Lightning Strikes Twice

Six

Méalla had just walked into Klaus' room and come face to face with a body with blonde hair.
"Blonde bartender?" Méalla said in confusion.
"Disgruntled sister?" The bartender looked at her before realization hit.
"You're the Disgruntled Sister. Also a vampire, I presume?" The bartender asked.
"Hybrid, actually. Never got your name." Lie. Méalla remembers her name tag and Elijah calling Camille by her name. She just wants to size the blonde up more.
"I'm Cami." Cami looked at Méalla with a thoughtful look.
"Méalla. May I ask what you are doing here?" Méalla looked at Cami, then to Klaus, then back to Cami. She didn't think it was a date.
"Oh, I was just going over Camille's role as my stenographer, writing my memoirs while helping us take back New Orleans from Marcel." Klaus gestured airily from the desk chair he was in.
"Really? If you wanted a writer, I'm right here and you know that. What's your actual reason?" Méalla stared expectantly at her brother, exasperated. She felt Cami was still in front of her but paid no attention, feeling no danger.
"Marcel likes her, and therefore trusts her. Besides, while you're quite the one with words, Little Quill, you would be quite biased with my memoirs." Klaus' tone was light but she heard the all familiar ruthlessness in the undertones.
"Fine, fine, create your insider, just don't cause any more chaos than needed. He's just agreed to return Elijah." Méalla turned on her heel and walked out into the hall, shaking her head.
"She seems nice. Snarky, but nice. Even polite maybe." Cami stared after Méalla, slightly in disbelief and awe at all this new information.
"Politeness is always a mask, Camille, especially in the shadows. There's always something nastier under it." Klaus grinned, leaning forward to start the conversation about Marcel.

"Any luck Bekah?" Méalla asked as she walked past her typing sister to the living room. Hayley was on the couch and Agnes opposite her.
"What am I gonna do? Pop into the Quarter for a quick ultrasound? A pregnant werewolf escorted by a witch, nothing to see here!" Hayley snipped.
"A lot of women would kill to have a child. It strikes me as odd that you're not taking better care of yours." Rebekah said stoically, not looking up from her laptop. Méalla knew she was talking partly about herself.
"Hayley, you probably do need a visit, just to see how you and the baby are doing." Méalla spoke, causing the werewolf to frown at her.
"I know a doctor out in the bayou. Off the beaten path. Now, I took the liberty of making an appointment for you. Tonight, after-hours, just us. Vampires will never get word of it." Agnes coaxed. Méalla thought it odd she made the appointment, but dismissed it.
Hayley looked at the three other women in the room and sighed. "Okay, fine. Bayou-baby-doctor it is."
She and Agnes stood from their seats and started to leave when Hayley turned to Méalla.
"Do you think you could come with us?" Hayley asked, a little hopeful.
"I'm sorry, love, I can't." Méalla's apologetic tone made Hayley look a little crestfallen. Something in Méalla twisted at the sight of Hayley's disappointment and she considered changing her mind for a second, but Méalla knew she was needed elsewhere.
Hayley nodded and then she left the room with Agnes.
"Please, sister, tell me you're not still at it with the internet search. How does one begin, anyway? Just type in "anonymous attic?" Klaus had just walked in, heading straight to the scotch.
"Someone has to find Elijah, even if I have to search every bloody attic in New Orleans." Rebekah said.
"Like looking for a needle in a rather large pile of needles." Klaus spoke airily.
"I remember details about the attic Marcel took me to. There were shutters on the windows behind Elijah's coffin." Rebekah said, tight determination in her voice. Méalla stood silent, wishing for just one moment of no disagreements, schemes, or backstabs.
"Well, that should narrow it down immensely. Myself, I prefer actual strategy as opposed to mind-numbing labor. Marcel's delay in returning our brother makes me suspect he's no longer in charge of the situation. If Davina's loyalty to Marcel is strained, perhaps the young witch will be open to discussing a new alliance." Klaus spoke. Rebekah looked up, a bitter smile forming.
"As usual, your power grabs are more important than rescuing your brother." Rebekah muttered.
"I prefer to think of it as killing two birds with one stone. Rob Marcel of his secret weapon, bring our brother home." Klaus left the room, with his scotch and his plot. Méalla wanted to snap his neck a few times, until she got him to listen to her somewhat.
Méalla drew a long breath and started to leave, but stopped when Rebekah spoke, not looking up from her search.
"You realize you can't keep your own pregnancy a secret for long in a world with heightened senses as well as the fact you probably need an appointment too?" Rebekah sounded stern but she wasn't wrong.
"Unfortunately, I'm well aware of that." Méalla had walked to where her sister was sitting, with her laptop on the table in front of her. Méalla waited for her to look up, continuing when Rebekah did. "Which is why I am actually going to join Klaus on his witch mission. If this Davina girl is as powerful as to sense, negate, even control the use of magic, I want to see if we could work a deal. She helps me find the reason behind this baby, I help her not get killed by Klaus or Marcel or any other threat." Méalla explained. Rebekah looked at her thoughtfully.
"You're offering yourself as a bodyguard in exchange for information? Seems a bit unbalanced." Rebekah mused.
"I am Klaus' sister, Rebekah, of course that's not the full extent. If I have any other need of magic, she'll help me. If she doesn't, all the power hungry assholes vying for her loyalty or her death, well I'm raising a glass alongside them before they carry out their plot." Méalla's light tone held snark but she was extremely serious.
"That sounds fair. Maybe get Elijah back as an act of good will?" Rebekah asked, once again focusing on her search.
"I'll find a way." Méalla responded, leaving Rebekah to her mission.

As Klaus and Méalla walk into Rousseau's, Cami looks up from wiping down the bar and something flashed in her eyes.
"Hello Cami." Klaus greeted, the two Hybrids coming to stand at the opposite side of the bar.
"How is it that when you come up to me now, and no one else is around, I suddenly remember that you just told me you're a vampire, and you're mind-controlling me? And then you leave, and then I go back to thinking you're just some hot guy with a cute accent and money to burn on your sprawling memoir?" Cami questioner, with a tinge of annoyance. Méalla was amused, finally somebody who wasn't immediately afraid to annoy Klaus after finding out what he is.
"Well, that's how compulsion works, love." Klaus leaned into the bar, voice amused.
"Yeah, but what's happening? Is it hypnosis? Are my neurons being shut down somehow?" Méalla was impressed. Cami was trying to figure out how it worked, most people just accepted it was magic cause you know, vampires, werewolves, and witches.
"You're always the curious scholar. Let's talk about Marcel. You said you have a little information for me." Klaus gestured to the bar.
"He's bringing someone to the music festival tonight. A girl he's mentoring. Apparently she's going through a hard time. Rebelling against authority, anger issues, that sort of thing. I guess with my psych degree, he figured I could set her straight, but I said no." Cami replied. Psych degree? Damn, Klaus has found his match. One could talk his way into anything, even without compulsion and now there's someone to psychologically dissect how he does it. Méalla smirked internally at those thoughts.
"I'm going to go ahead and insist that you change your answer to yes." Klaus told Cami. The bartender just stared him down for a moment.
"You're going to force me to do this, aren't you? Why even bother with politeness?" She finally asked, actual curiosity behind her words.
"Because I like you. I like the way your mind works. Under different circumstances, I think we might be friends. However, I don't have the luxury of passing up tonight's opportunity. You see, in addition to being Marcel's rather potent secret weapon, this girl, Davina, is holding my brother captive." Klaus shrugs. He started to compel Cami. "In other words, the girl needs your help. Call Marcel. Tell him you'd be happy to oblige."

After making sure Cami made the call, Klaus and Méalla walked out of the bar into the street.
"You like her, don't you? You've never had a problem compelling anybody before, even if you liked them. You're not just using her for Marcel, you want to spend time with her." Méalla said casually to her brother, looking around at the busyness of everything around them.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Klaus spoke too nonchalantly.
"Klaus. I can read you like a book, and she's doing nothing to hide what she feels. It's obvious." Méalla replied.
"Fine, yes. I like her. What's that got to do with anything?" Klaus muttered from beside her.
"It means, dear brother, that you're not as terrible as you think you are." Méalla shrugged.
"I'll meet you at the festival tonight, don't get into too much trouble before then."

As Méalla was walking down Dauphine Street, she saw Marcel with a petite brunette, who looked around 16 or 17. That must be Davina. She watched as they entered Rousseau's and met Cami. She made her way over, but waited until Marcel left them to go join them.
She joined them just as Cami and the girl finished talking about the boy with the fiddle.
"Hey, Cami, who's this?" Méalla asked, trying to seem casual.
"Oh Méalla, hi! Didn't see you there. This is Davina, she's Marcel's friend. Davina this is Méalla." Cami greeted the Hybrid and introduced them.
"Hello, Davina. I've heard a lot about you, Marcel is a friend of mine as well." Méalla smiled at the girl, waiting to see her reaction.
She watched as Davina was about say hi when her eyes widened in alarm.
"Méalla Mikaelson?" Davina's cheer sounded forced.
"Oh, Marcel has talked about me! Yeah, that's me." Méalla chirped.
"Excuse me, but I have to go get something. Keep my place?" Cami excused herself from the conversation and walked away, leaving the Witch and the Hybrid alone.
"I know you know what I am and I know you're holding my brother. I'm not looking to hurt you, I just wanted to see if we could work a deal. Just between you, Davina Claire, and me, Méalla Mikaelson. No other parties, no Marcel, no siblings." Méalla told Davina, who was frantically looking for a way out. Méalla saw the girl was alarmed but she didn't seem as ready to run after hearing Méalla speak.
Davina gazed at Méalla suspiciously. Méalla wasn't surprised. Marcel probably told her about how her family can be quite, well, their family, and to be wary.
"What kind of deal?" The girl asked stiffly.
"I need your help to find a why and a how behind some magic, and in exchange, I'll make sure none of the warring parties wanting you on their side or dead actually manage to succeed in their desires." Méalla was relaxed and casual as she prepositioned the young witch.
"What kind of magic and why not other witches?" Davina still sounded suspicious.
"That knowledge is for if you take the deal. As for why you, you are currently powerful enough to sense and control the use of magic in the Quarter, and that's the type of power I'll probably need for this magic." Méalla explained.
"I'll let you think about it. I see Cami coming back, enjoy the festival." With that, Méalla turned and left the girl with the music.