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A hybrid came barrelling through the door breathing hard, shouting “She’s here! She’s here!”
Klaus immediately stood up, knocking over the glass of blood next to him.
He turned to him with wide eyes.
“Where”
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As Caroline entered the city line of New Orleans, she noticed that the red truck, that had been trailing her since she left Mystic Falls, had sped ahead of her. She rolled her eyes knowing that Klaus was going to know of her whereabouts in the next few minutes.
When she talked to Stefan about places to visit while she was in New Orleans, he said to go to Rousseau’s first, so that’s where she went.
Caroline walked into the cool building and headed straight for the bar. A girl named Cami walked up to her and she asked her for a gin & tonic.
While waiting for her drink she mindlessly scrolled through Instagram, and softly sang along with the song playing through the speakers.
As she received her drink she noticed a tall, dark skinned man with a big, blinding smile heading over to her. Caroline immediately looked him over and noticed three things: 1. He was an older vampire than she was 2. He was a hot old vampire, who carried himself with confidence and swagger 3. Everyone in the bar was watching him. She concluded that he was an important person.
He sat down next to her saying, “You’re a new face, I haven’t seen you around before and I know everyone that comes into our city.”
“Our?”
“Klaus Mikaelson and I run New Orleans together”
She raised an eyebrow. Klaus is sharing?, Maybe he was growing up after all.
“It’s my first time in New Orleans, I’m just passing through for a visit. Depending on said visit, I will see if I want to stay longer or not” she said with a smile.
“I was born and raised here, so I would consider myself an expert in all the best places to go. I heard your lovely singing from across the room and am wondering if a lovely woman such as yourself would like to go to a karaoke bar with me” he said.
“My mother was a cop and taught me not to go anywhere with a stranger, much less someone I just met and still don’t know the name of” she hinted.
“Well lets rectify that, my name is Marcel, and you are?” he said.
“I’m Caroline. I’m the reigning champion of the Mystic Falls singing competition, so I take singing and karaoke very seriously. You get one trial song and if you can’t keep up, I’m gone. Deal?” she said, holding her hand out to shake.
“You have yourself a deal mademoiselle” he said, shaking her hand.
“Then in that case, I would love to go to a karaoke bar with you” she said with a bubbly smile.
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Back at the compound…
“I saw her going into Rousseau’s before I came here”
Klaus sped out the door not bothering to wait for the hybrid to catch up.
He walked into the bar, immediately smelling her perfume and knew that she had been there. He went to the bar and asked Cami “Do you know where the tall, beautiful, bubbly, blonde woman went?”
Cami replied, “Yeah, she and Marcel went to the karaoke bar down the street.”
He left without another word.
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“I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling 22” Caroline sang.
“Everything will be alright if,” Marcel belted.
“You keep me next to you” they sang, shimmying together on stage.
As everyone could see, Marcel passed the trial. Once they entered the bar they immediately decided to take some shots to start off the evening, so by this point they were a little tipsy.
The World Famous Cats Meow is a fun multi-colored karaoke bar on Bourbon street with tall round tables scattered around, an area for dancing and a decent sized stage with two microphones for anyone to sing their heart out like Marcel and Caroline were doing.
Klaus walked into the bar and the first thing he saw was the dynamic duo shimmying and singing on stage. He felt relief, anger and confusion all in the span of 30 seconds.
Caroline spotted him as soon as she turned back to the crowd.
She finished up the song, blue eyes locked onto his. “You look like bad news, I gotta have you, I gotta have you”
The duo on stage clasped hands and took a deep bow, stumbling slightly as they rose again.
“Ladies and Gentlemennn, we have a guest of honor among us tonight, the one and only, orrrigginnallll hybridddddd!” Caroline shouted into the microphone.
The crowd cheered, too drunk to realize that he could kill them all in a blink of an eye.
She skipped over and threw her arms around his neck in a hug, giggling. He froze, not expecting the hug, but quickly wrapped his arms around her, burying his head in her hair. The hug went on for a second too long to be socially acceptable, but neither of them really cared.
She pulled away and took a step backwards. Klaus was momentarily shocked by the way his arms suddenly felt empty and cold without her in them. He clasped his hands behind his back to keep from reaching out for her again.
Marcel had joined them and was watching with a curious look. Who exactly was Caroline to Klaus. Clearly she meant something to him by the way that she hugged him and he didn’t automatically murder her.
“Hey mannn, whats up?’ he said, slinging his arm around Caroline’s shoulder.
Klaus’s eyes immediately zeroed in on the arm touching her shoulder. He was amused when she pushed him off exclaiming “Ugg, get off your arm is heavy” and he stumbled a bit.
She rolled her eyes and turned back to Klaus. “It took you” she checks the clock on the wall “11 minutes to find me. I have to say, that's a little longer than I expected.”
He smiled with his dimples popping out saying “Apologies for not meeting your expectations,love”
She grinned “At least you are here now”
“Speaking of here, why are you here, in New Orleans,” he inquired.
“I came looking for you. To see if your offer is still available” she said wringing her hands nervously.
“What offer” They both turned and looked at Marcel, leaning against a table. Coincidentally they had both forgotten that Marcel was there watching them.
She turned to Klaus saying “Your offer to be my last love, if it's still available, that is”
He stood there frozen, mouth opening and closing like a fish. “Of course love, I’d never break a promise to you.”
Her face brightened. “If I recall correctly, you said that New Orleans is a place of food, music, art and culture, and today is, in fact, one day. Sooo, you owe me a tour, well the rest of one because as you can see, Marcel has started my tour but now that you’re here,” she paused linking their arms together, “Where to next?”