Author's note:
Just my personal reaction after the 3x19 promo.
Purely Klamille!
Not Today
Camille was running.
She was going faster, even if her sight was irremediably weakened by the dazzling sunlight that prevented her to focus clearly on the right way.
She exhaled heavily with her mouth, shaking slightly and watching around, already in pain.
Lucien's bite has been physically intolerable; an infinite torture that would brought her to certain death.
Not even the fact that she had become a vampire would have saved her, this time.
She allowed herself to rest for a moment, shocked by the panic and the nausea, getting close to the first available wall in the middle of the street.
She immediately covered the horrible wound on the arm, noting how fast it was getting worse, standing out the repugnant excrescence against the whitish skin.
She perceived continuously the lethal venom crawling like a snake inside her body, already weak and feeble, reducing her the breath and warming her forehead.
And yet, the worst thing wasn't the pain. No. But the terrible sensations of emptiness and despair that had surrounded her in the exact moment she realized – because it took more than one second to realize it – that she would've died alone. Inside a house that didn't taste like a house anymore. Without family. Without friends. Without him.
"You deserve it" scolded her, brutally, the masculine voice in front of her.
The blonde gulped frightened, leaning more deeply against the wall of red brick behind her.
"Kieran" Camille whispered, worried. "You can't…"
"I warned you, Camille. I begged you to leave this infernal hole, to stay away from all of them. You disobeyed me and this will be your punishment."
Her uncle Kieran was looking unflappable at her, with his lips strained and the eyebrows finely lowered. He was wearing the same ecclesiastical uniform, with the black shirt and the white collar. He wasn't changed, not even a bit, from the last time she observed him in pictures.
"It doesn't make any sense. You are dead. You can't be really here."
"Look what you've become" continued the man, impassive, approaching her and staring at her horrified. "A demon. Satan's slave. You've been marked by the original sin. You don't deserve to walk this earth. You should kill yourself."
"No…" murmured Camille, shaking her head slowly. "It's not my fault. I tried to resist. I did it for you" – she suddenly remembered, smiling at her uncle's ghost – " yes, I did it for you! For us. To protect our legacy and the humans too."
"Liar!" shouted Kieran at her, furious. "You did for yourself! Because you are weak and you are attached to life like a drunk to his wine. You chose the wrong path, the evil one. You drank human blood. Your soul will burn to Hell where no one will save you."
"Stop. Shut up" shouted Cami in return, with her eyes wet.
He wasn't real. He was just a hallucination created by Lucian's bite. She needed to calm down.
Her uncle was dead from a long time, murdered by the same curse that also killed her twin brother Sean. Despite a part of her brain – a lucid part – known that nothing of that was real, Camille was letting herself drag down because of Kieran's ghost. He was pointing to the weakest part of his niece; he was making his way through the guilty feelings of the woman.
"Leave me alone" she answered, determined, starting to walk again. "You'll not hold me here. I have to go. I have to see him."
Camille's legs moved automatically, following blindly the memory of the man who'd stolen her soul.
She needed to talk to him, to touch him one last time. And to explain.
To explain that the things she said the last time weren't true; when she pushed him away, declaring not to love him, declaring to be changed because of the transformation. Telling him to not perceive the same feelings for him as when she was human.
She was changed, but in a different way. She felt alone, scared, powerless, angry, disappointed.
She'd been forced to cut her own throat without saying a word, in front of the man who made her feel important and safe. They've stolen the only moment of extreme happiness from her.
She was dead. Then she was in transition, between life and death, surrounded by distress and oppression. And when she became a vampire, there was the anger: a terrible, limitless anger towards Aurora, who condemned her to an immortal life; towards Klaus, who'd simply let her go, without understanding that she actually needed his help. His confirmations.
Confirmation that even if she was a vampire, she would have always been the same Camille with whom he feel fallen asleep in peace that unfortunate night of December. That would have loved her, even though she was no longer the frail and dependent human he was fond of.
"My sweet Camille."
A new voice forced the girl to stop; she opened her eyes and covered her mouth.
"Sean."
Her twin approached her, piercing the unconcerned people in the middle of the street, like a colored smoke.
He was always been so beautiful, with the blonde hair and the blue eyes. The freckles on his nose and the full lips.
He gently touched her cheek, covered in tears, smiling kindly.
"My little Cami."
Camille shook again her head, more to dissuade herself than to communicate with him.
"You're a hallucination" she murmured.
"You called me" the boy said, careful. "You know why I'm here."
"It was my entire fault."
"Ssh" he comforted her, furrowing his forehead. "It's all Klaus Mikaelson's fault. The same moment he decided to come back to New Orleans, he has sentenced you to death."
Camille trembled, remembering one of the last things Lucien said before leaving her to her fate: To be honest, your days were numbered the moment you got Nik's eyes.
"But…"
"He dragged you into something bigger than you and me. And now, because of his problems, you'll pay the consequences."
"I'm sorry" moaned Camille. "I didn't want any of this to happen. I swear. I'm so sorry."
She wiggled away, nicely, avoiding the glances of some curious. Her senses were already numb while her head was getting heavier and cloudy.
"It's all right" he reassured her again. "Here" – he said, rising up her left hand and touching her daylight ring – "you'll be able to reunite with me and with uncle Kieran."
Confused and dazed, Camille followed Sean's careful eyes, staring at the blue ring on her middle finger.
"What?" she asked in trance.
"Don't be afraid. Just a second and everything will be over."
"I'll burn" she simply said, as if it was the most normal and obvious thing in the world.
"Your sins will burn for you" replied Kieran, appeared all of a sudden next to Sean. "You'll be finally free to expiate your faults in Purgatory. Far away from Hell. Far away from the Devil."
A last, tiny tear fell off Camille's face. Maybe they were right. It wasn't over yet. It wasn't her fault. Right?
And then…
Camille felt it. Just a whisper. An imperceptible sound, captured thanks to her super hearing vampire's gift. She heard his voice passing through her skin, warm up her cheeks, illuminate her mind.
So she turned away and began to run as if the ground beneath her feet was going to fall at any moment. Without really knowing how or what to do.
"Klaus" she desperately shouted. Starved. Bruised.
And finally she saw him, marvelously confused and perplexed, standing at attention.
"I must hurry before it's too late" explained the blonde, in the grip of pure apprehension. "Because they know I'm here. They'll come looking for me."
"Camille" Klaus started careful, squeezing out his bluish eyes. "Who…"
Then he stopped immediately, paralyzing on his spot. "No" he exclaimed, desperately. In less than a second, he reached the woman, discovering Lucien's scar on her arm.
"Camille…"
The girl smiled, capturing his face between her hands. She would have never had the time to tell him everything she wanted to. No problem. Even so, she would have seen him one last time.
"I love you."
"Camille!"
Then her knees collapsed, leaving her completely vulnerable. "I just needed you to know."
"I can tell you I love you tomorrow" he responded, lifting her up between his arms and running like a fury inside the house.
"You're not dying today."