I'm being arrested for murder. This is completely ludicrous. I'm a bartender/part-time therapist, not a psychotic serial killer! No, that title belongs to the insidious thousand-year-old vampire named Lucien Castle. I try to tug my arm away from the firm grasp Detective Kinney had.
"You cannot seriously believe I'm the one who has been murdering people," I try to reason.
"All I know is that you haven't been entirely truthful and have a whole bunch of dark objects."
"That has nothing to-" My voice cuts off at the sound of a street lamp smashing above. Before I knew it Kinney has been knocked out. I turn to run in hopes of getting away from the thing that would no doubt be the stuff of nightmares. My breaths come in short sharp gasps as the fear escalates in my body. I don't make it far.
"Uh uh uh," Lucien warned as he grabbed my arms, forcing me to face him. "Cold blooded killer, Camille, what a shocking turn of the cards," he remarks gleefully before flipping me around and holding me with his arm clenched around my neck, cutting off the oxygen I desperately tried to breathe in. "You should rest, we've got a big day ahead of us," he states. The sound of my frantic intakes of breath echo in my head before everything goes black.
I wake as the morning sun glistenes through the lids of my eyes, and I snuggle in the warmth of the blanket I lay under. It didn't feel like my bed. I shoot up, suddenly remembering the events of last night. I'm in Lucien's house. I look around. On the table lay the boxes of dark objects entrusted to my family line.
"How would you like to start the day? Breakfast first? Or should we simply skip the unwanted pleasantries- on your behalf I assure," he pauses, winking, "and get down to business?"
I look at his clean-cut appearance as always, handsome face, expensive accessories and a too-jovial smile. He is certainly a constant. Well, where looks are concerned anyway.
"What do you want?" I ask bluntly.
His eyes spring to life at the question. Okay, bad choice of words.
"What do you want with the dark objects?" I quickly rephrase before he could open his mouth.
"How do you know it's to do with that?"
"Well you have the dark objects, that I myself categorized, spread out on the table. I kind of put it together."
"Smart enough I guess," he said, and then negated this compliment by adding on, "for a human."
"Can we just get this over with," I sigh, tired of his superiority. "What am I looking for?"
"I'm glad you so enthusiastically asked, my dear Camille," he started, "I've been informed there is a meticulous dark object, a medallion of some sorts, hidden in one of these other dark objects."
"And? What about it?" I exasperate, my patience being shoved out the window as his oversized ego takes up all the room left in the gigantic flat.
"I need you to find it."
And he gets to the point, I roll my eyes.
"And, of course," he suddenly snaps and I revert my gaze back to his, seeing his face awash with anger. Did I say that out loud? "I have taken the liberty to attain certain measures to make sure you stay… on task."
I look at him in confusion and his eyes light up like wild-fire and I watch the flames dance around in his hazel eyes. It frightens me. His small smirk grows into a full grin. Great, he's probably listening to my racing heart.
"Detective Kinney, come on in," he announces, eyes still holding mine. My heart plummets.
"You compelled him?"
"What the hell is going on?" Kinney's voice breaks in. Lucien goes over to him, compelling him not to talk unless spoken to. Will Kinney then starts cutting vegetables, as if making a meal.
"You can't just go around and take who and whatever you please!"
"Actually, I can," he says gesturing with his arms to everything around him.
"You're delusional, psychotic, and there is not enough room in this place to accommodate your bursting sense of supremacy. I suggest you look for a new flat. Preferably one far away from New Orleans."
I kept my eyes locked on his the whole time, watching the licking flames die down, and a bubbling anger surface to the top. My lord, he is bi-polar.
"Detective Kinney," he called, "throw that knife at her pretty face."
Will Kinney's arm shot out, throwing the stainless steel blade. My face is one of terror as I watch the blade fly towards my face. I gasp, a sudden sharp intake of breath. It was like a bad dream where everything was moving quickly around you, but you were too slow. The blade stops inches from my face. I look up to see Lucien holding it.
"I need that relic and since you're on vervain, I can't compel you. I need you alive. But make no mistake; it'd be in your best interest to watch those biting words that reel from your mouth, because I will not hesitate to hurt you," he threatened. "Now, off to work." He places a hand on the small of my back and guides me. I let him, too scared to incur his wrath at that very moment. With an unnecessary force, he shoves me towards the dark objects and turned to walk out the door.
"Oh, and Cami," he calls, pausing at the door, "if you do try to leave, or try to get Detective Kinney out of here for that matter, I've compelled him to kill you." He said matter-of-factly.
"Happy hunting," he purrs with a final wink and a chuckle. I watch him walk out the door. Brilliant.
I start sifting through the dark object; looking through the ones most familiar to me… they also happened to be ones I could use against a certain vampire whose damn supremacy still lingers in the room. I don't plan on finding the bronze medallion covered in relics. I do, however, plan on finding a way out of here. I walk over to where Detective Kinney stands, chopping vegetables. Lucien told him not to speak unless spoken to, which meant he should be able to talk to me if I talks to him first.
"Will?"
"Cami," he looks up, relived. "Please tell me what's going on." I sigh. No point in hiding him from the supernatural anymore. So I do. I explain to him the vampires, compelling, vervain, and the dark objects.
"So that's what happened to your brother? And the rest of your past family? Got caught up in the crossfire of the supernatural?"
"Yeah." I move from around the bench and walk towards him. Before I could get close enough to gently put a hand on his arm and tell him I'd get him out, that this is my problem, he brings the knife up in front of me.
"I can't stop it. I'm sorry but I have this sudden urge when you're too close, like I need to drive the blade into your stomach." He looked pained and the knife visibly shook in his hand. I back away slowly.
"That's okay. He probably just compelled you. I'm so sorry you got caught up in all of this."
"Don't be. You'll be glad to know however, that I definitely think he is the killer now."
I couldn't help but laugh, my laughs seemed to echo through the large room. "You know, I could have just told you that."
He laughed along with me.
"Cami!" I turn to find Lucien standing behind me. "It's lovely to hear that you are indeed capable of laughing, and not just biting unkind words."
"If you find my words are unkind, I assure you, the truth isn't always pleasant- especially where you're concerned. You must not be handling it very well. But if you must know, you do quite well on containing most of your emotions," I say, with a glint shining in my eyes, "for a vampire," I finish.
"And what's that supposed to mean."
"Exactly what you think it does. Being a vampire heightens you're emotions. It makes you blood-suckers prone to… destructive behaviour."
"Stop spinning lies Camille dear, you won't like the outcome, I assure you."
"You're right, I was lying." He raises his eyebrows at my sudden cooperation. "You're horrible at keeping your emotions in check, even for a vampire. You're easy to read."
He growled. That was the only warning I received before being thrown onto the couch I had been previously sleeping on. Lucien sits on top, straddling me, his hand curling around my throat, lightly squeezing. I looked up defiantly, trying to slow the pounding of my heart. He leans down until I can feel his lips against my ear. His hot breath flows down my neck. I try to the suppress the shiver that rolls up my spine and fail. He chuckles.
"You're good with words Camille," he whispered, "has anyone ever told you that?"
Definitely not. His hand squeezed a fraction tighter around my throat.
I gasp, "What? Are you trying to test the extent of my human fragility? Something tells me you already know."
"Mmmm, there she goes again. I must say, I'm a little hurt. You think me to be easy to read? I always prized myself for my unpredictability."
"You're not the only one." His grip around my throat tightens even more, the air becoming too hard to breathe in. My hands come up to where his were, around my neck, and I start trying to pry his hand away, clawing at it. I feel him smile against my neck as I continued to struggle. He inhales deeply. "You smell delightful," he whispers, his mouth returning to whisper in my ear. I try to twist my head away, trying harder to pry his hand from my throat. His other hand, the one that wasn't slowly cutting off my windpipe, came up and held my head still. He cradled my head, pulling back to smirk at my futile attempt. He leans down, this time looking into my eyes, forcing my head still so that I met his gaze.
"You think because you know someone like Klaus, you know someone like me? Well, you don't. You have no idea what I'm capable of, but you are about to find out." My blood races through my body as he leans back and slowly releases his grip on my throat. I swallow in air. He stands up and looks down at me, still sprawled on the couch in the position he forced me in.
"Detective Kinney," he called, "slowly drive the knife through your stomach."
I rush up from the couch and make a run for Will. Lucien grabs my waist before I could make it to the kitchen and held me to him. "Not so fast there, Cami."
Kinney looks at me with wide eyes as he slowly pushes the knife into his stomach.
"Argh….." He cries out as it makes its way through his skin. All I feel is a complete sense of horror as I try to scramble out of Lucien's arms. He holds me closer to him, wrapping my arms in his own so I can't move. I stand there and watch as Will cries out in pain every second the blade lay embedded in his stomach. I sob, knowing Lucien was doing this because of me tore at my heart.
"Oh no need to get dramatic," he stated. "Well at least you're not crying," he added as an afterthought. "Detective Kinney, take out the blade and get a new one. Continue cutting your vegetables and don't bleed on them," he says, "Although one can never have too much flavor." He tilts one corner of his mouth up at his remark.
He let me go.
"He shouldn't bleed out completely. This is simply a timer of sorts. You have until he dies to find the medallion. If you find it I'll heal him."
"And if I don't?"
"Then he dies, I bring Vincent in, and we do this all over again." He smiles then walks out the door. I look back to Will, who is now focused on his cooking with a pool of blood forming at his feet. At least he managed to wrap a towel around his wound to stop some of the bleeding. I sigh and go to the dark objects. I am in trouble.
A/N: I'm not going to lie, I don't usually like cami but right now, I am loving Lucien and his intriguing character.