13 Rescue mission

Haley lay in bed, trying to sleep, since the unbinding had drained her. She heard the door to her bedroom open and looked up to see Klaus.

"I thought you were asleep," said Klaus softly.

Haley got up and hugged her knees gently toward her baby bump, which was now showing a little. "Well, I can't sleep in this swamp sauna. The air conditioning doesn't work at all."

Klaus chuckled. "I will have someone look into that," replied Klaus. "How are you feeling?"

"Drained, but I am glad that I am no longer a weakness that can be used against you or your family," Haley said as she tucked her chin on her knees.

Klaus went and sat on the side of the bed, looking at her softly, trying to find her eyes which were covered by her brown hair.

"I can assure you that you were never my weakness, little wolf," Klaus said as he used his hand to tuck a part of her hair behind. As she finally met his eyes, she could see the sincerity, knowing he was telling the truth. She gave a small smile towards him, and he returned it with his own.

Rebekah was downstairs enjoying a book when she heard the panting of a little girl, and she rushed outside.

Rebekah saw the young girl being chased by a vampire, so she sped up and broke his neck to incapacitate him. She then rushed towards the girl and got hold of her to turn her around.

"Davina?!" spoke Rebekah in surprise.

A little while later, inside the house:

Davina was still shaken by the fact that she was being chased by the vampires that once Marcel had commanded.

"So, you are saying the vampires came for you in the church when you were unbinding Haley?" asked Klaus, to which Davina gave a slight nod.

"And what happened to Marcel?" asked Haley, who was worried that they would soon come for them.

"I don't know, all he told me was that if he doesn't come back after the binding, then I should run here, but then the vampires started to look for me and one of them found me here," Davina explained, her voice still slightly trembling.

Rebekah entered the house after interrogating the knocked-out vampire. "It seems that Marcel and a few other vampires who were opposed to standing against him are being held in the garden."

Klaus remained quiet, processing the situation. He was thinking of how to best approach the situation while trying to hold back a laugh.

He had placed several vampires under his control around the compound, under the impression that they were all recruited by Marcel. They were all under Klaus' compulsion, and slowly each started to create rumors and whispers from different corners, knowing that Marcel's relationship with the Mikaelsons would sow wariness and doubt for the vampires.

Once Tyler would come into the picture and reveal what he knew about the baby, he knew it would intensify the fear, paranoia, and mistrust towards Marcel. However, he did not believe the meathead had it in him to make it all happen so quickly.

Klaus took a deep breath and came up with a simple plan. "Okay, here is what we are going to do. I will go to the compound and deal with the vampires. Rebekah, you go to the garden in the meantime and free Marcel," Klaus said, then turned towards Davina, who was sitting on the couch, still shaking. Klaus bent down and put his hands on her shoulders, speaking with a gentle tone. "I know it's been tough for you, Davina, but I need you to stay here and protect Haley. Just cast a protection spell to make sure no one enters the house."

Davina was surprised by the gentle and soft tone of Klaus. She nodded in response, and Klaus got up to head out with Rebekah as Haley followed him.

"Please be careful," Haley said, but the worry quickly faded when she saw Klaus' smirk.

"No need to worry about me, love," spoke Klaus reassuringly as he closed the distance to Haley and kissed her on the cheek, causing her to blush a little before speeding out of the house.

At the compound:

On the rooftop, the vampires prepared to fight the Mikaelsons.

"Looks like everything is going according to plan," spoke Tyler from behind.

"Not quite, the harvest witch ran away," replied Thierry, worried.

"Doesn't matter, not like she could do anything. She may be strong, but she isn't skilled enough," but before Thierry could respond, screams could be heard throughout the compound.

They looked down to see Klaus walking towards the center of the compound with a smile. "So, this is what a bunch of third-rate vampires can conjure up. Do you really think this would be enough to stop me?" spoke Klaus in a mocking tone with a smirk.

Klaus remained calm as he looked around at the vampires slowly gathering around him, his excitement growing. He had spent all night in the woods training with his newly turned vampires to get proper hold of his abilities, but he was amazed at how easy it came. It was like muscle memory, and with his own knowledge of combat combined with Klaus' memories, he was practically untouchable.

Of course, those were just newly turned, without any experience or knowledge, which is why he found this so exciting. Even in his former life, the only thing he really was good at or cared enough to pursue was fighting, so he had looked forward to this day.

Even if things didn't go quite his way, it's just a matter of time before the others arrive, and it's not like anyone could actually kill him.

Once the vampires had gathered around him and were getting ready to attack, Klaus took out a coin from his pocket and held it up so everyone could see. Without saying anything, he threw it on the ground in front of him and said, "Pick it up... and live."

"No one picks up the coin!" Thierry yelled.

"Then you all will perish," replied Klaus calmly as veins started to form around his eyes.

In the garden:

Marcel was inside one of the walls and wasn't able to move since he was injected with vervain. He then heard the noise of bricks breaking.

"What now?" thought Marcel. He was expecting Thierry or some other vampire to come and torture him but was surprised to see Rebekah before him.

"Finally!" stated Rebekah with a sigh of relief as she broke the rest of the bricks around the wall and got Marcel out.

Marcel saw the worry in Rebekah's eyes. "You missed me that much?" stated Marcel, trying to tease Rebekah.

"As if, I just don't want to see my brother mourn you twice."

She fed him a blood bag, and he got up once he regained his strength. He looked around and saw Diego and Joshua, one of his new vampires, beside Rebekah.

"They helped me to find you," Rebekah pointed at them.

Marcel smiled towards them, happy to know he still had friends that were loyal to him. "Thank you," to which they nodded with a smile. "You should get a few of the others out too. We will need them to gain control of the city."

"We will get on that," spoke Diego. "What about you?"

"Rebekah and I will go deal with the traitors."

"Not if my brother deals with them first," spoke Rebekah. Marcel turned around in shock.

"Klaus is there?" asked Marcel, believing Klaus would see this as a perfect opportunity to regain control over the city.

"Of course, he came up with the plan to rescue you," replied Rebekah.

Marcel smiled at that and was happy to know Klaus cared. He recognized Klaus had changed and entertained the possibility that he may, in fact, attain the redemption Elijah would have wished for, for so many centuries. But he also knew who Klaus was at his core. He was a conqueror, a strategist, one who would do whatever it took, cross whatever line to take what he wanted, to protect what was his and those whom he loved.

Marcel smiled, knowing he was one of them, and looked up at Rebekah. "Let's go."