Star-Crossed

The next morning Rhiannon was awoken by crashing downstairs. Instantly alert, she rushed downstairs to see what was going on. She wasn't totally surprised by what she saw; Niklaus had Marcel by the collar of his shirt and was threatening him, trying to figure out why he'd sent the hunters after them.

"I've told you a million times, Klaus. I only did it because they were becoming a pain in my ass and I figured you'd kill them. I had no idea you were just gonna let them go. In fact, it's actually pretty annoying that you did," Marcel choked, Nik's hand wrapped firmly around his neck.

"Nik," Rhiannon said, moving to him and putting a hand on his shoulder. "You know he's telling the truth. Think about it. No two regular human hunters could kill us anyway without white oak, so why would Marcel hire them if not for the reason he just said?"

"I don't like it when you throw logic at me, little bird," Klaus said, using the nickname he'd had for her since she was born. He let go of Marcel and patted down the collar of his shirt sarcastically.

"If you pull something like that again..." Klaus trailed off and Marcel nodded.

"Yeah yeah I know. Doom and gloom and all that," he said, smirking at Rhiannon before disappearing in a second.

"Elijah told me you developed a bit of a crush on one of our intruders," Nik said to Rhiannon, smiling at her cheekily.

"Oh, shut up, Nik. Of course I didn't have a crush on him. Doesn't matter anyway because I'll never see him again," she said, turning and walking away. As she went, she could almost see Nik smiling at the back of her head.



"Dude. Dean, are you in there?" Sam called for his brother, knocking on the door of his bedroom at their secluded bunker.

"Yeah?" Dean asked, swinging the door open.

"Do you feel... weird about New Orleans last week?" Sam asked, looking at his brother with a confused look on his face.

"Weird?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Like... like something isn't right?" Sam asked, rubbing the side of his head like it hurt.

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked, looking at Sam like he was crazy.

"What happened in New Orleans?" Sam asked, and Dean shrugged.

"We went and killed us a bunch of vamps. Saw some boobs on Bourbon Street, got a burger, and came home," Dean relayed the information, his voice sounding almost automated. Sam shook his head.

"No. Something... something's weird. I think we should call Cas and see if he can check us out for hexes or anything like that," Sam said, his voice firm. Dean rolled his eyes.

"Fine. I'll call him. Just calm your tits, okay?" Dean asked, and it was Sam's turn to roll his eyes. Dean just shook his head and shut the door.

An hour later, their angel friend Castiel was walking through the door. As soon as he saw Sam sitting at the big conference table, he stopped in his tracks.

"What happened to you?" Cas asked, and Sam shot a look at Dean and shook his head.

"I don't know," he said, standing in front of Cas. Without warning, Cas put his hand on Sam's forehead and closed his eyes. Dean watched, confused. Cas pulled his hand away a moment later and looked between the brothers.

"You've been compelled by a vampire," Cas said, and Sam and Dean both looked at him like he was crazy.

"I'm sorry, what?" Dean asked, and Cas shrugged.

"We didn't actually know that they were still able to employ compulsion. We thought it had died out a long time ago," Cas said, and Dean grunted, annoyed.

"Okay... and what the hell is compulsion?" he asked.

"It's a form of mind control. They can put thoughts in your head or make you forget something or remember it differently than it happened. You've never heard of this?" Cas asked, and both brothers shook their heads.

"Never," Sam said, and Dean nodded.

"So, this... compulsion. How do we get rid of it?" Dean asked, and Cas looked at him.

"I could try to heal it out of you, but since it's not actually a wound I don't know if it will work."

"Well, might as well try," Dean said, stepping up. Cas placed his hand on his head and held it there for a long time, a dim blue light radiating between the two. When he removed his hand and few minutes later, Sam could instantly tell that Dean could remember whatever he'd been compelled to forget.

Cas did the same thing with Sam and a few minutes later, he remembered too.

"Dean..." Sam trailed off, but Dean was already on his way to his bedroom to collect his stuff.

"We're going back," Dean said firmly, brushing Sam off when he tried to grab his arm.

"Dean. We don't know anything about them. These... Originals. They're obviously not normal vamps. They're stronger and we don't even know how to kill them," Sam said, trying to reason with him.

"I don't give a shit. We'll figure it out. We'll use everything we've got."