Marcel and Klaus stood in the compound balcony, overlooking Thierry, Marcel's right hand man who melodically played a tune for them.

"You're right, he's good," Klaus compliments while turning to face Marcel as Thierry continues to play in the background.

"Right? 'Music Man', I call him," Marcel agrees, "ladies love him. But he's spoken for. He knocks around with this pretty little witch, says he loves her but...I don't know."

Klaus frowns at Marcel's statement, "your brightest soldier is fraternizing with your enemy and you don't care?"

"Well, of course I care," Marcel retorts, "but Thierry is a grown man. He makes his own choices and I get some good intel. Besides, he's not going to do anything to jeopardize what we do in here," he assures, "I mean, check this out- a vampire hosting a ritzy charity event. We have a community here and no one's gonna mess that up."

"Still...you don't want the witches to get too bold," Klaus points out, "given that a witch had tipped about a werewolf in town that led to the disappearance of your nightwalkers. I'm sure you're considered the possibility that it could've been a trap," he suggests with a slight smirk.

Marcel remains quiet for a while as he contemplates Klaus' words before a smirk overtakes his face as he says, "well, maybe I'll send a lil' message," before turning to his right-hand man, "Thierry, take a team of nightwalkers to the cauldron tonight. Do a little rousting. Oh and Thierry, make it nasty," he orders as Thierry nods hesitantly before walking away and Klaus smirks in victory.

"Oh, I'll give you nasty," a new voice echoes through the compound, causing everyone's attention to turn to the entrance. A beautiful blonde-brunette, no taller than 5'5, with mesmerizing green eyes and a compelling posture walks into the compound with a clipboard in her hands and a pencil holding her hair into a messy bun.

"I have been calling you for over an hour, what have you been up to?" she quizzes in a loud, irritated voice as Marcel walks down to her and Klaus follows close behind, curious to know who this new face was and how she could be talking to the 'King' of New Orleans in such a way, "you still haven't given me the approval of the dancers. What do you want me to do if I can't get them in time afterwards, huh?" she retorts as Klaus looks in amusement at how panicky Marcel looked at the moment.

'She must be someone important and powerful if Marcel was afraid of her,' he thinks to himself, making a mental note to find out more later on.

"I was busy," Marcel mumbles as the girl huffs in annoyance and hands his the clipboard.

"Busy with what? I don't see you doing anything useful right now. So can you, please, get this done in time? I'm already skipping work for you, might at least make it worth it," she whines as Marcel rolls his eyes at her before looking down at the list as the girl's attention trails off to the third person present in the room with them.

Before her stood arguably the most handsome man she had ever set eyes on. He had curly dirty blond hair and the most mesmerizing blue eyes. Oh, and the charming way he was smiling at her...caused her to realize she had been staring too long.

"Oh sorry, I didn't notice you," she greets in a much quieter tone as Klaus only smiles at her, "you are?" she asks while extending her hand for him to shake.

"Klaus Mikaelson," he answers while reaching out to hold her hand and place a small kiss on her knuckles, instead of shaking it, "an old friend of Marcel's."

The girl raises her brow at his actions before exchanging a look with Marcel, "I'm Evelyn. Also a friend of Marcel's, but probably not as old as you two are," she jokes as Klaus laughs while Marcel too chuckles nervously, not liking them interacting.

"I wouldn't think so, I practically watched Marcel grow up," Klaus replies while playfully nudging Marcel, "just came back to town a few days ago."

"Oh well, welcome back then. I have...um, work to get done so I'll take your leave now," Evelyn states before looking at Marcel threateningly, "send me the corrected list of you can host a party without music," she tells him.

As she turns around to walk away, Klaus calls out for her, causing her to stop and turn, "will I see you at the party today?" he asks with a hopeful smile and much to Marcel's dismay, Evelyn smiles back at him with a nod.

"You will, considering I'm the one planning it for this guy," she retorts while jokingly pointing at Marcel before turning and walking out of the compound.

"Who was she?" Klaus asks Marcel with a curious tone.

"Oh, just a friend from here. Works at the museum and helps me with my parties from time to time," Marcel shrugs, trying to make her seem unimportant.

"She seemed of more significance that just that," Klaus retorts as Marcel smiles at him nervously.

"Okay, we're drink buddies too. Hang out often at the Rousseau's with this bartender friend of hers, Jade," Marcel half-admits as Klaus smirks at the new information, "but that's about it."

Klaus hums in response, before sneakily sending a text to Rebekah when Marcel wasn't looking. Marcel was trying hard to make Evelyn seem unimportant to Klaus, and that's what intrigued him more. He needed to find out what made this girl so precious. Maybe she could be of use to him.

"Find out about the bartender at Rousseau's and her friend. Jade and Evelyn, are the names. Marcel seems oddly defensive," his text to Rebekah read.

༆☼︎☾︎ꨄ︎☽︎☼︎༆

Rousseau's Bar

It took Rebekah ten minutes before she was off to the bar, according to her brother's wishes, to find out more about these two women that were apparently important to Marcel. Needless to say, Rebekah was as curious as Klaus was, to find out who they were and how they could be of use to them.

"And so then, I moved back here to be closer to my brothers because, let's face it, family is important, right Jade?" Rebekah ranted on as Jade served her another round of tequila.

"Of course they are, but they can also be a pain in the ass at times," Jade replies, "I mean, take my brother, for example. I love him to death but gosh, he can really get on my nerves sometimes."

"Same, same," Rebekah mumbles, "so who is this brother of yours? Have I seen him around?"

"Probably not. His name is Jace, my twin. Twelve minutes older and he thinks he can act like he's actually my older brother or something," Jade scoffs, "you know like, 'don't do out with that guy/ he's not good enough for you/ don't you think this dress is a little too short', blah blah blah."

"Oh yeah, my brothers are a lot similar," Rebekah chimes in, "even worse in some ways, actually. So, what does this brother of yours do?"

"He works at the museum. Our mom is the director so he followed into her footsteps and acts as the archivist."

"That's a great position. Any other friends? Maybe a boyfriend? Best friend?" Rebekah pushes on, trying to find out more about this girl, Evelyn as well.

"Well, I'm not really amiable, but I do have a best friend," Jade answers, "Evie, um...Evelyn. She works at the museum too as the exhibit designer and also happens to be dating my brother. She's great, really," she smiles.

"And what about you, no love interests?"

"Not at the moment, these things always tend to get messy when it comes to me. So, I'm taking a break and just enjoying life," Jade shrugs.

"I'm kind of in an on-again-off-again thing myself," Rebekah retorts.

"Ugh, those are the worst, aren't they?" Jade groans as Rebekah nods in agreement.

"You know, I'm having a great time talking to you, Jade. Most girls have the unfortunate tendency of being whiny, little twits," she compliments as Jade laughs.

"Probably why I don't have too many friends," Jade jokes, "and thanks. I'm enjoying this too."

"Hey, I'm supposed to go to this posh charity thing thrown by this philanthropist tonight," Rebekah begins, "he's a bit Gatsby, throws a mean party. Any interest?"

"Is this 'philanthropist' of yours Marcel Gerard, by any chance?" Jade retorts as Rebekah smirks at her.

"Know him?"

"Sort of. He's pretty close to Evie so we hang out sometimes," Jade shrugs as Rebekah's interest heightens.

"Close how?"

"Well, he's sort of like a mentor to her. He helped her in a dark time and now, they're great buds. As for the party, I don't think I'm really welcome there."

Rebekah frowns at this, "why not? I thought you said you're all friends?"

"No, I said me and Evie are besties and Marcel is...well, Evie is the common friend here," Jade clarifies, "and well, Marcel isn't really fond of people like me so."

Rebekah raises her brow at Jade before saying, "oh come on, it'll be fun. Free booze and all. Plus, I'd like to meet this best friend of yours. She sounds charming. One party won't hurt. Marcel won't even know you're there."

Jade remains quiet for a few moments before nodding hesitantly, "yeah, you know what, let's do it. Can't turn down free booze," she jokes as Rebekah smiles in victory.

It hadn't taken long for Rebekah to figure out Jade was more than just human. She was a werewolf. And Marcel hated the werewolves and the witches so having Jade at the party would positively anger and distract him for whatever plan Klaus was cooking up, in order to get back Elijah. Besides that, Rebekah did actually like Jade's personality and wanted to find out more about this Evelyn that everyone seemed to be talking about.

"Got Marcel's distraction covered. Hope you're doing your bit right," Rebekah texts Klaus while a victory smirk graces her face.

༆☼︎☾︎ꨄ︎☽︎☼︎༆

Compound

Big banners of the 'Masquerade Gala' graced the compound's entrance and music boomed through the premises and people's chatter contributed to the party that had begun when Klaus and Rebekah walk into the compound, hand-in-hand, taking in the decoration.

"Well this certainly is a fitting backdrop for tonight's events, I must say," Klaus comments with a smirk as Rebekah smiles back, looking around until her eyes land of the person she was looking for- Jade. Jade stood there is a beautiful, flowy nude dress with her dirty blonde hair in a fishtail and a mask in her hand.

"Who are you looking at?" Klaus inquires as Rebekah smirks.

"What better way to distract Marcel than invite a werewolf into his quarter, one that he cannot harm, no matter what," Rebekah retorts as Klaus frowns in confusion.

But before he can ask anything, Rebekah had already detached herself from him and walked over to the mystery girl that apparently was supposed to be serving as Marcel's distraction tonight.

"Jade, darling," Rebekah greets her, "you look precious."

"So do you," Jade compliments back, "man, Evie sure planned one hell of a party, this is ridiculous," she chuckles as her eyes trail off to Klaus, who was already looking her way.

"Is this the infamous on-again-off-again?" Jade asks as Klaus walks over to them.

"He's the brother, actually," he chimes in, "nice to meet Rebekah's new friend."

"Oh yeah, she told me about you. Good to put a face on the name," Jade replies as Rebekah holds out her hand for Jade.

"I need booze, come on," she urges as Jade nods in agreement before the two walk off to the bar, leaving Klaus behind.

Just as Klaus turns around to look for Marcel, his vamp-hearing picks up a familiar voice that he had been looking forward to hearing again.

"J, you promised you wouldn't miss this one," Evelyn whines on a call with someone."

"I know, I'm sorry. Something came up and I can't leave right now," the guy on the other side replies as Evelyn huffs.

"Yeah whatever," Evelyn rolls her eyes, "have fun working your life away," she retorts before hanging up the call.

Just as she goes to walk towards another direction, she bumps into someone else, causing her to stumble a little as a pair of arms reach out around her waist, just in time so she didn't fall.

Looking up, she is greeted with the same mesmerizing blue eyes and devilish smirk that Marcel had warned her to steer clear from.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking," Evelyn apologizes, slightly moving away as Klaus smiles at her warmly.

"It's alright, no harm done," Klaus replies, "boy troubles?"

"Workaholic boyfriend, yes," Evelyn replies as Klaus frowns a little. Rebekah hadn't mentioned a boyfriend. Who could he be?

"Well, he's the one missing out," Klaus says as Evelyn hums, "you look stunning, by the way. And this party is pretty impressive too."

"Thank you," Evelyn smiles back, "you clean up pretty well, yourself."

"Well don't be fooled, love. I am the devil in disguise," Klaus smirks as Evelyn chuckles at his words.

"So I've been told," Evelyn mumbles as Klaus holds out his arm for her.

"Shall we?" he quizzes with a smile while motioning to the open bar.

Evelyn hesitates for a moment before slowly looping her arms with his and walking off together.

On the other end, at the bar, Rebekah orders another round of scotch as Marcel walks up to her.

"You trying to be cute inviting her here?" he asks her through a fake-smiled gritted teeth as she turns to look at him with a fake-smile as well.

"I think she's darling. And apparently close to you and this precious Evelyn too," she smirks, "thought I'd make some new friends while I'm back in town."

"Hm, Klaus told you about her?"

"No, Jade did."

"Where is Jade now? This is a party full of vampires and you know my rules," he warns.

"Powdering her nose," Rebekah replies, "as for your rules, I don't care much for them. I know you won't let them hurt her."

"No, but I am staying with you two the entire night and making sure there's no trouble at my event," Marcel answers as Rebekah smirks in silent victory.

As Jade leaves the washroom and walks past the bar, she frowns when noticing her best friend, Evelyn engaged in a cheerful conversation with Rebekah's brother.

"Evie? Hey," she greets while cutting into the conversation as Evelyn's eyes widen in surprise.

"Jade? What are you doing here?" she asks in an alarmed voice as Klaus watches the two.

"I got invited."

"By who?"

"His sister, actually," Jade answers while motioning at Klaus, who only smirks in response, "you all know each other?"

"He's the friend of Marcel's that I told you about," Evelyn clarifies as Jade's eyes widen in shock.

"Oh," is all she says before Rebekah calls out for her as she guiltily smiles at Evelyn before walking back to where Marcel and Rebekah stood.

"So you know," Evelyn states, finally turning back to face Klaus as he continues to smile at her.

"Know what, love?" he asks playfully as Evelyn rolls her eyes at him.

"Know about Jade...and me," Evelyn adds, "and your sister still invited her here, knowing how high the stakes were. You know, I'm beginning to think she's a bit of a bitch."

Klaus chuckles loudly at her words, agreeing with them, "you know, it's as though she invented the term."

"Look, I don't really know what is it with you and Marcel but please, leave Jade out of this. She means well and doesn't need to get dragged into this politics," Evelyn sighs.

"You want to dance?" Klaus asks while holding out his hand, skillfully changing the topic as Evelyn stares at him with narrowed eyes, "come on, I don't bite," he jokes.

Finally, Evelyn gives in with a sigh before taking his hand and walking to the dance floor as 'Dark Paradise' by Lana del Rey begins to play.

The two begin dancing as they stare into each other's eyes, the green and the blue creating a perfect hue as it seemed like the world around them was disappearing and it was just them. Klaus and Evelyn continue to dance in silence, looking deep into each other's eyes as Marcel watches with a clenched jaw, from afar.

"You really are evil," Marcel spats as Rebekah only smirks.

"Nonsense, they look perfect together," she teases, further riling him up.

"She's spoken for," Marcel retorts, "by Jade's brother, of all people."

"Why is she so special to you, anyway?"

"She's a dear friend, one of the few witches /werewolves that I can actually tolerate. Everyone loves her, even my vampires," Marcel answers as Rebekah frowns.

"Witch or werewolf?" she quizzes.

"She's both," Jade chimes in while walking over to them, "and I'm a werewolf too, but I guess you already knew that."

As the song comes to an end, Klaus and Evelyn step off the dance floor, just in time as Diego walks into the compound and sides Marcel before revealing some disturbing news to him, causing him to get angered.

Rebekah walks out of the compound, just in cue as Klaus and Evelyn's attention turn to the new people walking into the compound, including Thierry.

"What is going on?" Evelyn whispers to herself as Marcel storms over to Thierry angrily, holding him my the neck and dragging him to a more secluded corner. When she receives no response, she looks around to see Klaus had disappeared from her side. Evelyn anxiously looks around for Jade, just in time as Diego walks over to her.

"You two need to leave," he tells them as Evelyn frowns.

"What did Thierry do, Diego?" Evelyn counter-quizzes.

"Staked one of our men," he replies as the girls gasp in surprise, knowing full well about Marcel's rules and consequences of breaking them.

"Now what?" Jade asks.

"Now, Marcel has asked for the two of you to leave. Things are about to get bad and I think you should listen to him," he warns them before walking off as Evelyn and Jade exchange worried looks. Evelyn takes one last look at Marcel before sighing in defeat and walking out of the party with Jade following close behind.

༆☼︎☾︎ꨄ︎☽︎☼︎༆

Mikaelson Plantation House

"Well, tonight was an epic failure," Rebekah comments as her and Klaus sit in the living room, sipping on drinks after the long day of scheming. Sophie had been unable to complete the locator spell of Davina as Klaus had killed off Katie when she attacked Marcel, in order to gain his trust. Thierry was sentenced to rot for a 100 years in The Garden, by Marcel.

"On the contrary, sister, tonight was a masterpiece," Klaus retorts.

"Are you mad? Katie died before Sophie could complete the spell," Rebekah points out.

"I'm well aware," Klaus smiles, "I killed Katie."

"You what?" Rebekah questions in an exasperated tone, contemplating her brother's actions.

"There's no way our little suicide witch wasn't gonna try and take out Marcel with her," Klaus explains, "I saved his life and in doing so, I now have him exactly where I want him."

"I trusted you against all my better instincts and this is how you repay me?" Rebekah snaps, "the plan was to save Elijah!"

"You always did lack faith," Klaus retorts with a glare, "by protecting Marcel, I've cemented his trust. So much so that he's agreed to return Elijah to us. And when the time is right, when he has told me everything, I need to know about Davina. I will have her for myself."

"I have all the faith in the world that you'll get what you want, Nik," Rebekah replies coldly while sipping on her bourbon, "you always do, no matter what it costs the rest of us. What about the other girl? That friend of Marcel's, Evelyn was it? You seemed rather interested."

"She's compelling," Klaus comments, "something about her...it's different, unlike any other."

"She's a were-witch," Rebekah answers as Klaus' eyes widen in shock, "apparently like a protégée of Marcel's. The only werewolf/witch that Marcel let's roam the quarter freely, well except her boyfriend and his sister. Are you going to include her in your war for power too?"

"I just might," Klaus smirks, "but there's more to her than meets the eye. Find out what you can about her, she might be just what we need to keep Marcel at hand."

"Hm, and of course, you'd priorities your hunger for power over the life of your brother or your unborn kid," Rebekah spats, "classic Nik. You disgust me," she says before storming out as Klaus stands there, processing all the new information.

He needed to find out more about Evelyn. Something about her interested him, made him want to get to know more about her; and it's wasn't all for power. Some part of him just felt like she was more than just a pawn, she was unique, in more ways than one.

{𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺𝘯 & 𝘑𝘢𝘥𝘦'𝘴 𝘖𝘶𝘵𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦}

Author's Note

First chapter ahhh, I'm so nervous yet excited. If you cant tell already, the plot will be slightly AU and many characters will perform differently here than in the actual show. But I'll try to keep it as interesting as possible.

What do you guys think of it so far? Hope y'all enjoy it!