Wicked Schemes

Chapter 2

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But when I'm standing in the gallows
I'll be standing at the sky
Because no matter where they take me
I'm death I will survive
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The City that Never Sleeps was often associated with New York, and while Klaus could certainly agree that it was often bustling with noise and people roaming about, it had nothing on the vibrancy of New Orleans. Even with Mardi Gras being over half a year away, the French Quarter was still alive with music, dancing, and other festivities. The bounce in his step as he walked down the street, taking in the frenzy of colors as the people passed by, music blaring out of this building and that alcove full of musicians entertaining the steady influx of both tourists and locals, was no longer faked. He was brimming with accomplishment, pleased he'd left behind the city and the drama unfolding in it to partake in the graduation ceremony at Mystic Falls.

While he may have missed the actual ceremony, he supposed the aftermath was when it truly counted that he'd shown up and aside from acquiring the last of his prized possessions from the manor, he thought he'd done a damn good job of continuing to entice Caroline out of her safe little existence. Staying in Mystic Falls would only stifle the girl, and considering she wouldn't be able to get away with looking seventeen for too many more years without people becoming wary, the longer she remained, the harder her final break with it would be.

He hoped her jaunt to New York with her mother would nurture the wanderlust that he knew she had inside of her, get her to break free from the chains holding her back and truly experience all life now had to offer her. And it was so much beyond the trivialities of finishing high school or attending college. As much as she enjoyed being a vampire, embracing the fearlessness that came with it, he could see that she was still hanging desperately onto the last pieces of her humanity. Striving to be the daughter she thought her mother needed, the good friend to those he thought beneath her. She seemed to only be denying any chance to find out exactly who she was now and who she could become if she would only allow herself to break free from the ties binding her to that town.

Klaus neared the bar that Marcel frequented, already noting the so-called nightwalkers watching him from the rooftops. Oh they were decent at hiding in the shadows, but that was an art form he had perfected centuries before any of them were born, and the hatchling vampires possessed little threat to him.

He walked into the establishment, smiling at the way Marcel's inner circle was up on their feet immediately, assessing him and his threat level. While he may have made nice shortly before heading out of town, he knew they were wary. And why wouldn't they be? His bite could kill them and there wasn't a damn thing any of them could do about it if he wanted them to die. But he wasn't playing that angle at the moment, and he glanced around the room, spotting his old protégé at the bar, talking to some tourists. He took a moment to study the younger vampire, taking in the affable manner in which he joked with this human and that vampire. Everything had turned out beautifully for him in the years since Klaus and his family had been run out of town. Kingdom created from the ashes of the one Mikael had torn down. Klaus meant to get it back, and if his thousand year quest to unlock his werewolf side proved nothing else, it was that he never gave up until he accomplished what he set out to do. Marcel should have known that much already, but it seemed someone had not been listening to all the lessons he had offered years ago.

Pity that.

Sliding onto the stool beside Marcel, Klaus ordered his usual before spinning around to smirk at the men watching his every move. It was hardly his fault they were jumpy. Marcel clapped a hand on his shoulder, still laughing at something someone else had said.