Vampire Diaries 1. Under Your Command

This is a continuation from my Klaroline fanfic "Where You Want To Be". That story was meant to be a standalone one-shot, but ideas kept coming and I felt that Klaus and Caroline wouldn't get their true happily-ever-after if we don't address the elephant in the room.

The final motivation to get me writing was this song I heard on the radio, which fits the whole Klaroline dynamics so perfectly, I had to make references to it in this chapter.

If you haven't read "Where You Want To Be", please pay it a visit!

In this story, we follow Klaus and Caroline in their pursuit of happiness in New Orleans, while solving the combined mysteries of Marcel, Silas, and the unexpected new life bound to arrive in the city. The pair will be joined by Elijah, Rebekah, Stefan, Tyler, and Katherine throughout the story.

Do read and review!

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_Picture, you're the queen of everything_

_As far as the eye can see_

"Food, music, the arts, people, history. Everything you want, you'll find. There are reasons why this city is my favourite place. You'll love it there. I'll take you to my favourite bar on Bourbon Street and we can have all the drinks we want. Trust me, they make their Bloody Marys extra special."

_Under your command_

"There's been some complications, but I'll have it all sort out soon. The city will be ours to keep."

_I will be your guardian_

_When all is crumbling I'll steady your hand_

_You can never say…_

Caroline pulled her earpiece out, cutting off the song mid-sentence. She had let the song linger too long since it started playing on the radio station. This was the same song off the cd he left at her bedside before disappearing to New Orleans. On the cd insert, he left her a message echoing the lyric to the song.

_A whole new world is just beyond those doors. I'll be there whenever you are ready. Forever yours, Klaus._

"Never," Caroline mumbled as she threw her Android into her bag and got up to leave the Grill.

"Hey," came Stefan's casual greeting as he slipped into the seat across the table. "Haven't seen you since that day."

Caroline settled back into the seat and forced back a weak smile. The two haven't spoken since that day, almost two weeks ago, when Stefan spilt the beans about the secret Klaus had been harbouring.

They were also in the Grill, the two of them seated at a table not so far from the one they are seated at. With Elena and Damon on a vacation over Europe, Bonnie and Jeremy on family visit, Matt putting up a disappearing act, and even Rebekah enjoying her own graduation trip to who-knows-where, Caroline had no one to share her dilemma with. She had thought it inappropriate to discuss her love dilemma with Stefan, who was still nursing a broken heart, but she had to get it off her chest!

She invited Stefan to the Grill and told him all about her guilty liaison with Klaus. She knew she had to make a choice, but everytime she starts to count the positives and negatives of their relationship, Caroline was back to the neurotic, indecisive human she originally was. She could no longer deny what was so clear; her heart was drawn to Klaus, selfish, warped and broken as he was. Yet in her heart, there were still lingering feelings for Tyler, her first true love, the person who shared her journey from ordinary highschooler to supernatural monster.

It was in the middle of such a conversation when Stefan told her what she needed to make her choice.

"Caroline," he started, "I came across an interesting piece of information lately." Leaning forward across the table, he lowered his voice to a mere whisper, which would have been lost to the backdrop of excited Grill-goers had Caroline not been paying attention with her super hearing powers. "I heard that the source of your problem is intending to start a family in New Orleans."

Seeing the confused look on Caroline's face, he added, "He's expecting a baby. A baby with Hayley."

Armed with that knowledge, rational Caroline took over and made a clean break with the man, marking it with love bite trace too deep when she chomped into his neck like she was making a kill. "You and Hayley can go make hybrid babies in New Orleans for all I care," were her last words to him as she stomped out of his house and slammed the door shut in his face. At least she had the thrill of being the only person in history to do that to Klaus. Caroline did not give him a chance to explain when she confronted him on Hayley, but neither did he try to explain himself in the days which have since passed. A lousy cd and a stupid song was all he left behind before he disappeared, presumably to join his lover and baby over at the "whole new world". How dare he leave just like that, as if he had done nothing wrong to warrant an apology, or an excuse even!

"Caroline, you're going to tear the strap." Stefan gestured to the unfortunate piece of fabric caught under Caroline's death grip.

The blonde released her hold and forced her thoughts away from the scenes which had been haunting her nights. "It's you who has been MIA-ing since that day. I'd assumed that you went on a graduation trip like everyone else did."

"There're only few places worth travelling to when you've lived a life as long as mine and seen every corner of the earth," Stefan chuckled. "But you, this is your first graduation. Shouldn't you be travelling?"

"That was the plan before everyone went off on their own honeymoon vacation!" Caroline answered with slight frustration. She had the perfect post-graduation vacation planned, until Elena and Bonnie decided to ditch. Of course, she was too busy with Klaus to react then. But when everything started falling apart, she found herself without a travel companion.

"Well, you do have an open ticket waiting."

"Stefan! Of all people, you should know better."

"Yeah, I know how you sitting here and not in some café off the Parisian streets mean you're not over it yet," Stefan pushed.

Guilt-stricken, Caroline crossed her legs and leaned back against the cushioned seat, biting her lower lips. She didn't know how to face Tyler anymore. She prayed that he wouldn't turn up in Mystic Falls until she has everything sorted out. Fortunately for her, it seemed that Tyler had forgotten about high school graduation.

"You're escaping. Just like I was," Stefan said, hoping that sharing his own experience would make Caroline listen. "I wanted to escape from Elena so I won't hear her choice. But what good would that do? We can't be living out eternity in denial. We need closure."

The two locked eyes for a long moment before a resolve formed in Caroline's own as she nodded slightly. "Will you go with me?" she asked.

She knew how much Klaus wanted a family he could go back to. Deep inside, she knew what answer she'll get from him. When that happens, who'd be better than Stefan to keep her from breaking down? He was the one who taught her to control her urges when she first turned. She is determined to leave Klaus as the strong, unyielding woman she has been to him, to refuse him the satisfaction of seeing the impact he has on her.

Not surprisingly, her good old friend beamed her an assuring smile. "Of course," he said, struggling to kill the smirk which was threatening to break through that familiar good-natured smile.

Everything was going according to plan.

Not so much for a certain hybrid, miles away.

"If your plan is to hold out until the child arrives and make a run for it, I think it's wiser for us to come up with a Plan B."

Emptying his glass, Klaus said coolly, "Elijah, for the hundred and twenty-fourth time, I don't care about the child."

"Sophie sent this," Elijah slid a note across the bar top in front of his brother and took the seat next to him.

Glancing at the handwritten note disinterestedly, Klaus laughed. "How original. A ransom note?"

The note bore no message, just 2 digits.

"67 days?" Klaus rolled his eyes incredulously. "A week ago it was 83. Perhaps you should bring them a calculator the next time you visit. Or maybe a calendar."

Elijah laughed inwardly, not failing to notice how Klaus brought up the previous number without effort. He spun the bar stool to face the house and leaned an elbow against the bar top to face his straight-face brother. "As a matter of fact, I did drop by the quarter earlier. It really seems like the child is about to arrive anytime. We've got to rid New Orleans of Marcel before that or the witches will kill the baby, before it gets delivered."

"Brother, I have been working at it. Now, don't mistake this as concern for the baby or the girl - I'm not as honourable as you are - but kicking Marcel off his grand seat has been on my agenda since we returned to this city."

"I'm glad we've found a common purpose to spend time on, regardless of our," Elijah paused slightly. He knew Klaus would never admit how he has grown to care for the baby. Not for Hayley perhaps, not that Elijah could tell at least, but definitely for the unborn child - the sole being, other than those of the Mikaelson family (who are still alive), to share the same bloodline as him. "Differences in motivations."

Turning his face to Elijah, Klaus continued, "I've tried everything. Befriending his underlings, compulsion... Nothing works. No one seems to know how he manages the magic around this place."

"Or perhaps those who know just won't tell," Elijah suggested. "We've seen how fiercely loyal the inhabitants of New Orleans are to your old good friend."

Unconvinced, Klaus narrowed his eyes and questioned, "Loyal enough to fight off compulsion? Compulsion by me?"

The idea sounded ridiculous until memories of Stefan's resistance against his compulsion came to mind.

Klaus grew perplexed at that thought.

How did Marcel build such strong connections in the past hundred years? Even his hybrids had came to betray him. How did that slave boy win such loyalty and gain control over the entire city? How did he manage what Klaus failed to achieve in the past centuries of his existence? He needed an answer, and that killed off the option of ripping Marcel's heart out to end this wolf-napping drama. He wanted to know how. He wanted to build a kingdom where he could be King, and Caroline his Queen.

"But I also like people and they actually like me..." A conversation with Caroline several months before interrupted his thoughts.

Perhaps if the blonde was with him, he would have a better chance to figure it out. She seemed to have the gift of reading people and situations accurately, beyond what happens on the surface. But for now, all he had was Elijah and himself to solve the mystery that was Marcel.

"I think we need a witch," Klaus decided, stepping away from the bar. He crossed the lounge and gestured for his brother to join him. "Let's go pay my baby a visit."

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	2. A Piece of Magic

Sorry for the long wait! Thank you for following this story. :)

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"Lovely Sophie." Klaus smiled coldly, not bothering to pretend he holds any pleasant feelings towards the meeting. He entered the rundown cottage, hidden on the fringe of the French Quarter. "My brother informed that you sent us a note."

Elijah followed him into the cottage just as Sophie rose to her feet. What she lacked in physical height, Sophie made up for with her fearless demeanour. Her arms across her chest, the young witch responded coolly, "I had hope that the note would enthuse you on sealing our deal. Too much time had been wasted with no progress at Mystic Falls. If you don't hurry, we'll be forced to have the child's blood on our hands."

For a split moment, Klaus' jaws tightened, every nerve ending in his arms screaming for him to grab the witch and twist the head off her neck. Was it the mention of his brief shot at happiness or the threat against his child? All he knew was that the anger creeping up the veins in his neck. He forced it back down, refusing to let any weakness show through. The last thing he needed was to let anyone catch onto his weaknesses and use them against him. Elijah put a hand on Klaus' shoulder to sooth the slight trembles breaking across, and stepped to his side, effectively blocking out Sophie's open view of his brother.

"Sophie, I assure you that we are working on it," Elijah said in his smooth velvety voice, designed to calm any brewing storm. Then, adding an edge to his voice, he returned in favour, "Our family won't want innocent blood on our hands either."

Having lived her entire life amongst his kind, and having lost more than one good friend and close family to those beasts, Sophie was unfazed by his threat.

The little interruption by Elijah allowed Klaus to regain control over his rages and work himself on Sophie, determined to fish out information from the witch. "Honey, you obviously know more than you are letting in. With so little time left, don't you suppose sharing those knowledge could only serve our purpose?"

Sophie took a long moment to consider, and Klaus, being all too familiar with this phase of reluctant alliances, waited patiently for her to take the hand.

Unfolding her arms, Sophie finally said, "Ask away. I will tell you what I know."

Klaus flashed her a polite smile and let his fingers slide against the frame of a cheap wooden chair at his side. Taking it slow, he started, "Why are the witches so afraid of him?"

"Because he knows our every move."

"It doesn't matter, does it? He'll know of the magic you cook up not much earlier than the moment your magic takes effect."

"Our magic never touches him."

Klaus' fingers lifted from the chair and he held himself still, taking in what Sophie had just informed him of. How curious.

When Sophie gave no further information, he prompted, continuing the little dance he was doing with the witch, "How can that be? Perhaps he has a witch on his side."

At that, Sophie fought fiercely, offended by his suggestion that one of their kind was helping the man in his oppression of the witch community. "No witch could have deflected a spell casted by two dozen witches combined. They made an attempt a decade back to immobilise him so they could drive a stake into his heart." Sophie paused and did not continue.

"The spell had no effect on him," Elijah stated rather than ask.

"It didn't. Marcel found out and took one of them."

Klaus nearly let out a chuckle but managed to hold back when he heard Sophie's voice cracking. He had taught Marcel that. It was no fun to wipe out one's enemies. Kill to instil fear, and let live others to make the game last. The boy had lived this out, and took it to a different level. He was sure Marcel's underlings enjoyed watching the game as much as the boy relished playing it. It was a display of power.

Klaus watched Sophie as she lowered herself onto a nearby chair, crossing her arms and legs as she settled into the wooden piece, her mind engaged in a distant memory. Sensing that they've gotten all the information she would offer that day, Klaus straightened himself, ready to leave. "Very well, at least we now know the only ones capable of ending this are Elijah and me."

"Come on, let's go," Klaus gestured for Elijah to exit, but was stopped by a pull at his arm.

"We've yet to see Hayley."

"I didn't come to see her," Klaus said coldly, brushing his hand off and heading for the door without second thought.

Sighing softly, Elijah followed behind. He did not, however, fail to see his brother pause for a second when he crossed the wooden threshold. He froze, even holding in his breath, not making a sound until Klaus moved again. He shook his head and smiled to himself. His brother was not beyond redemption after all. There was hope for this family.

Elijah easily caught up with Klaus and begun walking step with Klaus, mirroring one of their many morning walks during Regency England. Gathering his thoughts from the earlier meeting, he said, "I have never seen anyone deflect a spell casted by that many witches, and we know how New Orleans witches used to be."

"Neither have I, brother. So Marcel not only knows about all magic practised in New Orleans, he is immune to it. It has to be expression. That's possibly the only thing we know which can triumph good old magic."

"Sophie swore he had no witches on his side."

Slowly down, Klaus dropped his voice and continued, "I was informed that what Marcel possessed was not helper, but piece of magic itself."

Startled, Elijah stopped in his track and spun around to face Klaus, frowning. "A piece of magic? He practises magic?"

"None of his followers were helpful enough to explain. I have a plan though."

"Care to let me into the plan?"

"Later, perhaps. There is something I have to attend to right now."

Throwing his head back, Elijah laughed. "Always elusive. I guess I'll have to make myself useful before you learn to trust me as you did back in the 15th."

Back then, he was his brother's right-hand man. He loved his brother and was extremely protective of him, and of his desires. Then Katherine came along and showed them for the first time that even a bond such as theirs required careful nurturing if it was to last. This was a chance for Elijah to re-establish bonds, not just with Klaus but also with the other remaining family member he had. He had Rebekah's word to join them once the child arrives.

Klaus and Elijah looked eyes for a drawn out moment before the former broke it with a warm smile reserved for moments of genuine emotions such as this. "See you at the house." With that, the brothers separated. Klaus eyed a familiar silhouette clad in a boring black hoodie and blending purposefully into the sea of people.

Klaus weaved through the weekend crowd, his mind fixated on a single destination. He was careful to slow when he turned a corner and to move in predictable directions. Within ten minutes, he was within radius of the house. Not giving his tail time to guess his intentions, Klaus sped to the door, pulled it wide open and combed the house for his prey. He found her in her room, watching a commercial for pizza play on the television set in the room. "Looks like it's time for supper," he chuckled just as the woman turned at the sound of an invader. Klaus lunged at her and grabbed the unsuspecting victim by her shoulder before she could run, pushing her head away from him. The woman struggled against his grip but he held onto her forcefully and sunk his fangs into her exposed neck just as someone tore into the room behind them.

"No!" A man shouted in despair and tried to push Klaus away from the woman.

Had Klaus wanted to hold onto his victim, no amount of force could have loosen his grip on her. However, the deed was done and his goal achieved, so Klaus gave the man his wife, allowing him to support her limp body as she sunk to the ground. She was not dead, not yet, just unconscious. Pulling out a white satin handkerchief, Klaus wiped off traces of the woman from his lips and waited for some reaction.

Moments later, the man got onto his feet and threw a heavy punch at Klaus. Naturally, Klaus dodged the hit without an effort and side-stepped to make the man slam his fist into the wall behind instead.

He dared flash a nonchalant smile when the man spun around and glared at him. Before the man could attack him again, Klaus said, "What the name? Lucas? Yes, I believe this is the name I was told."

"It is really unfortunate that your eternal marital bliss with this lovely lady be cut short so abruptly," Klaus said with a tone so disconnected that it sounded like he played no part in the misfortunate unfolding before his eyes.

Lucas, a vampire with the physical appearance of a college student, shook in anger as he forced himself to listen to the vile creature opposite him.

Eyebrows arched in anticipation, Klaus almost looked like he was enjoying the game as he said slowly, "Now, I am here to make a deal." He paused to add impact, before continuing, "I will offer my help, if you offer me yours."

"What help?" Lucas spat, his eyes fixed on Klaus with rage burning within them.

"Tell me all about Marcel and his little secrets," Klaus explained. His eyes narrowed as he returned Lucas' glare with a steady gaze bearing no hint of guilt. "I'm especially interested in the one about how he manages the magic around this place."

"I know nothing!"

"Oh I'm sure you will have your ways to find out," Klaus assured. He walked to the door and put a heavy hand on Lucas' shoulder. "Let this be a test of how much you love her. Don't worry, it will be a short test."

Leaving Lucas with the subtle threat, Klaus left the pair behind and took off.

"The fight between love and loyalty. I wonder which will win," Klaus muttered to himself as he slipped onto the main streets of the French Quarter. With his tail gone and expected to be back with a new lead, Klaus was in high spirits. He swayed to the music as he sashayed down the rows of pubs and bars lining the street, each contributing its own tune to the melody of Bourbon Street.

He had felt trapped between the fierce loyalty of Marcel's people and the dwindling days till the child was due. Now, he was finally back where he always made himself be - one step ahead of everyone. His victims had had moments of weakness and divulged to him about a certain piece of magic which informs Marcel of any magic practised in the vicinity. None of those loose-lips ones had been around the man long enough to be allowed into the secret, or to know where this piece of magic originated from. Sophie had added to his knowledge, that this piece of magic conferred protection to its owner. But all that was not enough. Klaus needed more. Lucas will give him just that.

He was about to enter one of the bars when the phone at the back of his pocket rang a cheesy tune.

_Don't let me go, don't let me do, don't let me go..._

Fishing it out of his pocket, Klaus glanced at the screen and a smile instantly flashed across his face. Things are certainly improving by the minute.

"Caroline."

"Where are you?" the voice over the phone demanded to know.

It hasn't been long since he last heard her voice, but the last time they spoke, she had asserted that he would hear from her no more. What a pleasant surprise to be receiving a phone call from her then. Drunk with the sweet voice over the phone, Klaus was unable to form a response to the simple question.

"Hello?"

"Yes, Caroline?"

"I asked you where you were," came her curt reply.

"On my favourite street in New Orleans," Klaus finally said. He was so pleased to be hearing from Caroline that he let the half-drunk boy who knocked into his side walk away without a bruise.

"Who knows where that is?" she lied. "What is the exact location? Look around for a street name or something, will you?"

Klaus was sure this had been one of their morning after topics, but he gave her the answer readily, not wanting to risk upsetting the blonde. It took her too long to call him.

He had let himself hope that phone call will last several minutes more, but was disappointed when she ended the conversation abruptly with a "Ok, bye" and cut the line. Heart sinking, Klaus pushed the phone back into his pocket and started to leave the place, no longer in the mood for a celebratory drink. The sound of music assaulted his ears and he hastened his footsteps to leave the joyous street. As he laboured up a low slope, his gaze fell onto a familiar face framed by silky, straight hair kissed golden by the sun. The sight made his heart beat erratically, defying the immortality magic and jolting his still heart to life.

Klaus blinked to will his imagination away, but the beautiful locks remained, drawing a smile onto his face. How could a single person, a single person so intent on pushing him away, have such a pull on him?

_We're pulling apart and coming together again and again_

_We're growing apart but we pull it together_

_Pull it together, together again_

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Thanks for reading! Reviews would be lovely!


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Vampire Diaries, Romance, Supernatural