The train's movements were barely noticeable for its passengers. Except for one jerk or another, nothing was big or loud enough to disturb the peaceful sleep his traveling partner was enjoying. Her breathing pattern was even, and she had an expression on her lips that looked like a smile. Half of her face was covered by her hair, as she was laying on a leather seat across his, legs folded, one on top of the other. Her tight jeans made it look uncomfortable to sleep like that. He tried to remember again why he accepted the proposal of traveling by train. "I always travel by train" Camille told him. "There is a certain charm and fun to it"
Fun. That word she eventually dropped if he was thinking about revenge or destruction. When he seemed too troubled by his "kingdom" issues, she would suggest a distraction as a solution. She would never even try to understand the importance of his staying on top of the NoLa chain, or of the possession of a crown. Of course. She was a mortal. Her life was as short as it gets, why would she dedicated herself to anything other than her own path or other than the now?
And this is all he needed. The now. The grasp of the moment. There was a beauty in that. A desire of staying alive when all you have is the now.
Yet, he couldn't understand why she would love to enjoy life and the "now" and also prefer a long travel by train other than a couple of hours on a a plane.
"Money is short, Klaus. Not everyone is a immortal millionaire artist"
They would go up north in a cabin very far from everyone just to spend a couple of days with his daughter. Hayley would do the same, in other days, in another place. Not being able to live with his daughter was too hurtful. Not being able to see her at all would be his end. So Rebekah would bring her and he would forget about everything whenever his baby girl was had her tiny fingers wrapped around his thumb.
When he told Cami about the true location of his daughter, she was relieved and extremely happy. Yet mad he hidden such information from her. After a while, she understood. In the end, that information was none of her concern. Klaus invited her to go with him up north and she suggested the train, since he made important not being spotted or followed.
Traveling by train was not as cheap as she thought, though.
"I've thought you would accept my offer of raising your income with the writing skills you are serving me with"
"Writing your biography is a good job." She smiled "but I can't take more than it really is. I want to be paid for my labor, not my friendship"
He would lease her writing work for a few hours in the week to register his memories. They were many. Before his daughter Hope was born, he was only interested in telling the world a story. Now, with his enemies endlessly spread on his surroundings, he felt the need to tell his story to her. She would grow up, with or without a father. But nothing would keep her from knowing who He was by his own words. Those memoirs would be with her, in case he couldn't.
Klaus was no idiot. His life can go on as far as a new spell or white stake oak weapon don't show up in the scene. He had to fight for his immortality.
Camille jerked suddenly, bringing him back to reality. She brought her legs closer to her upper body, in the possibility of range within the small width she had available. Feeling cold, Klaus thought to himself. The old train's heater was trying to keep the heat up now that the night's air was getting colder.
He got up and started searching on the shelf upon her seat, where her backpack was and underneath it, he found a blanket. Small but cozy, with the train's name sewed in it.
He sprawled it over her.
"Thank you" she mumbles.
"If you are awake, why didn't you grab it yourself?" He asked, slightly embarrassed for being caught babysitting. He smiled.
He heard her faint small laugh. "How far are we?"
Hard to see outside in the dark. The night just settled in and Klaus was too absorbed in his own thoughts, he didn't realized he didn't hear the name of the stations the train was stopping by.
"It's ok, I am sure we are close" Camille said after she realized Klaus was growing impatient. They would still have over a half hour from the station to the cabin after they arrived.
"Next time we are taking a faster way to travel" klaus said shortly. It sounded like a command. Next time….
" C'mon Klaus" she said, seating up, fixing her hair and placing the blanket around her shoulders "This is fun! I am sure you did a lot of train traveling in the past"
He thought it was amusing how she took the fact that he was a milennia old always in a positive way.
"Yes, back when there was no way better to go long distances"
"You are too impatient for someone that has a lot of time"
Her recently opened blue eyes shone to him. She was doing it again. Trying to calm him down. It wasn't out of fear. He couldn't sense it from her. She understood his eager to see his daughter. And he understood the train was actually the safest way of going there. He went on a quick walk around, checking for non human passengers that could possibly be following him. Since the train had many dif stations, it was hard to tell where he would hop out of it. Yet, he found anything suspicious, a station or two before or after the one he should be at would lose the possible stalkers.
"Are you hungry?" She asks, getting up and looking in her bag for something, probably a snack. Maybe she was trying to find a reason why he sounded so cranky.
"You seem to forget what that question implies" Klaus had a heel on his sit, and an arm upon his knee. Head laid back against the seat, he fixed his gaze on her.
He was sure she could feel his eyes upon her back.
She didn't mind. She never did. She didn't discern the way he looked at her. She knew he was never gonna hurt her so she was never afraid of him.
Sometimes Klaus took that confidence as a good thing. She sees good things in everything.
But sometimes, Klaus took it as petulance. A silliness prone in humans. That confidence on his morals, morals he confessed to never really caring much for, would always make her forget what he really was to her kind: a predator.
And turning around to sit again, holding a granola bar, she glanced at him quickly, probably not noticing the look in his eyes weren't of boredom anymore.
"You don't like granola bars?" She said taking a big bite of hers and offering another bar to him. "Only 110 calories" she says, enthusiastically
"I am not hungry" his voice was low.
The dim light she just turned on, made the small square booth cozy. It had an air of past century, and the leather seats felt worn out. Nevertheless a clean booth with enough space for 2 in a 6 hour travel.
They were seating across each other. Klaus staring at Camile with a bit more intensity now.
"I am, although, thirsty" he smirked.
Camille had no problem feeding him if it was utterly necessary. "I prefer you drinking from me than hurting other people" she would say.
At first he denied her offer. And the fact she was comfortable enough with letting a monster like him consume her blood was reckless. He could suck her dry anytime. And the thought of her not being careful about this fact was unnerving to him…and dangerous to her.
A danger he never planned on putting her into.
Cami is an intelligent woman. But just like every human, the fear is lost when the unknown becomes familiar, even though no original characteristic of said unknown, changed.
As usual, she extended her arm, sitting closer to the edge of her seat. He wondered if she even cared about the pain she felt when his teeth cut through her skin. Did she grow to like it? Even worse, did she feel anything at all when he did that?
No. Klaus Mikaelson's hybrid-bite cannot go un-felt. It is supposed to hurt. Whatever one does feel about that pain, is up to whomever feels it.
He doesn't move. Her arm is there, extended. His expression gets darker. He looks moody.
Cami thought it was because of the thirst he claimed to be feeling and she knows he prefers not drinking from her. She doesn't know the last time he ate but she knows he didn't while he was with her. He wouldn't.
She gets up and in a half step she sits by his side.
"Here, Klaus, go ahead. You know I don't mind" she places her right wrist over the back of his hand that is sitting on top of his knee. She seems genuinely willing to help.
Something dark crossed Klaus' mind, reflecting on his eyes.
Maybe he would regret what he was about to do but Cami needed this more than anyone. He would never forgive himself if any harm came to her because she was used to his… kind.
Not every monster is like me love, he thought, while caressing her wrist with his thumb and pressing her skin harder by the second.
"Klaus?" Cami tried once. He was staring at her arm blankly. She tried retrieving her arm, but he held it down, not even flinching.
"Klaus!" That was her, trying to call him out of his trance.
Her voice seemed unheard. She tried louder.
All he did was circle her wrist. She tried again, harder, to retract it, but he held it in place.
"Klaus, if you are going to feed just do it, ok? We are getting closer to the…"
Klaus' eyes had that deep yellow glow, typical of his feeding face. His fangs were propping out and she felt a shiver crossing her spine. This moment between his face transformation and the actual bite was not longer than a few seconds. Why was he taking so long? This expectation was becoming unnerving.
"Klaus, stop playing games" she said playfully, trying to ease the moment.
Klaus was snarling. That sound was all Camille could hear. Whatever Klaus was doing, it was making her heartbeat more intense.
And he could hear it. Pulse by pulse. Still not fast enough, though.
She trusts me.
He finally moved, pulling her wrist close to his fangs, her scent closer to his nostrils. His lips found the exact spot where her blood would run by with a beat; his beard scraped it followed by his lips, causing Cami to feel uneasy.
She cleaned her throat. "Klaus..." it sounded more pleading than she meant it to. She had to admit the small pain she started to feel from his hold. She was familiar to this hurt though. She had fed him before.
Out of the blue, Klaus pulled her arm, bringing her to himself. His speed was something he rarely (if ever) used on her. But suddenly, she sees her upper back leaning against Klaus' thorax, his right arm wrapped around her arm and chest, holding her upper body in place, neck parallel to his mouth.
"What the hell are you doing, Klaus?" She tried her best not to yell. She was getting mad.
He pulled her hair out of the way with his left hand, exposing her neck, forcing her head down.
She jerked a few times trying to free herself from his lock, only to make it tighter.
"Easy, love" he finally spoke. His tone was not the one he usually uses with Cami.
"Klaus, are you out of your mind?" She asked, trying to reason with him. Typical Cami. "I am not in the mood for games!"
"You are always suggesting me to have fun, love." His finger tracing her aorta excruciatingly slow "And I always do as you say…don't I?"
Her breathing became erratic. Klaus was unpredictable but not with her. There was no need for this.
His breath was warm against her neck, which startled her how close it was. The ecstatic of the closeness making her skin sweat.
What she feared happened: his teeth inadvertently sank through her skin, making her yelp.
She wasn't sure how to feel. She did offer to feed him. But not like this. Was there any difference though? Was this really any different from giving him her wrist?
Yes it does. She decides how she is going to help him, not the opposite.
She was conflicted with what to do and what he meant with "having fun as she told him to".
His hands were holding her: one pressing her breast and the other her stomach so tight, she started feeling claustrophobic.
He never fed from her neck, she wasn't sure if it was common for him to lick and run his tongue and lips around the perforations he made. It was a surreal moment. He was getting high from her blood and she was getting high from the euphoria and his touch. His hand pressed her left breast firmly and she had her hands holding his lower arm.
He wandered with his other hand underneath her shirt, feeling a warm skin that might have made him lose it a bit more. This proximity to Cami was new, and he was enjoying the new sensation, even though enjoying was not what he meant to do.
He heard her voice turning into moans, another detail he wasn't planning on.
Now his heart was erratic. It was getting harder and harder to think...
Breaking the spell he put them both under, he undoes his hold of her, pushing her to the side.
She slowly comes back from the frenzy and touches her stiff neck. She is rightfully mad and throw a punch against Klaus' shoulder, who is savoring her taste and the tip of his fingers.
She tried to hit him again harder, and he held her hand, then pushed her back, making her lay down facing him, legs twitching still on the floor.
"What is wrong with you?" She yells at him.
His torso is hovering above hers and his face is still in hybrid state.
"This is who I am, love" his eyes glowed a beastly yellow "you should know that by now"
"Why are you doing this?" She could not understand the sudden change. A few minutes ago he was just watching her sleep; even bothered covering her when he thought she was feeling cold. Why this now?
She looked to his face but the dim light could only help her see so far. His grip was tight around her wrists and her neck was throbbing with pain.
"Because this is what creatures like me do Cami!"
"I know who you are, Klaus! I know you are a vampire! We haven't just met!" She tries to move her legs close to kick him away from her, without success.
"You were enjoying it." He said, with a serious tone.
"What?" She spit, not believing what she just heard.
"I attacked you, Cami" His fangs retracted. "I attacked you and I expected a bit more of defense from you"
"You are crazy!" She wasn't sure of the point he was trying to make.
"You need to defend yourself from creatures like me, Cami" she was quieting down. "It disturbs me you don't find the need to self-preserve when you let me drink from you"
She fed him before and he never had anything to preach about it. "This doesn't make any sense! I have fed you before! Why would you hurt me now?"
"Why wouldn't I? The fact is, Cami, you cannot trust the intimacy we have. It should not be your your shield"
"I know you wouldn't hurt me!"
And there she was, with her neck bleeding, trust broken and still trying to find his good side to remind him of its existence.
"But I could, and that is what you should keep in mind. I admire how fearless you are, but I cannot afford having you hurt because of your compassion"
"No Klaus. You are wrong! What do you think I am, huh? Don't you think I know who I am dealing with? Or WHAT? You, Marcel, Davina… I know I am only human and to your eyes I am fragile and in need of protection but let me tell you this..." her eyes had that vicious glow he would find whenever she was making a point "I am not: what you think I lack is what keeps me alive!"
"It is not enough then. I could have killed you, Camille!"
"Don't you think I would have fought for my life? Don't you think I know what to do? I do not count on your mercy or good moments Klaus Mikaelson! I count on my instincts and my ability to fight. I keep myself alive, NOT YOUR PITY "
There it was. All Klaus needed to hear. The flawless words of a queen. He could sleep in peace knowing the fire in Cami's heart for life was still burning.
She grew in him. Her presence was affecting him more and more. He started to want her more that he could admit right now. In the middle of this chaos, she was a firm rock he could rest and stand beside.
He was not one for playing Prince Charming to damzels in distress.… but who needs a prince when you are a queen?
He let go of her hands, and got back into sitting position.
She felt better after getting her point across. She understood what had happened, what kind of little test she had just been put through. That didn't make her less mad at him, though.
She knew she was only a human, and that everyone surrounding her, more and more, were supernatural creatures.
Why was Klaus so upset by it though?
"I hope you understand the importance of your safety, Cami"
A thousand years and he couldn't be more evasive about expressing his feelings.
"And I hope you understand I am still mad at you"
He bit his wrist, pulled a strand her hair out of his way, placing it behind her ear. She took his arm and drank from it, enough to make her neck heal.
The train stopped and they both heard the name of the station that was they last stop. He got up and grabbed her backpack, handing it to her.
He offers his hand to help her get up.
"I promise the rest of the weekend will be pleasant" he says to her, while she puts on her backpack,
"And I promise I will make you regret next time you pull tricks on me"
He smirks.
"I expect anything less from you, love" he says, while showing the exit from the booth to her.
Author's note: this is just a quick random story involving my favorite Originals couple. thank you for reading. I appreciate reviews.