A/N: Set during The Originals 1x3.
The Plantation.
The search for Elijah was beginning. Now they had Klaus' confession regarding what had happened to his body, they were all in agreement that it was time to bring him home.
There was always a plan in motion, Klaus was strategical, constantly calculating and devising schemes that would see his goals met. In her humanity deprived state, Elena was no different, even Rebekah was impressed with the ideas she had put on the table.
Elena had clambered out of bed that morning in a dizzy state, the events of the previous night and the amount of liquor she had consumed was still causing shockwaves in her brain. She knew she'd heal eventually but not without her caffeine fix that would see her through the day.
The pot had already been brewed and she practically darted for it, making herself a mug and joining with the others in the main room.
"What's going on?" She asked, her gaze flickering between the two siblings as she leaned her back against the wall for stability.
"Well," Klaus said, leaning around the doorframe beside her, arms folded and amused gaze fixated on her, "not that it's any of your business, love, but it would seem my little sister is in quite the mood with me."
"Hm," she looked at him with a raised eyebrow, avidly curious about his sudden proximity and whilst she found it amusing, it appeared to be a challenge, another game she was willing to play, if only to sate her boredom.
She turned to rest her shoulder on the wall, edging just that touch closer to him and offering only a smirk, "why am I not surprised?"
"I cannot believe you disposed of those vampires without me. You know how I love to set things on fire!" Rebekah pouted, playfully.
Elena and Klaus broke their gaze to turn and look at Rebekah, she scrunched her lips to the side with a hint of a wicked smile in it and returned to rest her back against the wall.
"Was I supposed to leave them in the front yard to rot? Besides, they were my responsibility. They attacked the helpless pregnant girl who's carrying my child!" He smirked.
"Oh, I am so moved by your new-found sense of fatherly duties towards the werewolf carrying your hybrid bun in her oven," Rebekah was in quite the mood but they laughed, even Klaus.
Hayley had suddenly appeared in the room, clutching a book with the Mikaelson 'M' logo on it and she seemed impatient.
"The werewolf would like to know what the plan is," She was impatient, she wanted Elijah back because he was the only one in the house with an affectionate interest in her and he had promised to protect her. She probably felt like she needed it now, more than ever.
"Well, that depends what plan you mean, love-- my plan for global domination, or Rebekah's plan to find love in a cruel, cruel world?"
Rebekah took a pencil from the desk beside her and threw it directly at Klaus, hurling with vampire speed towards him and he caught it easily before it could embed itself in his skin.
Hayley sighed, her patience with the Original Family thinning, "The plan to rescue Elijah. You know, the good brother? The one who is now in the possession of your mortal enemy after you stabbed him in the back?"
"In the front, if we're being specific."
"Good brother?" Elena quipped amusingly, completely unconvinced.
"You three said that you would get him back," Hayley snarled, raising her voice, "So is there a plan, or what?"
Elena glanced up to Klaus, then over to Hayley and onto Rebekah and they all looked as if they were talking with their eyes, communicating telepathically and questioning whether it was safe for Hayley to even know.
"Okay," Klaus breathed the word, before heading into his office and sitting on the desk chair. The girls stood in the doorway, listening eagerly, "Well, firstly, Marcel is not my mortal enemy-- he's my friend. Albeit one who is unaware that I'm trying to sabotage his hold over the supernatural community of the French Quarter, but a friend nonetheless. And secondly, I daggered Elijah in order to gain Marcel's trust. If I had known he would place my brother in the hands of a particularly nasty teenage witch, I certainly would have weighed my options a bit differently. And thirdly," he turned to look at Rebekah, gesturing his hand for her to continue, "Sister, please."
"And thirdly, the plan, as you have demanded, is for Niklaus to simply ask Marcel for Elijah back," Rebekah spoke blasé.
"That's-" Hayley stammered with an incredulous sigh, "that's not the whole plan, is it?"
"That would be incredibly disappointing, wouldn't it?" Elena smirked on the rim of her cup before taking a sip and turning to look at the hybrid, "it's like she doesn't know you at all."
He dipped his head slightly, a small chuckle emitting from his lips and his dimples were as prominent as ever. Intriguing.
Rebekah scoffed, "Klaus may be a miserable excuse for a sibling, but there is none more diabolical."
"That's only the Plan A, love! There's always a Plan B."
"And what's Plan B?"
Klaus shifted his glance between the three women before landing it on Hayley, a dark smile on his lips and a glimmer of malice in his eyes...
"War!"
A short while later, after Elena had showered, brushed her teeth, curled her hair and dressed in a pair of denim blue shorts and a black laced tank top, she returned to the kitchen, fresh mug of coffee in one hand and her cell phone in the other.
She leaned over the kitchen island and scrolled through the contact list on her phone until she found Marcel's information and opened up their text chain. It was completely blank, she hadn't used his number yet and she started typing, "Meet me at Rousseau's in a few hours?" Send.
Elena was sipping at her coffee, eagerly watching the chat chain until a message beeped through.
"Noon?"
She typed, "Perfect," and hit Send.
"You're on Hayley watch this morning, love," Klaus said as he suddenly appeared in the kitchen and walked past her to the coffee machine, "Do me a favour? Make sure she's still alive when I return."
"Nope," she popped the 'p' dramatically and didn't look anywhere else but her phone, "I'd rather stick needles in my eyes repeatedly."
Her phone vibrated, a message had come through from Marcel and she opened it.
"What has spurred this sudden meeting?"
"If you want to continue to stay in my house, then I suggest you start pulling your weight, Elena," he glared at her and took a large sip of his coffee.
She disregarded his comment and continued to reply to Marcel, typing... "Nothing in particular, could use a drink with someone who isn't a Mikaelson." Send.
"Elena!" He exclaimed, and much to his annoyance, she barely batted an eyelash towards him before returning her gaze to her phone.
"Oh, you're still here. Fun." She popped the 'F' again, her attitude ever present and only serving to torment him.
She opened Marcel's latest text and read over it, "I get that! I'll see you later, sweetheart."
Elena finally closed the chat chain and put her phone down on the island, standing up straight and turning her attention onto the hybrid. He was aggravated, patience all but gone from him and he stared at her with a glare that could burn a hole into her skin.
"What?" She said, eyes widened and offering him only a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders.
"You know first hand what happens when my patience is tested, Elena, I suggest you quit whilst you're ahead," he suppressed the urge to rip her head off, forcing his homicidal tendencies away because he had to remember the promise he made to his sister, to allow her to stay whilst Rebekah appeals to her humanity. He had plans of his own but they weren't going to be as sentimental.
She weighed her options, she could continue to rile up Klaus, push him as far as she could until he snapped, or she could stay on task, see through the plan they had concocted for rescuing Elijah and guaranteeing his safe return. If only to further her cause for a road trip!
"Fine, I'll stay with Hayley," she took a few cautious steps towards him with her hand placed firmly on her hip, "but don't think I'm not aware of why I'm still in this house. It's not by your own good graces, Klaus, you've realised how useful I can be."
"Whilst that may be true for now, don't think you're indispensable, there's a thousand vampires I could compel that can take your place and do so without the attitude," Klaus said, eyes watching her carefully as she approached, closer and closer.
"You could," she tilted her head, plastering a small grin on her lips, "but I highly doubt they'll be as charming as me."
"I must have missed the part that was charming," he spoke with hubris, raised his eyebrows and a smirk curled on his lip.
Klaus never much cared or entertained vampires with their humanity switched off. They were fun, passed the time when he was in a rather malicious mood but they tended to lack ingenuity and loyalty, two qualities he was quite fond of. But Elena seemed different, she was distant and calculating, every step made would appear to further her cause for control, it was admirable. Futile, but admirable nonetheless. He hadn't seen this side to her before and vampirism doesn't change personalities, it merely heightens predisposed feelings and behaviour.
She was smaller than he remembered, he found himself looking down at her more to catch her gaze, maybe it was because human Elena wouldn't have dreamed of standing so close to him in a confrontational manner. He could remove her heart within the space of a second and she wouldn't garner any sympathy from him. But it would be a waste to see such a strong and complex creature go to waste.
"No, I'm just not charming to you," she made a face, filled with disapproval and mirth as she grabbed the coffee pot from the station beside him and filled up her cup, placing it back in its station and taking a sip.
His head dipped again and a chuckle emitted from his lips, she rolled her eyes and started walking out of the kitchen. She stopped by the doorway and turned around, "So, Rebekah has gone to meet with Sophie at Jardin Gris, right?"
"Indeed," He said, as he followed her through the corridor and into the entrance foyer.
"Well, the other night, when I found Hayley buying those herbs, the witch that sold them to her called a vampire, offering him up points for Marcel," she explained.
"This is relevant, because...?"
"The voice on the other line sounded so familiar, I couldn't quite put my finger on it," Elena said, pondering, "I thought nothing of it, didn't much care too, but then I remembered the parking structure..."
"Wait," his once amused look turned to something more contemplative, "tell me, is he the right-hand-man type, who favours silly caps?"
"The favourite son, Thierry," She said with an accomplished sense of pride, "You should get Rebekah to press the witch, get her to confirm it."
"Hmm, not bad. You may have proven yourself useful once again, love."
"I aim to please," Elena said sarcastically and sipped at her coffee again.
"If I'd known you were going to be so well-versed in vampire politics, I would have requested your presence in my city from day one."
"Well, I'm glad you didn't, I could have went an eternity without having to deal with 'Klaus' drama again," she remained as blank as ever as she walked past him to go upstairs, stopping briefly to listen to his next words...
"You were right, of course, there's that famous charm you speak of," he mused, his voice filled with an endearing allure and sarcasm hidden beneath his wickedness.
She smirked, before finishing her ascent up the stairs and returning to her bedroom.
An hour or so later, Elena found herself sitting in the study, she had become curious about the Mikaelson's history in New Orleans and decided to read one of the earlier journals Elijah had wrote when they first arrived here.
It detailed the time they spent in the Plantation with the Governor and how they had persuaded him with gold to turn a blind eye to their vampiric ways. His son, Emil, lived with them and it mentioned Rebekah had fell in love with him, begging her brothers to allow her to turn him but Klaus murdered him. It was probably the smart move, Elena knew the Original Sister well enough and she fell in love all too often, it was insufferable.
She read about how Marcel was a slave here when he was a boy and Klaus had took an interest in him when he saw him fight back against his oppressor and took him in as his own. Elijah seemed particularly fond of this memory, mentioning how he thought it would be the start in Klaus' journey to redemption and reinstating his humanity.
Ha! She thought.
He described their time spent here as the happiest they had ever been, the 200 years they were together as a family and living free from fear. They built their home from the ground up and built a community, one where the factions could live harmoniously together and they could indulge in all luxuries the that came from being royalty within their city.
That was, until Mikael came...
"Hey, what are you doing in here?" Hayley asked, as she stood in the doorway and folded her arms. Elena flickered her gaze onto the werewolf and put the journal down in her lap.
"I was bored," she said blankly, as she kicked her feet up onto the desk and returned her attention back onto the journal, "it would seem they had quite the life here."
"I know, it's hard to believe they lived here for so long," Hayley stepped inside the study, walking along the wall that housed the bookcase and gliding her finger across the spines of the books on display.
"What is it you want, Hayley?" She asked, her gaze on the journal unwavering.
"Well, I thought since we were going to be spending so much time together, we should talk," Hayley suggested, her tone of voice as kind as it could be for a girl so tough and a wolf by nature.
"Your attempts at bonding are laughable, at best."
"You really did flip the switch on your humanity, didn't you?" She folded her arms, attitude apparent.
"I'm not one for heart-to-hearts, sweetie," she glanced at her for maybe a second or two, her distaste apparent before she continued to read.
"You've been assigned bodyguard to the unborn miracle baby that I so happen to be carrying, so I'm thinking it's time we had a talk."
Elena much preferred Hayley's 'tough girl' attitude as opposed to the kind falsities she tried to partake in. She didn't care much for her or the family she was under the protection of but she wouldn't deny the strength she had was admirable.
"Yes, because I strive to become even more a part of this twisted dynamic that the Mikaelson's have constructed by bonding with Klaus' baby mama," she spoke, filled with disapproval and indifference.
"What is the deal with you and this family?" Hayley responded with quite a shocked demeanour at the doppelgängers complete lack of humanity.
"Hm," a sharp breath exhaled from her nose and she slammed the journal shut, standing from the chair and approaching the werewolf, "fine, we'll talk, I could use a drink."
Elena sauntered into the lounge and helped herself to Klaus' stash of bourbon. She found it mildly amusing that the werewolf was curious enough to get to know her, she seemed to be interested in the history lessons of those around her but Elena found her to be too inquisitive, like she had an agenda far beyond the realms of becoming familiar and she intended to pry it from her.
"So, you wanna know about my history with the Original Family," she said amusingly, before swigging at the scotch and taking a seat on the brown leather sofa, "you've been to Mystic Falls, right? You must know some of it."
"Well, my time spent in Mystic Falls consisted of breaking sire bonds, working with Shane to raise Silas in return for information about my family and getting knocked up, so I didn't have much time to delve into Mikaelson history," Hayley said with a hint of sarcasm in her tone of voice and Elena smirked.
Elena was quite impressed with the fightback, her resilience against the many traumatic events she had been through and the fact that she was sitting just across from her with the intention of getting to know a heartless vampire. Curious.
"I was 17 when Elijah found me, a vampire named Rose caught wind of the human doppelganger and wanted to offer me up to the Originals to buy her freedom. But Elijah didn't want the sacrifice to happen, claimed he wanted revenge on Klaus for casting his families body to sea, but obviously, that didn't happen. He somewhat protected me and my family from danger for months leading up to the night of the ritual, there was a lot of betrayal though, on both parts, especially when he saved Klaus that night," she explained, toying with the glass in her hand and remaining completely indifferent to her human past, "I'm sure he had every intention of keeping his promises when he first made them but he failed several times, so don't believe all that he tells you."
"Wow, I can't even imag-"
"I don't need your sympathy, Hayley, I was quite the martyr in my day, I offered myself up to Klaus the second I knew my family were in danger and let him kill me," she took another sip of scotch, a large one, it was needed to suppress the shudder she felt from remembering how human she used to be.
"Yeah but you were only 17, he's a dick," her disdain obvious.
Hayley couldn't imagine what it was like being forced to live like that, stuck in the choice of either saving herself or her loved ones, it was obscene. She was starting to get a clearer picture of the Mikaelson's, Klaus specifically, of what they were like before New Orleans.
"I remember how much I used to hate him for what he did to me, he killed my Aunt right in front of me, he compelled my ripper ex boyfriend to turn off his humanity and took him on a murder spree across the country. He tried to kill all of my friends, used my blood to make hybrids and he even tried to take me away once, he couldn't get in my house though," she shook her head slightly, holding the glass in her hand and swirling it about slightly, "and don't even get me started on their mother."
On some level, she never really truly blamed him, the curse was placed upon him by Esther, his own mother, forced to be someone he wasn't to hide her own indiscretions. He was denied his true family amongst the pack of wolves his father had lead and made to be a vampire. Centuries of fleeing the tyranny of Mikael and being denied happiness lead to the monster he had become, hardly his fault.
"He did all those horrible things to you, killed people you love, terrorised your life and now you just don't care?" She looked at her in complete and utter disbelief, mixed with a hint of sympathy.
There was a time when all Elena did was care, her compassion being the only quality she had that drove her. She felt every small emotion and it clouded her judgement, she often reflected on how she could have done things differently if she had just accepted that not everything was in her control whilst she was lead by her heart. Her emotions built a violent tempest within her very core on the daily and she was a slave to them. But not anymore.
"Not even a little bit."
"Why did you turn off your humanity?" Hayley looked at her carefully, she couldn't help but feel saddened by the doppelgängers story and she never ceased to be shocked by the actions of the Original Family.
"Katherine, the least interesting of the doppelgängers, killed my brother, the last of my family," there wasn't a flicker of emotion in her eyes or a crack in her voice that made Hayley believe there wasn't anything even remotely human left in her, "so, I set fire to my childhood home, watched it burn into nothing along with my brothers dead body and the darkness it left in me, I tried to kill my best friend, alienated Caroline, almost killed a girl I used to babysit and killed a few humans and a supernatural vampire hunter."
"Damn," Hayley said with an incredulous gasp and a shake of her head, "I guess I can't blame you for wanting to switch all that off, I would too."
"As lovely and as heartfelt as this has been, I'm gonna-"
"Wait," Hayley interjected, "one more answer I need to curb my curiosity?"
"Have at it," she held her hand up and gestured for her to continue.
"You really seem to get under Klaus' skin and whilst I admire that, I don't understand it, he's the most heartless beast I've ever met, he's killed people for less than you've done to him but yet, he is so bothered by you..."
Trying to read Elena was like trying to decipher the words of an ancient language that had been long dead, there was only a handful of experts out there that could translate it and Hayley was curious, a quick study when she put her mind to something and she liked the doppelganger enough to try, "...there's something there I can't quite figure out with you two."
"We have a lot more in common than you think, it would seem-"
The sound of Elena's phone ringing brought the conversation to an abrupt end and she took it out of her pocket, she read the caller ID and smirked as she answered it, "Speak of the devil-"
"And he will appear," Klaus said with that evil tone of voice she had become accustomed to hearing.
"What do you want?" Her boredom was expressed clearly in her tone of voice and she looked to Hayley.
"I hope you and the mother of my child aren't speaking ill of me in my absence, I would hate to have to kill you."
"Of course not, we were speaking of your many redeeming qualities and tendency to do good," she quipped sarcastically, a small smirk curling up on her lip when he started to chuckle.
"Well if that's not the biggest lie ever told."
"Seriously, what do you want?" She exasperated, pressing a finger to her temple and willing the tedium of Klaus away.
"I thought you would want to know that your theory has been confirmed, the witch and Thierry are in love," he spoke with a melodramatic and Shakespearean tone of voice that made her chuckle ever so slightly.
"Nauseating but helpful."
"My thoughts exactly."
She shot up straight, the cogs in her brain turning as something came to mind, "I have an idea on how to get Elijah back, when are you returning?"
"I have one more matter to attend to, then I'll return. I, too, have something to discuss with you, little doppelgänger."
"Well, hurry up, I have plans," she slumped back into her seat, holding her hand out in front of her and inspecting her nails more clearly. She was in desperate need of a manicure.
"Pray tell."
"I'm meeting Marcel for drinks at noon."
"What? Why?" He spat, his paranoia and need for control seeping out into his tone of voice and he hated being out of the loop, especially when they were at war and Elena was a fresh presence in their lives, one that could see his plans fail if she made a move against him. She found to much enjoyment in his suffering and she wasn't about to stop now.
"Because he's hot, duh," she rolled her eyes and hung up the phone, she let it drop into her lap and finished the remainder of her scotch.
"I'll allow you one more question and then we move on to you," she said as she poured another scotch out and kept her attention on the wolf.
"Why did you leave Mystic Falls?"
"I was bored -- being tortured, manipulated and starved in attempt to get my humanity switched back on was becoming tiresome, Rebekah offered me an out and I took it," she paused for a moment, looking at Hayley with a sense of indifference, "I happen to prefer the way I am now, I used to feel everything so powerfully, it consumed me and apparently, I was the most compassionate person Elijah had ever met but now, I don't feel a thing, all those emotions did was made me weak, powerless and at the mercy of every vampire that tried to kill me. It's liberating to let all of that go."
"There is a lot of history between you and the family, huh?"
"Too much," she paused to take a long sip of her scotch before looking at Hayley with a smirk, "but it's only just got interesting."
Elena had spent a short amount of time questioning Hayley in return. She divulged the information of her past, her dead parents and how her adopted parents kicked her out when she triggered her curse.
She went onto explain about the drunken night she spent on a boat trip that lead to her accidentally killing her friend and triggering her werewolf curse. And finally, the reason she came to New Orleans in the first place. With hope to find any information about her family, why her parents had died and if she had any remaining blood left.
That's when the witches found her, used her as a tool to lure the Originals back into the city to take down Marcel.
Elena was interested, much like she had been in her human days, when she would curl up on the sofa and watch a murder mystery documentary or thriller movie. Her curiosity would always hold her attention when watching such shows, if only to see the outcome at the end.
"Tough road, huh?" Elena said, impartially and without much care.
"You can say that," Hayley said with a genuine smile, she wasn't expecting an emotional response from the doppelgänger but she had to pry, "so, you have no feelings about anyone, at all?"
"If you're asking whether I like you or not, then you'll be sorely disappointed by the answer," she paused to take a sip of scotch, "but I do find your strength and resilience to be commendable and I do enjoy your company, I've had to spend time with worse people."
"Wow," Hayley said astonishingly, mostly in a playful manner, "you're not half bad yourself."
"And on that note, I'm gonna go hurl," she said with a small smirk, before standing onto her feet and heading back to the liquor cabinet. She grabbed the bottle and poured herself another, just as she was about to take a seat beside Hayley once again...
"Elena!" Klaus exclaimed as he entered into the plantation, she heard the door slam and he appeared in front of her, "what are you planning with Marcel?"
"You don't have to scream, you know? I have pretty good hearing," she didn't know if her sarcasm would be met in kind considering his mood but she couldn't help herself.
"Tell me, now!" He was close to a roar, his yelling becoming unhinged as he stared at her with contempt.
"Complete take over of the Quarter and your inevitable death," she said mockingly.
He snatched her neck in one quick motion, squeezing like she was an orange inside a press, before he sped her against the wall and crushed her back against it. His snarl was vicious, his eyes completely void of emotion and he was detached, "you becoming far more trouble than your worth, Elena, it may be time for-"
The predictability of the hybrid was becoming tedious, she found herself becoming stultified in his constant need for force and decided it was time to unleash.
Everything happened in the blur of vampire speed and a red haze as she cut him short by hitting at his arm, forcing him to release her from his tenacious grip and shoving him back with force. An exasperated growl burst from her lips as she kicked the chair beside her and picked up the snapped and splintered leg that it produced and she sped towards him with the intent of plunging it into his dead heart. He reciprocated, of course, whooshing towards her with the need to murder present.
"Enough!" Hayley yelled and she brought them to a sudden stop. Elena glared daggers at the hybrid and his face was filled with rage.
"You are insufferable," she practically yelled in the hybrids face, her calm composure all but vanished and she felt only the desire to inflict pain. In the flash of a second, she raised the stake above her head and brought it down, but he caught her arm with ease and took the stake from her.
He seized her arm and forcibly pulled her into him, she inhaled a sharp breath as she crashed against him and he held her as intimidatingly close as ever before, "tell me what you've done before I ruin a perfectly good carpet with your blood."
"It would be an improvement," she snarked, her hand instinctively wrapping around the arm that held onto her so forcefully.
"Elena," his eyes flashed golden, his temper had reached unprecedented levels and just maybe, she had pushed the last boundary. But like she cared. The veins beneath her eyes darkened and her eyes turned to black.
"You wanted someone on the inside, didn't you?" She practically yelled, taking a deep breath and allowing her vampiric nature to relax and return her face to normal.
"What?" He relaxed slightly, his lips parted and the grip he had of her arm loosening ever so slightly. He hadn't expected her intentions to be that of an alliance with the enemy to further the family's cause. She was far from trustworthy but he appreciated it on some level.
"Who better than the doppelganger who you murdered?" She tried to pull her arm away from his grip but he only responded by grabbing onto her other arm with force and holding her in place.
"Careful, love, you're starting to sound resentful," he neared her face and he could feel her breath graze across his cheek, "wouldn't want to tempt that switch now, would we?"
"Believe me, you're the last person who'll get any kind of emotional response from me, switch or not."
"That's preferable to the intolerable and querulous martyr you used to be," he smirked.
"At least we can agree on something," she shrugged her shoulders lightly, "now, let go of me before I finish what I started with the stake," a threat that meant nothing to the hybrid.
"I'm quite intrigued by this side of you, Elena, I didn't know you had it in you," he said in a cold voice, his demeanour even more blank.
Niklaus Mikaelson was many things, homicidal, egotistical and completely deranged but one of his more prominent qualities was his possessiveness. The doppelgänger, the one who had alluded him for centuries, unable to break his curse and when finally found, he had claimed her as his and his alone. To be used for his own purposes, her blood to be his alone and to be a symbol of the power he now possessed in his hybrid nature.
"So, we good?" She completely ignored his attempt at control by ignoring his comment and offering him only a small smile.
"It would appear so, sweetheart," his British accent always seemed to be thicker when he used the word 'sweetheart' but even that was used as a tactic to garner control.
"Good." She pulled her arms away from him and pushed him back a step, he allowed it if only for his own amusement. She grabbed the bottle of scotch and a couple of glasses, "Now, as for my plan-"
"Wait, seriously? After all that you're just going to drink and plot together like you didn't just nearly kill each other?" Hayley exasperated, she was clearly more shocked and distressed about their disagreement than they were.
"That's the gist," she offered passively, allowing a quick breath to escape her lips as she and Klaus shared in the amusement that was Hayley's outburst.
"I can't stay mad at the lovely Elena for long."
Hayley obviously didn't know when it meant to be completely void of all humanity and emotion, it was too black and white without any grey. It was simple to vampires, either you feel or you don't, and when you don't, literally nothing affects you.
"Says the hybrid who holds grudges for literal centuries," Hayley was taken by a tempestuous state and raised her voice at the pair, which was obviously only met with an amused stare.
"Well, I did kill her and drain her of all her blood, it's only fair that she be the exception," he took the drink Elena had extended towards him, "I may be a monster, Hayley but I'm not without tact."
"Aw, aren't you sweet?" Elena said sarcastically and rolled her eyes.
"I'm nothing but the merciful and affectionate murderer you have come to know me as," he held his glass out towards her and she grinned uncontrollably at the hilarity of the situation.
"Classic Klaus."
She tapped her glass against his and they knocked back the shot, the contents pouring down her throat and she relished in the slight burn.
"So, my plan, we're going to need magic and a locator spell."
Rousseau's.
Since the day Elena's parents drove off Wickery Bridge, her life changed forever. At the time, she didn't know it was Stefan that had saved her from the depths of the water and the inevitable drowning. When he later confessed that he was a vampire, he sent her hurling head first into the supernatural world.
And ever since, all Elena had done was plot, scheme and survive. Much like a commander of war, devising a way to infiltrate enemy lines with the least amount of casualties they can. This was the same, except Elena had no interest in reducing casualties, only infiltrating.
She arrived at Rousseau's ten minutes early to scout the place, to find out how many of his daywalkers he had sent in advance to ensure Marcel wasn't being lead straight into a trip. And right she was, she spotted five vampires that weren't subtle in their spying of her and she went to the bar.
"You're early, darlin'," Marcel had suddenly appeared beside her, looking at her with curious eyes and a bright smile as he leaned against the bar.
"I'm nothing, if not punctual," she kept her hubris and collected-self ever prominent, "it's just good manners."
The glint in his smile heightened from amusement and he held up two fingers to the barmaid, which just so happened to be Camille this afternoon. Obviously Elena noticed everything, "I will have to agree with you on that, nothing worse than showing up late and having all eyes on you."
"As King of the Quarter, I presume you would find enjoyment in being the centre of attention," she turned around to face the vampires he had sent and pointed her eyebrows towards them, "whereas, I'm the opposite, I could do without prying eyes."
"I had a feeling you would catch on, nothing seems to slip past you, does it?" He was curious about her, he seemed to have an endless amount of questions, suspicions surrounding her involvement with the Original Family and not even an inkling on who she really was.
"Very rarely."
Cami brought over the two drinks and placed them down in front of them. Marcel exchanged pleasantries, introduced her to Elena -which she could have done without- and handed her a twenty.
He extended his hand out in front of him and gestured towards a booth at the back, hidden away from the prying ears of the humans and she walked over to it. Sliding onto the seats, she put her back to the wall beside it and swung her legs onto the seat, toying with her glass in her hand.
"You know, I can't help but find this city you've built intriguing. I'm from the dreary and dead town of Mystic Falls, where the most exciting parties readily available usually consist of cheap beer and a bonfire but this is something else, isn't it? It's like the party-"
"Never stops!" He cut her short, finishing her sentence with a sense of pride and glee, "it hasn't been without its challenges, it took nearly a century to build the vampire community I envisioned but I'm nothing but ambitious."
Elena followed certain steps when trying to garner someone's trust, they usually worked on most, especially when her charm and Petrova fire was readily viewable on her surface. Throughout history, it had been the weakness of many men and she sought to exploit it.
Rule number one: offer up something personal, a fact about her life that makes them feel like they're getting to know her and then a compliment, let them have their pride and ego if it serves its purpose.
"Well," she paused to hold her glass out towards him, "kudos to you."
He tapped his glass against hers and they took a sip. He let his glass hang loosely from the tips of his fingers before settling it down on the table, "I was quite surprised by your invitation, you were the last person I expected to text me."
"I'm full of surprises," Elena smirked.
"I'm trying to figure out if that's a bad thing or not," He paused, trying to read her loyalties and figure her out, "you are, after all, in the company of the Mikaelson's."
She sipped at her drink, watching him carefully and choosing her words with great care, "you made it..." she paused to look at her watch, "... ten minutes without mentioning them, considering how curious you are, I'm guessing that's quite a feat."
Marcel laughed, dipping his head to turn his gaze onto the glass in front of him and she continued on, "what do you wanna know? Although, I must warn you, I've already had to share a part of my life story today in depth and I don't intend on doing that again, so keep it brief."
Rule number two: offer the chance at information, let them think they're in control, tell them what you think they want to hear and offer the promise of more divulged secrets in the future.
"To stop from ruining this lovely drink we're sharing in, I will ask only one question," he narrowed his eyes slightly, a small smile curled up on his lips, "why are you here, in New Orleans, with them? You don't seem to like them very much."
"I don't like them at all," Elena said in complete honesty, her voice cold and blank, "but Rebekah offered me an escape from a pretty bad situation I was in back home and she brought me here."
Rule number three: Lie. Bend, manipulate, withhold truth and at least pretend to have some emotion behind it.
"How bad?" He asked and she couldn't tell if he was concerned or not. He appeared to be but that could just be for the safety of his city.
"I'll spare you the details of my homicidal ex-boyfriend and his monstrous brother but it was bad enough. I knew it had got to that point when Rebekah offered to take me away, considering we weren't exactly friends."
"No?"
"Not even a little bit, she did kill me, after all," she offered a truth that would start planting the seeds of doubt in his mind about where she stood with the Mikaelson's.
"Wait, what?" He seemed shocked, "did she turn you?"
"No, I had the ex-boyfriend's, monstrous brother's vampire blood in my system when she ran us off a bridge," a flicker of an amused smile curled on her lip at the sound of it, it must have sounded crazy to him but this was normal to her.
"And yet, you still came here with her?" He had a curious eyebrow raised as he sipped at his drink, probably the last question he had that would prove her intentions.
"Water under the bridge, shall we say?" She grinned.
Rule number four: charm, charm and charm some more.
"Ooh, that was a terrible pun," he laughed, seemingly becoming less on guard around the doppelgänger, obviously not too much but enough for her to notice. She didn't miss a thing, the way his shoulders relaxed slightly and he sat back in his chair, his body seemed to relinquished its tensity.
"So, my turn," she pointed a finger at him, her glass still held in the same hand, "You're history with Klaus, tell me about it... briefly."
"Klaus made me who I am, a man worthy of running this Kingdom and everything I know came from him," he had a slight bit of vulnerability in his facial features that she picked up on, this was clearly a sore subject for him, "he took me in as a boy, raised me and even gave me my name."
"So, you have some sense of loyalty to him?" She asked.
She knew the answers already but she wanted to see if he would open up. It wasn't much in the way of hidden knowledge but the way he spoke with such admiration of the hybrid was the true answer she sought. He was openly being honest, sharing in something that made him vulnerable and that was the basis of building trust.
"I guess you can say that, I don't trust him but I owe him everything. He's my sire, after all," his pensive look quickly changed when he realised how heavy the conversation was becoming and he took a sip of scotch.
"Well, you just so happen to be in luck," she remained ever the falsely chipper soul, "you're talking to someone who was literally sire bonded, to the monstrous brother, no less. I couldn't deny him any request, even though it was forced, that hold your sire can have on you is deep."
"Exactly that, especially when you want to believe they have no intention of hurting you," he continued.
"I get it-"
Elena's phone started vibrating in her pocket and she tutted, even more so when she saw the caller ID and hit the 'reject' button, "I'm sorry about that."
It rang again.
... and again.
"I better go, if there is one thing that family is, it's persistent," she finished the last of her drink and slid out of the booth, "thank you for the drink, we'll do it again."
"Are you coming to the gala tonight?"
"What gala?" She plastered a false look of confusion on her facial features and continued in the ruse. Of course she knew what it was but it was the last lie she could tell that would throw him off any doubt he had about her and the families plan tonight.
"The Masquerade Gala I'm throwing at the compound, it's a ritzy charity event I put together," he paused, standing out of the booth and taking the space in front of her, "you should come."
"I'll think about it," she kept the air of mystery surrounding her, only allowing him some of the control within their battle for trust.
"If you do, save me a dance," he was curious and nothing would relent him in pursuit of the Mikaelson's and Elena's connection, if only to see how truly dangerous she was.
She offered only a smile and a nod of her head in response before exiting from the bar.
She retrieved her phone from her pocket and rolled her eyes at the missed calls. She dialled in Klaus' number and pressed the speaker to her ear.
"Where are you?" He was quick to answer.
"Just left Rousseau's, what's going on?"
"Sophie and Rebekah have just left, head back here, there is something we must discuss."
The Plantation.
Elena arrived back at the house not long after their call and found Klaus sitting in the upstairs office, tucked away behind his desk and handling the last part of the plan that would secure Elijah's return. The copy of the daylight ring spell that belonged to Marcel.
She heard the tail end of his conversation with Rebekah on the phone and he was explaining the final details.
"Marcel may not be concerned with Thierry's romantic entanglements, but there are other crimes which he'll be less inclined to so easily forgive. Killing a vampire, for example. That would be unforgivable. If Katie hopes to save her one true love from Marcel's punishment? Well, a rescue mission like that will require something positively magical. But then... what's worth dying for, if not love?"
He hung up the call and flickered his gaze momentarily onto the approaching doppelgänger, all that could be heard was the tap of her high heels against the wooden floor and she had a haste in her step.
"I take it things went well with Marcel?" He asked, tapping a set of papers against the desk and slipping them into an envelope.
"I don't even want to talk about it," she said as she entered the room, taking a seat on the desk beside him and stealing his drink away from him, "I may need to take a vervain shower to burn away the emotional conversation I just had to partake in."
He chuckled lightly at her expense as she drank the remainder of his scotch, "And does he know?"
"He has no idea about the plan. In fact, he holds you in high regard, claimed you taught him everything he knows and still has some sense of loyalty to you," she pried, as she stretched over the desk in front of him to grab the bottle of scotch and filled her glass up.
"He's not wrong," the only response he offered. There was a lot of history between him and Marcel, some were pleasant memories, like how Klaus taught him Shakespeare and how to read, to fence and defend himself but it wasn't until he became a vampire that he really started teaching him the important lessons.
"So, what is it you want to discuss?" Elena asked.
"I have made a slight change in the plan tonight that I require your assistance in but before I tell you, you mustn't tell Rebekah, she won't be too happy when it comes to fruition," he sat back in his chair, a hint of a warning in his glare.
"This should be good," she smiled on the rim of her glass, before taking a quick sip and giving Klaus a look of curiosity.
"As you know, once Katie launches her attack on Marcel, Sophie will begin the locator spell," Elena nodded her head, "but now, she won't have enough time to complete it,"
"And why is that?"
"I intend on killing Katie before she has the chance to do any real damage to Marcel so I can-"
"Gain his trust," Elena shook her head, smiling in disbelief, "Rebekah is going to be furious if you do this."
"She'll forgive me in the end, she always does."
"What do you need from me?"
"Besides quell my sisters inevitable rage, I need you to use this budding relationship you have with Marcel to keep him distracted tonight, lead him into a false sense of security and garner his favour further," Klaus was sounding more and more diabolical by the minute, "I think after what is about to become of his right-hand man, he may feel inclined to share inner circle secrets with the right person."
She stood from the desk, walking slowly over to the bookcase that stood against the wall and started smoothing her finger across the bindings of the books, "I'll do it, only because I promised to see Elijah's return through, but beyond that, I have no interest in becoming more involved with Mikaelson drama than I already am. Got it?"
"Well, that should be of no concern considering you and Rebekah plan on leaving New Orleans upon my brother's return," he responded, his disapproval apparent in his tone of voice.
"That is the plan," but plans don't always succeed. "I need to get ready for the gala."