I know, I'm a huge bitch, but in my defence, Camille, Hayley and the baby, they're all terrible characters and terrible storylines. Seriously, do not read this if you're a Camille fan.
Another blackened landscape.
It always seemed the beauty he created was blackened with something sinister.
Camille touched the painting slowly and frowned, her hands trailing the raised and dried paint with something akin to disappointment.
She was sure, she had been utterly sure, that her presence in his life could improve the loneliness she saw eating at him everyday. Seeing the marked and abandoned painting proved that theory was not working out as well as she had hoped.
She was utterly in love with him, but she was beginning to feel as though she may be in love with the idea of him, instead.
After watching him as a human for a while, she saw only the parts of him that he wanted her to see. The human parts. Parts which she now thought were faked for her benefit. When she was turned, she saw parts that he tried to keep away. Bloody parts. Parts she chose to ignore.
Camille opened herself up to him. Until now she believed he had done the same.
She had believed she was saving him. Slowly.
That morning she spoke with Elijah, hoping to hear words of comfort.
"He has never been this soft before. You changed him, for the better. We are so thankful for you."
Those were the words she longed to hear. She wanted to be seen as a sister, addressed as such. She wanted him to love her, see her as his queen, wanted to know it was her who tamed the Hybrid after a thousand years.
Instead she received different words.
"I hope you don't believe you are his one and only. Many women have believed such in the past, it is a talent of his to draw a woman in and make her believe she is his forever. You are a name in a long list of such dalliances, Camille. You are a smart, pretty woman. You would do well to find your true other half."
Since that moment she had been desperate to prove Elijah wrong. So here she was, searching his art as if she were searching the hidden depths of his soul.
Many pieces meant nothing to her, moments of Klaus' life past centuries ago. She searched for newer paper, art that looked as though it was made in the twenty first century.
She hoped to find something of herself. Hoped he had drawn her, to show his affection.
Instead, she found pieces she wanted to burn with her eyes.
The drawings of another blonde were complex and simple all at the same time. Some were rushed, as though Klaus wished to erase her likeness from his mind as quickly as possible. Others were detailed, her eyes piercing the paper as though Klaus were attempting to communicate with her through his work. Some were in colour, painted meticulously and carefully. Some were simply sketches, as though every pencil movement were a memory of her.
Jealousy crept into her bones like fire.
Before she even had a moment to be angry, the door to the study burst open, and Klaus stood, seething with rage and eyes glinting with danger.
"You have some nerve coming in here. I believe I made special care to tell you never to enter this room."
Camille took a breath and tried to push away her itching fear. She was sure he wouldn't hurt her, although the woman in the art in her hands seemed to mock her as she thought it.
"I just wanted to know you. You never tell me anything about yourself. You're all closed off and I wondered why," she frowned and lifted the pictures in her hands. "Who is she?" Camille almost growled the question, hoping to see remorse or apology in Klaus' eyes. Instead, he laughed in her face.
"She is the only person in the world, including my nosy and irritating siblings, who would ever be allowed in here. Get out." He hissed, and stalked towards her. Camille slowly backed away, narrowing her eyes.
"You're supposed to be with me. What the hell are you doing painting some other woman?" Camille scoffed slightly. "After all we've been through, you can't tell me she's worth more than what I've given you." She looked smug with herself for a moment before Klaus' eyes turned a pale yellow. He was angry, and she was starting to realise she was pushing the exact wrong buttons.
"You think you actually mean anything to me, Camille?" He spoke slowly, mirth in his eyes, mocking her. She opened her mouth and felt her sureness in his feelings for her ebb away.
"I thought..." She stuttered and Klaus laughed cruelly again.
"You thought you were special? Do not mistake your place. You're a pretty distraction, nothing compared to her. The sooner you accept that, the better." Klaus moved slowly towards her and whispered into her ear. "She is a queen. You're nothing more than a mistress."
Camille widened her eyes and blew a breath from her nose. She remembered all the times Klaus had said cruel things to her while she was human, the compelled them all away. She had thought that maybe it was because of that humanity. Because she was weak, and mortal.
"Let me guess, she's as broken and evil as you are, is that why I'm not as good as her, Klaus?" Camille smirked. Clearly, she hadn't quite grasped the concept of showing fear or respect in front of the millennia old vampire.
Klaus grabbed her neck and shoved her to the wall.
"I was willing to entertain your smart comments for a while, girl, for a small time there those comments did rather remind me of her... though now I realise her comments were surrounded in wit and logic. Yours are surrounded in weakness." Klaus breathed into her ear. "I suggest you walk out of the door within the next few seconds little girl, before I tear your vocal chords from your throat." Klaus smiled. "Oh, and as for your small minded assumptions about her, I hope you'll be around when she comes here one day. Then you'll see how little you matter in comparison."
She recognised her from the drawings.
After being unceremoniously kicked from Klaus' apartment, Camille made sure to appeal to Elijah at the compound to try and secure a place there. After all, even though she was no longer in the Hybrids inner circle, she hoped she could at least retain her place within the ranks of the day walkers.
She lived day to day, still naive and under a veil of denial that one day, she would slowly work her way into the heart of the Original. After all, he had built up walls to lock even his most precious family members out, and so the threats and the insults, as much as they hurt, she perceived to be nothing more than Klaus' attempt to protect his actual emotions.
Until she arrived.
Rebekah saw her immediately, and Camille watched in the courtyard of the compound as the female Original hovered between distaste and relief. An odd combination, thought Camille, but at least this girl wasn't as loved as Klaus' tirade has led her to believe. Eventually, Rebekah seemed to settle on civil hospitality, and walked over to the fellow blonde. Camille leaned slightly to try and overhear their words.
"-desiccated himself. He couldn't handle not having Elena. Stefan is... he decided to live a life with one of the Heretics. Everyone is gone and I just..." The new blonde shook her head slightly. "Is Klaus here?"
Camille gripped the table in anger and growled under her breath a little. How dare this slip of a girl barge into her city and believe she could waltz into Klaus' life?
"...Caroline?" Camille heard an intake of breath before watching Klaus enter the courtyard. Elijah stood next to him with an expression similar to the one Rebekah had worn earlier, though definitively leaning more towards relief.
"Hello, Klaus." This Caroline whispered, and looking at the look on Klaus' face was all Camille needed before she leapt from her chair and stalked towards the reunion. Right before she entered the fray, Klaus moved towards Caroline, and with a hand on her neck, kissed her. Rebekah rolled her eyes, Elijah wrung his hands with barely contained glee, and Camille stopped in her tracks.
She dashed away from the scene and stopped in an alley to catch her breath.
"I hope you'll be around when she comes here one day, then you'll see how little you matter in comparison."