Above It All " SEQUEL TO ABOVE ALL ELSE "

Chapter 3

Klaus glanced around the mansion in Mystic Falls with a pleased glint to his eye. With nothing but a simple phone call his hybrids had scrambled, amazingly so, to do his bidding and pack up the contents of his home. He had no doubt that there would be an impending chat-a highly heated one at that- with Caroline once she discovered his use of the hybrids, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

He may love her dearly, but she knew who he was, what his ambitions had been when he came to this godforsaken town. While he was willing to compromise on a plethora of things with her, he would not give up the hybrids he had fought so hard for. And he would not budge when it came to her safety. Though he was sure it would turn into a nasty disagreement, he was confident that in the end it would all work out for the best.

"I wasn't aware that the family was moving again." Elijah announced as way of a greeting, his eyes followed the hybrids cautiously as they carried boxes to the moving truck out front.

Klaus laughed, "You cannot pin your lack of knowledge or familial bonding on me this time big brother. This strife with you began long before the rest of us even knew of it. For once this was not my doing. It all started and ended with your transgressions. When you decided to put the life and well-being of your trifling whore above your own family." He tsked mockingly, "Selling our siblings out to me and my daggers, daggers which you always spoke of with such revulsion to might I add, all just to keep her safe."

Elijah stood tall, his head held high, "I'd appreciate you watching your tongue when speaking of Katerina."

Klaus's eyes shined with mirth as they widened, his lips pressed together tightly before he lost control and doubled over in riotous laughter.

"You can't be serious!" He eyed his uptight brother curiously, borrowing Caroline's terms and her wagging finger, "Perhaps you've taken a leave of your senses. That wench will do nothing more than use you and spit you out once she's gained whatever it is she needs of you."

"You're wrong Niklaus." Elijah tugged at his suit, marching over to the side table where the unpacked liquor sat to pour himself a finger of scotch, "Has she strayed from me over the years? Yes. As have I. But in the end, we always fine our way back to each other."

"Yes, behind the backs of your family and until the next opportunity crosses her path." Klaus sneered angrily.

"I love her." Elijah stated with full conviction, staring his brother in the eyes, "Surely you can now understand fully what that means."

"You skate on dangerous grounds." Klaus growled, his eyes flashing in warning, "You'd do well not to try and use Caroline against me."

Elijah shook his head, sighing at how quickly his brother always assumed the worst, "I am doing nothing of the sort. I'm merely suggesting that now that you have found love, have accepted love into your life, that you may understand where I am coming from when it comes to Katerina."

"Caroline and Katerina have nothing in common. That's like comparing an angel to the devil."

"The devil is nothing more than a fallen angel, Niklaus." Elijah's voice carried his heavy guilt at having a hand in Katerina's fall from grace, "Would you not defy even your own family to protect her?"

"Caroline, unlike Katerina, would never ask such a thing of me." Klaus followed his brother's lead, pouring himself a drink as he spoke with a proud lilt. For once he held the higher ground over his self-professed noble brother.

"Knowing what little I do of Caroline, I would suppose not. But then again brother, she would not have to ask now, would she? If protecting her meant having to betray one of us, are you willing to tell me that you would not do it? If it meant saving her?" Elijah nodded his head, seeing the tormented answer begrudgingly reflected within his brother's eyes. "So, you are aware then. You can understand for the first time in all your life what it means to love someone so much that you would do the unspeakable and betray even your family." He smiled fondly, "I quite like the young and vibrant lady you have chosen and all that she has brought out in you."