight it looked like his family were turning on themselves and then on each other, creating drama where it was unnecessary.
Caroline interrupts then, coming over with a troubled smile on her face and curling into his side.
Acting like a loving girlfriend which isn't strange but she usually isn't this affectionate in pub-
"I assume maiming, mauling or straight up killing aren't listed in my boyfriend duties?"
She kisses his shoulder, "Sorry, all are completely forbidden…he didn't know we were in an exclusive relationship"
Klaus scoffs, "Oh I'm sure"
He wants to point out that anyone who could score an invitation to this party would know the exclusivity of their relationship but it's hard to remain angry when Caroline's hand is slipping up the back of his jacket and her nails are raking down his back through his shirt,
"Take me to the manor" she orders, "Now!"
For all her amorous intentions, poor Caroline passes out after her first orgasm. Klaus hears her breathing even and lifts his head from between her thighs, one hand holding up the skirt of her gown while the other has her thong pushed out of the way. He contemplates undressing her but the movements might wake her up, better to cover her with a blanket and leave her snoozing in his bedroom.
The manor on Bourbon St was heritage listed and an absolute pain to try and renovate or even refurbish without losing the original character and charm of the place. Which is why not even Klaus had his own bathroom, instead he had to share the one with his siblings at the end of the hall.
And how they'd managed that without killing one another was in itself a wonder.
He passes Elijah's bedroom on the way back and sticks his head in, checking to see if his brother was spending the night there or in the Garden District.
He was nowhere to be seen but Katerina was.
Curled up asleep in an armchair, she had taken off her gown and make-up, ready for bed in a short emerald green nightgown that in her current position was clearly the only thing she had on.
She couldn't possibly be comfortable.
In a rare moment of kindness, because she had been the primary receiver of Elijah's bad temper over the last few months, Klaus crosses the room silently and picks her up as gently as possible.
She doesn't even stir when he pulls back the thick blankets on the bed and tucks her in, her breathing doesn't change in the slightest.
The only sleeping human Klaus has been around in years is his son Erik, who, as many children are, was a very deep sleeper. As such, it didn't occur to him that Katerina should have woken up when he moved her, she should have sensed his touch or his scent or the sensation of being carried.
It didn't occur to him at all, so when he went downstairs to the parlour and saw the pink champagne that she must have opened and drunk, he poured himself a glass, made a face at the sweetness and sat down on the couch, reaching for his sketchbook to distract himself from his arousal until Caroline herself was awake.
He loses consciousness before the pencil even touches paper.
Celeste or Sabine as she would have to introduce herself for the immediate future had considered it a stroke of luck when she'd managed to sneak into the masquerade ball that evening.
And it must have been a gift from the heavens that had landed her in the right place at the right time. She'd just had her first cocktail when Elijah had walked past her, his head turning as he searched the crowd and the ribbon holding his masque in place had come loose.
Celeste had caught it shortly before it hit the floor,
"My" she giggled as she held it out to him, "Midnight already? But I've only just arrived"
He smiles politely and their fingers brush as he takes the masque and he starts as he surely feels the same shock of electricity that she does. His lips tremble before his smile becomes genuine.
He has always been attracted to her, no matter what body she possessed.
"You're in luck I assure you, the night is still young unlike this masque" he turns it over to show her,
"It is older than this city itself, as am I...Elijah Mikaelson"
When he holds out his hand she places her fingertips in his palm, allowing him to press his lips against her knuckles,
"Sabine Laurent" she returns the introduction, "I'm a witch but a good one"
He grinned, "Oh of course, I usually meet the bad ones in darkened rooms mere moments before they try to kill me"
She smirks, "Then on behalf of all the good witches in New Orleans- and there are a few of us- you should let me take you to dinner and tell you about our ways?"
His smile falters, "I would love to unfortunately I am engaged to be married"
"Oh" she drops her head and wishes she could blush on command, "I'm sorry, when I heard the rumours about Katherine cheating I just assumed that a man known for his nobility and dignity would…"
"I'm the noble and dignified Original" he mutters darkly, "My virtues are granted only by comparison to my siblings"
"Well, I hate to be rude but I don't believe you. Perhaps you'll give me a chance to argue my case after all?"
The Hybrid had interrupted them at that point and she'd taken that as her cue to leave the party before she attracted too much attention.
She'd taken a taxi straight to Francesca's place, not even in the driveway before Vincent is ringing her in a panic- as he always seemed to be doing on the rare occasion he wasn't ringing her to report his failures.
"The spell didn't work on Caroline," he tells her before she can even speak, "It just made her horny for Klaus"
"What about Petrova?" she demands, "She left the party earlier than we anticipated"
She hears him exhale, "She argued with Elijah but I had some gift wrapped pink champagne laced with valerian root delivered to Bourbon St while the party was going, she had one glass and from what I can tell will be out like a light for several hours yet"
Celeste congratulated him on his work and hung up. If nothing else, she supposed it was good to know that Katherine was vulnerable to herbs, that her new state couldn't recover immediately but what use was she unconscious to them tonight?
Well, she supposed it meant that she couldn't seduce Elijah or repair the fractures in their relationship if she was asleep.
Before tonight, Elijah had begun learning to love the rain.
Rain was cleansing, when it drenched him he found that he could breathe.
But tonight, it is light on his skin and he finds himself tight-chested as he stalks into the manor on Bourbon St.
He can hear his brother asleep in the parlour and Miss Forbes asleep in his bedroom.
He can hear Katerina asleep in their bedroom.
The bedroom that she disliked, preferring instead their apartment on the top floor of Le Coeur Jardin, with its king sized bed, ensuite bathroom and walk in wardrobe for her near endless amounts of clothes and shoes.
Still, she would sleep where he did, even now when they had been arguing.
Knowing this, he is feeling somewhat tender towards his fiancé as he climbs the stairs and walks down the hallway to their bedroom, listening to her steady heartbeat and imagining her waiting for him in the armchair or the windowsill.
Perhaps he could forget their troubles for a while and enjoy the pleasure that was to be found in their coupling.
When he steps into their bedroom however, his heart stops and his blood runs cold.
Katerina Petrova was curled up in their bed, her head resting on her arm, her chest rising and falling steadily with each breath she took.
She hadn't waited up for him.
Ever since they moved in together all those months ago in that house on Conti St, Katerina had never gone to bed without him nor he without her.
It was part of their routine, no matter what, they waited for one another.
Yet there she was now, sleeping in the bed, underneath the blankets after he'd spent the whole evening enduring the humiliating scorn of the Quarter who believed him to be a cuckold, he had been forced to hear their laughter, their whispers and she, with no sympathy, had gone to bed uncaring of his suffering.
She was so selfish.
And he can't breathe.
He stands at the end of the bed and grabs hold of the covers with his fists, in a fluid movement he tears them off and sends them flying across the room.
The sudden loss of warmth has Katherine waking up startled, gazing about in confusion before settling on him,
"My lord…?"
Her voice is thick with sleep. Sleep Elijah hasn't known in so long.
And he can't breathe.
"You treacherous, sadistic fiend" he growls as she pulls herself into sitting position,
"How is it that in one act, one almost casual, everyday act, you can show how little you care for me?"
In that one act she has him questioning every tender moment between them.
She has him remembering that her first act upon regaining life was to lie to him and run away from him at her earliest opportunity, that she'd used seduction to try and convince him to betray his brother once more for her and that he'd been forced to compel her to keep her in New Orleans.
"Was I ever anything more to you than a means of survival?" he demands, tears beginning to wet his eyes,
"Another one of your famous ploys? I knew you were self-obsessed egomaniac but I assumed…would it have been so hard to act a little more convincingly?!"
She clambers sluggishly from the bed now and approaches him with a nightgown the same colour of the dress she wore that day five hundred years ago when they played in the garden.
She's always used that colour to manipulate him and, like a fool, he'd allowed himself to think it was a romantic gesture.
"Elijah, my love…you're acting crazy, of course I…"
The sound of his hand connecting with her face is followed by a chorus of lightning shooting across the sky. Katherine cries out as she falls to her knees and he has to clench his hands into fists to keep them at his side.
She is poison.
And he can't breathe.
"Leave" he orders in a strangled tone, "I cannot stand to look at you, to be tricked by you again. Leave!"
"Elijah" her hand touches his thigh, "Please…just calm down…I…no"
She screams the last word as he buries a hand in her hair and drags her kicking and fighting from the room, "I told you to get out!"
The rain is falling hard now, drenching them both as he pulls her along the gallery and into the courtyard but it does not ease the pain in his chest so he does not let it stop him.
She is the reason that he cannot breathe.
She is shouting his name, begging for him to stop, to be reasonable but he is tired of being the reasonable one or the noble, dignified one.
What has being a good man ever got him? Except a woman that does not truly love him.
He walks her through the archway and tosses her onto Bourbon St, her nightgown sopping wet and stuck to her skin, her bare foot catches on a piece of broken glass and cuts the sole and she is sobbing.
He can't bring himself to care. Turning his back on her is remarkably easy.
Her screams are lost in the crack of the lightning and he tunes her out, standing in the courtyard and tilting his head back, allowing the rain to soak him to the core.
Soon he will feel better.
A/N- The song Katherine sings is Masquerade from Phantom of the Opera