"Wha…what happened?" gasped Camille, nearly hyperventilating. She remembered the darkness enveloping her as she said her final words to Klaus, clinging on long enough to try and convince him to not end up like Mikael. That should have been it. The next thing Camille expected was to wake up in some mystical afterlife alongside her brother Sean and uncle Kieran or for her consciousness to cease into oblivion. And yet here she was back in the bed Klaus had placed her in hours earlier while she was dying surrounded by her friends who were completely stunned to see her alive.
"Camille," whispered Klaus. He had stumbled to the floor after being startled by Camille's sudden rise from the grave and now he slowly got to his feet.
"Is this…real?" Camille asked, not sure if she was actually alive or this was some kind of strange afterlife.
Klaus approached her and cupped her face with his hands. The two stared into each other's eyes and in that moment, Camille knew she was still alive. He suddenly lunged forward and embraced her. Camille started laughing tearfully as she returned it. "I thought I lost you," Klaus whispered.
Camille was staring directly at the hybrid's neck and suddenly had a strange taste for blood. She knew something was wrong and tried to avert her eyes away from one of Klaus's veins but couldn't. It almost felt like the blood lust she felt when she was in transition the first time. Camille managed to control it over time but this was much stronger. She didn't understand why she was feeling this way but knew she couldn't give in.
Camille gently pushed Klaus away from her. "I'm fine," she lied, trying to assure him.
"What did you do?" Elijah asked. Camille turned her head and noticed everyone was looking at Vincent. Whatever was going on, clearly he was somehow the main suspect.
"You wanted me to drain Lucien's serum out of Aurora and I did. And when I was finished, I mixed it with some herbs and…" Vincent explained folding his arms, not ashamed of anything.
"That's what you injected her with," Freya realized.
"I'm the same…thing…that Lucien's become?" asked a dumbfounded Camille. She was grateful she was alive but the idea of being some kind of super vampire that could kill an Original with one bite didn't exactly sit well with her. To have so much power at her fingertips was actually frightening.
"No you are nothing like him," Klaus spoke up. He turned to Vincent and said, "Thank you."
Vincent looked a little surprised to hear such words from Klaus but once he got over his shock, he gave a nod. The two of them seemed the least disturbed of everyone in the room. Marcel wasn't angry but he wasn't exactly shouting for joy either. Hayley looked uncertain as if she wasn't quite sure what to make of all of this. Freya seemed nervous and Elijah seemed apprehensive. Cami did not like her friends looking at her like this.
"What are you all worried I'm going to turn psycho and kill everyone? I'm still me," Cami tried to assure them as she got to her feet. Yet as her eyes locked into Elijah she knew it was a lie. Her attention was locked onto his neck and the urge to bite him seemed to grow by the millisecond.
Hayley walked up to Cami and instantly threw her arms around her in an embrace. "I don't care what color eyes you have or how many extra fangs you've got. I'm just glad you're still with us," Hayley said.
Camille was afraid she'd have the same impulse to bite her like the others but strangely didn't feeling anything other than the need to return the hug.
Marcel quickly followed, embracing her as well. "You had us worried there girl," he smiled.
"Sorry about that," Camille smiled back. Freya was still nervous but gave the best smile she could muster and hugged Camille as well. No urge to kill her so that was a relief.
"I couldn't let anything happen to you," Vincent said as he embraced her. She felt no violent urges towards him just like Marcel and Hayley.
"Come one come all. It's Cami hug day," Camille quipped.
Elijah finally approached her and gave her a hug. "I'm glad you're alright."
Camille was now starting to strain from the pressure. Elijah was so close and now it was starting to take effort on her part to not rip his throat out. Something was very wrong. Cami quickly pushed Elijah, gently as she could, away from her.
"Look thank you all of you. The fact that you're here at what could have been my last day means more to me than you can ever know. But right now I think I'm going to go for a walk," Camille explained, trying to hide how nervous she was.
"I'll join you," Klaus said.
"No!" Camille nearly screamed and instantly regretted from the stunned and confused look on everyone's faces. She also hated seeing the hurt look on Klaus's face but Cami couldn't risk him being beside her right now. Not when she wasn't in her right mind.
She calmed herself down and said, "Look I almost died and I need some time alone to collect my thoughts. I want to walk Bourbon Street and clear my head."
"Absolutely not," argued Klaus. "Lucien is still out there and if he sees you…"
"He'll be in for a world of hurt," Camille interrupted him. Her eyes flashed red and she barred her new extra fangs. She hoped she did run into him and give Lucien a taste of his own medicine. Cami doubted the highly potent venom in her fangs would actually kill him though. Lucien couldn't have possibly been stupid enough to create that toxin without immunizing himself to it. Otherwise he might kill himself just by accidentally biting his own tongue. That would just be embarrassing. Still Camille would love to get some payback for what he did to her.
"Don't overestimate yourself Cami. You don't know your own strength," Elijah warned.
"Look you may some kind of Super Original now but that doesn't mean you're stronger than Lucien," Vincent agreed.
"I'm with them. It's safer for you in here then outside," Marcel voiced his opinion.
The feeling was grower worse by the second. Camille couldn't stand around here any longer. "Try and stop me," she said before bolting out the door.
Cami leaped off the third floor balcony and landed on the ground floor before dashing towards the exit. She glanced behind her to see Klaus and Elijah chasing after her but they weren't able to keep up. Camille couldn't remember being this fast even when she was a vampire. Apparently being able to run a fifty yard dash against the Flash was another new ability she had. She pushed herself and passed through Bourbon Street in seconds. No one even saw her except a blur and perhaps a breeze if they were close enough to her path.
Once she was certain she lost her pursuers, Camille slowed down and breathed a sigh of relief. The urge to kill Klaus and Elijah seemed to dissipate once they were out of her sight. Cami was certain however she wasn't out of the woods yet. That couldn't be a coincidence she only wanted to kill those two and no one else. She knew from her recent experience with Kol that he was cursed somehow by the Ancestors. He was incredibly aggressive and became agitated at the slightest inconvenience.
What if the Ancestors did the same thing to Camille and were now trying to use her to kill Klaus and Elijah? Lucien couldn't get inside the Mikaelson Compound unless he was invited in by Freya which was never going to happen. The Ancestors couldn't have predicted Camille changing into the same monster as that smug bastard but perhaps they saw an opportunity to get rid of the Mikaelsons through her. Well that wasn't going to happen.
Camille heard that Kol had been hiding in the St. James Infirmary, a jazz club that Elijah arranged a powerful witch to perform a disruption spell which prevented anyone from using magic within its walls. If there was any place she could be free from those ghostly psychotic whores then that would be the place. She'd hide out there until she could arrange to get out of the city.
Elijah nearly had to drag Klaus back to the safety of the compound. It was bad enough they were chasing after Camille who easily outran the two Originals and vanished into the night but Lucien could be around any corner waiting for them. It took some difficulty to convince Klaus to come back to their home but the hybrid finally relented when Elijah mentioned that it would easier to find Cami through a locator spell.
The two arrived back at their estate to find everyone waiting in the courtyard. The entire chase lasted maybe thirty seconds at most though Elijah had no doubt for Niklaus it probably felt longer. He looked incredibly frustrated, almost ready to explode. Elijah would have to make sure the others were careful with their words otherwise Klaus could go off on anyone of them.
"Well? Where is she?" asked Marcel.
"Gone. She was too fast for us to follow," explained Elijah.
"I'll perform a locator spell," Freya said, heading off to get the necessary ingredients.
"I don't get it. Why would she just run off like that?" wondered Hayley.
"Maybe she was afraid," suggested Vincent.
Klaus glared at the warlock. "And just what exactly are you implying? That she's afraid of me?!" he snapped.
Elijah quickly got between the two. "Niklaus calm yourself," he instructed his brother. Klaus was never one to take orders but thankfully he backed down.
"Not you," explained Vincent. "Maybe she's afraid of herself. She could kill you with one bite Klaus. Don't you think that probably frightens her?"
"She would never hurt me or any of us," Klaus said defiantly.
"Marcel," a voice called out. Elijah turned and wasn't thrilled to see the young Davina Claire rushing inside the compound. The little witch conspired with members of the Strix to kill both Elijah and Niklaus. She would've been dead by now had she not mattered so much to Kol and Marcel.
"I am not in the mood for this. Get rid of her," Klaus snapped at Marcel.
Marcel headed off to speak with Davina and hopefully keep her away. Things were tense enough as it was. While Klaus, Hayley, and Vincent argued on where Cami had gone, Elijah remained silent so he could focus on listening to Marcel and Davina's conversation. He trusted Marcel but he'll never trust the witch.
"Where's Cami? Is she alright?" asked Davina.
"She fine D. Or at least we think she is," Marcel answered.
Davina frowned, "What does that mean?"
"Nothing was working. She was dying and Vincent drained the serum inside of Aurora that would have turned her into a super vampire. He gave to Camille before she died and now she's the same thing as Lucien," explained Marcel.
"Well isn't that a good thing? She's alive and now stronger than ever," commented Davina.
"Yeah but there was something off about her. She said she wanted to go for a walk and then split the second she was able to," replied Marcel.
"That doesn't make any sense. Why would she…?" Davina wondered and then the blood drained from her face. She just realized something and Elijah was done playing spectacular.
"Well go on. You were saying?" Elijah asked as he flashed over to the two.
Davina glared at him. "A thousand years old and you still haven't learned the meaning of privacy?" she sighed.
"My dear Davina when you are in this establishment whose owners can hear everything going on within these four walls, there is no such thing as privacy," Elijah pointed out. "Now you were saying before?"
"Yes don't keep us in suspense little witch," Klaus said walking up to them. Apparently Elijah wasn't the only one listening in. Hayley and Vincent soon joined in as well.
"Alright," sighed Davina. "When I brought Kol back, the Ancestors put some kind of curse or hex on him. What if they did the same thing to Cami?"
That was a frightening thought, one judging from everyone's face frightened all of them as well. "Then maybe we should let her stay away," suggested Elijah.
Klaus looked ready to kill him for saying that. "Absolutely not. I've seen her die twice already, I'm not letting her out of my sights again," he snapped.
"If she didn't want you following brother then perhaps she was going it for your own good," Elijah stated.
"I'll decide what's for my own good and I'm going after her the second Freya's locator spell is finished," Klaus said firmly.
"Then you'll have to worry about Lucien and Camille. Both of whom can kill you," Vincent said.
"I can't believe I'm hearing this. Camille will never hurt me," argued Klaus.
"Not by choice," Marcel said. "Look maybe Elijah's right. Let's just give her some space until we can figure this all out."
"Cowards the whole lot of you," spat Klaus. "Terrified because of a suggestion from our little treacherous witch?"
"Niklaus calm yourself," Elijah urged him, grabbing his brother by the arm.
Klaus suddenly ripped Elijah's arm off him and shoved him to the ground. "I won't be calm until she's back here! I will not lose her again!" he shouted.
"Hey!" Hayley got into Klaus's face. "We all love Cami but right now you're not helping anyone," she growled.
Elijah got back to his feet and thankfully, Hayley's words seemed to have tempered Klaus's rage at least for the moment. The hybrid began pacing back and forth like a cage animal.
Freya came running back into the courtyard. "I can't find her. My locator spell isn't working," she said.
"St. James," Marcel realized. Everyone turned their attention towards him. "Kol used it to protect himself from the Ancestor's influence before he skipped town."
"Skipped town? Why am I just hearing about this now?" Elijah demanded.
"It was his choice," Marcel answered.
"No he didn't leave," Davina spoke up. "The Ancestors wouldn't let him get past the city. He had me dagger him until I could find a way to save him."
That was surprising to hear. Kol actually let himself be daggered? He must be in worse shape then Elijah thought. They would find a way to cure him but first they had to find Camille.
"You left Kol in that place alone?" Freya asked stunned. "What if Lucien finds out where he is and goes after him?"
"He won't. He's letting the Ancestors use Kol to try and kill me," Davina said.
"Then we should…" Elijah started to say before realizing someone was missing. Niklaus was gone.
(Okay you'll have to forgive me if the chapters might get a bit short in the future but that's mostly because I'm still trying to figure out how this story is going to work in the long run. Once I reached the time frame where Season 3 ends, I might have to wait until season 4 starts before resuming this.)