◤ 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖘𝖎𝖝𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓: ❛ better and
better ❜ ◢

✧

          MARISOL, IN HER TIME, HAD LIVED IN SOME SPECTACULAR HOUSES. One of the perks of having a vampire nephew who traveled with her most everywhere was that he could compel a nice, wealthy house for them to stay in rent free. They had many glorious homes over the years, charming the town and hosting parties, being generally good neighbors until eventually they grew bored of the place or it had been a decade and they couldn't stay anymore.

After a decade, people began to question why the two never seemed to age, looking just as they had when they arrived in town and took residence, so they caped their residencies to nine years and then left in search for a new home. While it was sad that nothing was permanent in their lives except each other, with nowhere to truly call home but only their new destination, they also got to explore the world like no one else because they were forced out and away from everything they had known.

They could not take a permanent residence anywhere, could not stay for years and grow old in a place, so they traveled far and wide and to many places – young and old – and experienced things like no human. It was painful sometimes to leave, when they became close with a particular person or scenery, but they could find those connections again, so was it really a loss?

And because of their travels, Marisol and Magnus had been owners of many beautiful and lavish places, but the old governor of New Orleans home that Marisol currently resided in was truly a wonder. Because not only did it have that old charm, it had so many hidden passages to explore whenever she got bored. And, it was rent free, which was always a bonus.

But Marisol was enthralled with everything New Orleans. It was a city that never slept, but it wasn't so big and overwhelming like New York, and it had a great supernatural population. So many witches to befriend and get help from, at least in the past. God, she remembered her time here in the twenties, when witches weren't oppressed by Marcel yet and still used their magic. It was truly a time to be alive and be in New Orleans.

Though, she would admit that she hadn't seen the city since the twenties before her return in the twenty-first century. There were so many other places to visit before returning here, and Magnus had never been a large fan of the place, so when she was with him she never brought it up. Magnus never liked jazz and that was what ruled New Orleans, so he never wanted to stay and when she was with him, Marisol never wanted to say goodbye to him. So, she stayed away, until she found herself back now, regretting that she hadn't visited earlier because the charm of the French Quarter had only grown as years passed.

She would admit that living in the beautiful home with the Mikaelsons was not ideal. Nothing about her current predicament with Klaus was ideal because she was betraying a friend, and that was never a fun time. She didn't have many friends, especially not in the twenty-first century, so betraying one of the only ones she had was not something that she wanted to do at all, but that was just how fate was having it. And, God, wasn't fate a cruel mistress.

She stepped down the stairs, seeing Klaus in the foyer of the house, so she stopped. "Something troubling you?" she asked, because she could be polite to the man that was currently controlling her life and forcing her to help in his plot to overthrow Marcel. Besides, she was sure that if she hadn't said anything he would've stopped her himself for a word.

"Yes, actually," he said quite plainly, "Marcel told me about you yesterday, his wonderful human friend who I'm not supposed to get anywhere near. At first, I didn't know he meant you, until he said your name was Mars Bigora, and isn't that so close to Marisol?"

"I change my name up a little sometimes, what's the big deal?" she asked, pointedly ignoring the fact that he said the word human when describing her.

"Oh, no, I perfectly understand the need for a name change. Niklaus just sounds too...old-fashioned, but it's the human part I didn't understand," he began, moving into the living room, with her following after, "See, because, last time I checked, you're a wolf."

Marisol shrugged. "So Marcel doesn't know I'm a werewolf, whatever. It's for my own interest because, if you've heard anything about him, you've heard of how he cursed all the werewolves that lived here. He's not exactly our biggest fan and because of my own curse all my werewolf stench is gone, so I lied. It's really easy to pretend to be human, actually."

Klaus nodded, as if accepting her answer before then saying, "He also said he saw you yesterday for breakfast. Now what, exactly, did he say?"

"Mostly we talked about how I didn't attend one of his parties and he invited me to the one he has coming up, but he also did seem to mention this guy who's a hybrid. Kinda big deal around town, actually, stirring up trouble a bit," she said this while staring directly at him so that Klaus knew she was talking about him, "Also said that I couldn't trust this guy, that he was unpredictable and that no one should trust him. Although, Marcel did say that this guy is trying and he's focusing on the positives of the hybrid."

"And here I thought giving up Elijah would solve all that untrusting nature, but I guess not," Klaus muttered, if a bit sarcastically.

Rebekah then walked into the room, looking out the window before pouting. "I cannot believe you disposed of those vampires without me," she told her brother, "You know how I love to set things on fire!"

"Was I supposed to leave them in the front yard to rot?" Klaus inquired, a small smirk on his face as he poked fun at his sister, "Besides, they were my responsibility. They attacked the helpless pregnant girl who's carrying my child."

Marisol rolled her eyes at him, because she highly doubted that he cared anything at all for Hayley. She didn't know what he thought about her or the child, really, or what convinced him to protect Hayley and bring her to this house, but she didn't want to ask either. It wasn't her place and, honestly, that might open up a can worms that would be better left closed.

"Oh, I am so moved by your new-found sense of fatherly duties towards the werewolf carrying your hybrid bun in her oven," Rebekah said, tone dripping with sarcasm.

Klaus laughed at her as Hayley walked into the room, obviously having heard the conversation, causing a leather book with the initial M on it. "The werewolf would like to know what the plan is," she said.

"Well, that depends what plan you mean, love – my plan for global domination, Rebekah's plan to find love in a cruel, cruel world or...well, whatever Marisol wants," Klaus finished with a shrug in her direction.

"What I want is not be cursed, but that hasn't happened after five hundred years so it's probably never gonna happen," Marisol said for herself.

Hayley sighed. "The plan to rescue Elijah. You know, the good brother?" she said as a stab at Klaus, but honestly Marisol didn't know how good Elijah could be if he could still romance her only to lure her to death for a ritual to unlock Klaus' werewolf side all those centuries ago, but Hayley continued, "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," Klaus corrected her, as if that would make Hayley happy to know.

"You two said that you would get him back," Hayley motioned between Klaus and Rebekah, "So is there a plan, or what?"

"Okay," Klaus sighed, taking a seat as the three ladies stared at him, "Well, firstly, Marcel is not my mortal enemy – he's my friend," Marisol found that hard to believe, "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, okay, she supposed that she wasn't really Marcel's friend anymore because she was helping Klaus in this endeavor and friends didn't try and sabotage each other, but it wasn't like she had a choice in the matter. It wasn't like she wanted to take everything Marcel had like Klaus did, so maybe she could still label Marcel her friend. Maybe. Hopefully. Because, really, she did like Marcel."

"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 – sister, please," he motioned for Rebekah to finish for him, which she did.

"And thirdly, the plan, as you have demanded, is for Niklaus to simply ask Marcel for Elijah back," Rebekah concluded.

Hayley looked between them incredulously. "That's...that's not the whole plan, is it?"

"I mean, it's not like it's gonna work. You're gonna have to do something big for Marcel to grant that request," Marisol nodded in agreement to Hayley, not that she wanted to help them find Elijah.

Rebekah scoffed. "Oh, please. Klaus may be a miserable excuse for a sibling, but there is none more diabolical."

"And that's only Plan A, love! There's always a Plan B," Klaus interjected, a bit pride of him from the praise he received from Rebekah, even if it wasn't exactly something someone would want to be praised about.

"And what's Plan B?" Hayley asked.

Klaus looked all too happy to answer this, smiling as he announced a one three-letter word. "War."

That was not an option for Marisol. She knew what happened in war, she had seen enough of them at this point in her life, and the last thing she wanted – besides ever seeing Elijah's stupid face again – was seeing her friend killed.

"Or," Marisol spoke up, proposing, "we could use Plan C, which is not get Elijah back at all. Honestly, would it be so bad to let him rot for a few years with the dagger inside him? He's done it before, hasn't he?"

Rebekah grew sour, obviously outraged at her proposition. "No, it is not an option. We're getting Elijah back."

"You don't want to see him? Why?" Hayley asked, the only one unaware about the history Marisol had with the daggered Original. And, honestly, Marisol doubted if Elijah's siblings knew the full story either.

"Well, let's just say that we didn't leave things in a good place," Marisol offered her explanation, "I already didn't want to see you two again," she motioned at the Originals, "but I really don't want Elijah back in my life."

"Come on, love," Klaus grinned at her, "I seem to remember when you and Elijah couldn't wait to see each other."

"That was a much different time and my feelings have changed," Marisol stared at him.

"Well, too bad, because I will stop at nothing until my brother has returned," Rebekah told her, and Marisol sighed. They had gone years without each other, why was it a big deal? It wasn't like Marcel could kill Elijah, and neither could the witch holding his body captive. A few years inside the coffin won't hurt him and it would mean that Marisol would be long since free from Klaus and living her life far away from New Orleans and from Elijah when he was brought back to the land of the living.

She knew it was selfish, but Marisol never claimed to be selfless. In fact, she was happy to admit that she was a selfish human being, and she didn't want to see Elijah, but with her current predicament with Klaus and his want for Elijah's return, it seemed like she wouldn't have a choice in the matter.

✧

THE THING ABOUT old houses that had been abandoned for decades was that they didn't have TVs or Internet, which fucking sucked in this new day and age when everything depended on technology. There was nothing new and nothing to do, making Marisol one very bored woman, especially since she didn't have a job because income was unnecessary for her at this point.

She had worked hard for centuries for her to now relax, at least for a few years. Eventually, she always ended back up in the workface to entertain herself for a while and so that she could always take years off when she no longer had the desire to work but just relax and live life in the moment not caring about any responsibility.

Yeah, she could read, but for some many years her only source of entertainment at home was reading, and she was done with that. Been there, done that and everything. But, since that seemed like the only thing she could do, she did. Some old books she was sure that she read before and simply couldn't remember with everything else she had read in her long life, but it was enough to keep her busy for a little while.

She heard heels clacking against the floor, meaning that Rebekah had entered the room, but Marisol didn't pay her any attention as she continued to read until the Original cleared her throat, "Come on, we're leaving."

Marisol peered up, raising an eyebrow at the woman, "Um, no we're not, especially because I think it's gotta have something to with getting Elijah back which I don't care to help with."

Rebekah huffed. "I'm not looking for Elijah, I want answers as to who sold Hayley that wolfsbane and then ratted her out. So, come on."

Okay, that was something she could get behind. Whoever ratted out Hayley and almost got her killed was definitely not a friend in her eyes, so finding out who they are and who they told is definitely something that interests her...and these books were just so boring. Old literature never got to the point, instead adding a lot of flowery language and placing a guessing game with the reader about what exactly happened. God it was annoying, and Marisol was over it.

"Fine," Marisol relented, "But only because these books are shit."

Rebekah looked pleased with her nonetheless, so she didn't argue with Marisol's reasoning. And soon they were off to where Hayley had told Rebekah where she go the wolfsbane in the first place, though Rebekah didn't seem to know that it was under Marisol's advice she got the information. And she was so thankful that Hayley didn't throw her under the bus, because that would suck.

They walked around the French Quarter, waiting outside because apparently Rebekah had called someone else to help her. Marisol didn't even know that Rebekah knew anyone else, until Sophie Deveraux walked up to them and it made sense, because Sophie and her late sister Jane-Anne had been the ones to lure Klaus back to town.

"Oh, so glad you could make it," Rebekah said sarcastically when she saw Sophie, "Elijah only lies daggered and rotting whilst you dilly-dally."

"You're lucky I can at all," Sophie told the Original, unafraid to stand up to her, "What do you want?"

"Hayley was attacked last night by Marcel's crew because somebody told him there was a werewolf in the Quarter. She only made one stop," Rebekah peered to the name of the shop on the window, "Whoever saw her here ratted her out. Watch and learn."

Then, Rebekah walked inside with Marisol and Sophie trailing after her. The shopkeeper only saw Sophie when she came out of the back, greeting her with a smile until Rebekah emerged, looking at some of the herbs they had on display. Marisol pointedly took a step away from the blonde and far from what was about to happen, since she knew there was going to be a scene.

"That's filled with marigold," the young witch, who Marisol recognized to be Katie, told Rebekah, "Great for attracting the opposite sex. It would look awesome on you!"

"I very seriously doubt that," Rebekah replied, "Do you have any others, one with – say, I don't know – wolfsbane, perhaps?"

Katie froze for a second before feigning confusion. "Wolfsbane? Why would you want that?"

Rebekah sped toward Katie, holding her neck tightly. "Please, do not play dumb with me," then she proceeded to slam Katie onto the counter harshly.

Marisol merely blinked at the spectacle, because she had seen far worse and this really was a mild way to get information from someone. Not as impressing as she thought Rebekah could be, but whatever. Sophie, though, was horrified and called out, "Rebekah!"

"I just sold a werewolf some herbs. That's all," Katie gasped, trying to catch her breath as Rebekah still held her neck.

"Are you lying to me, Katie? I suggest you answer my question honestly," Rebekah stared down at her, not believing the girl.

Katie choked, looking to the other witch in the room for help, "Sophie –"

"Just answer the question, Katie," Sophie told her, uncomfortable with Rebekah's form of getting information. Marisol, though, was completely unimpressed and bored with the display. She expected something more from an Original if she was being honest. "Please."

Katie sighed, "Yes, I told someone, but you don't understand. I-I love him."

"Well, that's just great," Marisol muttered, because that was not something she wanted to hear, but also expected if a witch was going to go tattling to a vampire.

Rebekah didn't waste a second before violently throwing Katie to the floor and raising her foot so that the heel of her stiletto was dangling closely to Katie's neck. One move down and she would kill the girl. "And tell me, who is this vampire Romeo of yours? Shall I count to three?"

Before there was even a chance of counting, Katie yelled out a name, "Thierry! I told Thierry."

And what's that just wonderful? Marcel's right-hand man had a witch who loved him. Dear God, this just keeps getting better...

✧

IT REALLY DID keep getting better, because now with Marcel's refusal to give back Elijah and war the only other option on the table they would consider, the revelation that Marcel's right-hand man was in love with a witch was the best fucking news Klaus had just about ever heard. So, a new plan was formed that wouldn't include war just yet to get back Elijah, which was the worst thing ever in Marisol's opinion, and now she was stuck in the study of the house she was staying in as Klaus and Rebekah relayed the plan to Sophie, who was not for it at all.

"Are you out of your mind?" Sophie asked them incredulously, "No way."

"It's very simple. We need you to perform a teeny, tiny locator spell to help us find our brother," Rebekah told her, even though it was anything but simple at this point.

Sophie scoffed. "Witches who practice magic in this town get caught, and then they get killed."

"Yes, about that," Klaus came around, taking a seat to stare directly in Sophie's soul, "It seems you left out a crucial detail when we made our deal – Marcel's secret weapon, the way he knows when a witch is using magic..."

"Girl about yea high, cute as a button, anger issue?" Rebekah continued.

Marisol saw as shock ran over Sophie's face. "Davina?" she asked, hesitant for the answer, stumbling a bit to say next, "Where have you seen here?"

Right. Davina. The last girl. The one who should have died but instead Marcel saved her and is keeping her locked up safe somewhere nobody knows. Marisol remembered that day, when Marcel came to her with Davina so that she could help calm the girl before transporting her somewhere else and not telling Marisol a thing.

"I don't know," Rebekah answered, if a bit bitter, "The little brat erased my memory right after she threw me out a window with her bloody mind."

"Let me cut to the chase. Davina has Elijah. You witches, I assume, want to get Davina away from Marcel. We don't know where she is. Ergo, we need magic," he explained piece by piece as if Sophie needed it.

"Davina would sense it," Sophie shook her head.

"Unless, of course, another witch – say, a traitor to the cause, Katie, for example – was to perform much more powerful magic at the same time. That would create a smokescreen, concealing your very small spell from Davina," Rebekah said.

"Katie doesn't deserve to die," Sophie then looked to Marisol, "You know Katie, you know she doesn't deserve this."

Marisol shrugged. "Well, I don't really have a say in the matter at the moment, and I don't know her that well. Won't really affect me."

By this point, with all of Sophie's refusals, Klaus was getting annoyed, prompting him to slam his hands down on the table. "Sophie Deveraux!" he said angrily, moving to sit directly in front of her so that he could stare directly into her eyes, "You're in no position to be so principled.

"You can't win a war without a few strategic losses, no matter how regrettable they may be. How many times have the vampires been one step ahead, known something they shouldn't? Your sister, executed in the public square for practicing magic – who knew she'd be caught? Did she even attempt to flee?"

There was a pause before Sophie admitted, "She was caught in a cargo hold of a freighter before it set sail down the Mississippi."

"And who, pray tell – of Marcel's valued inner circle – manages his business at the docks?" Klaus asked her.

At that, Sophie could only sigh. "Katie's boyfriend, Thierry," and it seemed like all the pieces were already working for them, creating a masterpiece for them to work with and manipulate to get Elijah back. It was so perfect, and now they had Sophie willing to do the locator spell for them and kill off Katie. Perfect.

When Sophie left and Rebekah went out, Marisol turned to Klaus. "How are you going to get Katie to perform a spell tonight – and a powerful one at that?"

"Well, I'm going to make Thierry break one of Marcel's most valued rules; don't kill another vampire," he looked proud of himself, but Marisol could only feel guilt rise in herself knowing that if Thierry kills a vampire he would be punished and Marcel would be devastated. "And that'll surely be enough for Katie to want to save him. It'll be very romantic, I'm sure, until I come in and save the day. Then Marcel will have no choice but to give Elijah up as a form of gratitude."

"You've really thought this whole thing out, haven't you?" she moved into the kitchen, reaching for the liquor cabinet to pour herself a drink because she really needed one.

Klaus shrugged. "Of course I have," he answered before he directed his intent gaze upon her as she took a sip of bourbon, "But I have to ask you something; why are you so against Elijah's return? Here I thought you two were madly in love."

Marisol laughed, "That's funny, but no. Haven't been lovers or anything close to it in a long time. Elijah is at the root of everything wrong in my life, so excuse me if I'd like to get through our whole deal without seeing him."

Klaus titled his head, interested for more, but she wasn't interested in giving anything else to him. She didn't know why he was so curious, like he hadn't been the one to orchestrate Elijah's romancing her to lure her into a trap and use her for the ritual that would unbind his werewolf side. But if he wanted to feign innocence, she wouldn't stop him, but she also wouldn't admit what he wanted to hear.

And as she drained more bourbon from her glass, she felt a little bit better about everything going on in her life.

authors note
hi it makes me sad that you guys never comment on this book because i see you voting and then there's no comments and i get sad