Claudia Lockwood-Mikaelson

Chapter 16 - Manhunt in New Orleans

I'm woken up by a loud racket coming from downstairs and I quickly get dressed into a light blouse and some jeans before going to investigate. I find Marcel in a foul mood with a group of people downstairs as he demands answers from them. Everyone seems riled up and on edge.

"It's been weeks," he hollers at them. "And not a single one of you has given me any useful information."

Nik appears behind me making me jump before telling me he will handle the situation. He slowly walks down the stairs to speak to Marcel who has now gone quiet, glaring around at everyone.

"Good, you're here," Marcel says to him. "We have still been unable to find who killed Nathan."

"And I should care because...?" Nik questions rudely.

"Because these people are your guys now too, not just mine. If you want respect, you have to protect your nightwalkers and not turn a blind eye allowing a murderer to go unpunished." Marcel is annoyed at his lack of care.

"Right, of course," Nik assents. His authoritative stance changes the whole dynamic of the room, everyone looks to him to decide the next step. His commanding presence is incredibly hot and I peek out from behind one of the pillars to admire the view I have of him. Leading is what he does best and he impresses me with his ability to immediately hold the attention of the entire room with just a few words. God, he is so sexy.

"We will find whoever is responsible and punish them. No one harms nightwalkers," I hear the boys project their voices loudly, riling up the vampires. "There is nowhere in New Orleans to hide, we will hunt down whoever did this. They will be dealt with accordingly."

"Whoever it is will not go unpunished, no one will even think about laying a hand on any vampire again in our city after I am through with them." Nik promises.

I'm still nervous around the nightwalkers as they all despise wolves like me. I try to keep out of their way as much as possible so I leave the boys to it. They begin discussing witnesses but come up empty after realising everyone was at the wedding. I see Jannah is with them and smile at her, before I head down the long corridor deciding to spend my morning painting.

Not long later, I am brought out of my daydream as I paint by none other than Jannah. She explains the situation to me. A nightwalker was found weeks ago staked and they haven't been able to track down who is responsible. Marcel has requested she uses magic to track the culprit and find any further clues.

"No one knows what happened. It must have been during the wedding although it doesn't make sense why he would walk out. Plus all the day and nightwalkers were there so it must have been a human that killed him. It just doesn't make any sense."

"What do you mean?" I ask, struggling to follow her.

"No vampire hunter has been in New Orleans for years and humans know nothing. Marcel and Klaus have ensured it. Nothing is normal about this, someone is out there who needs to be compelled to forget all about their desire to hunt vampires. Although I doubt Klaus and Marcel will allow them to get away with that. They seem intent on taking a life for a life."

"Compel?"

"Oh don't tell me Klaus didn't tell you honey. Really?" She raises an eyebrow at me.

"Didn't tell me what?"

"About compulsion. Vampires can compel humans to do their bidding and obey every word they say. Think of it like mind control, one look in the eyes and bam they take control like a puppet. It's how they often keep the humans away from us. Well, usually. Nathan would have noticed something was wrong and he should have been able to compel himself out of the situation. That's why Marcel is so..." she trails off seeing the horror on my face.