NOLA Music Days Festival
"Not the whole thing. She's going to spoil her dinner," Klaus assured the empty space beside him.
"Fine. No more. Since when are you such a stickler for the rules?" I chuckled and secretly passed Hope another pinch of cotton candy, "and you might wanna stop looking right at us, you look like a crazy person talking to yourself."
Hope and I were cloaked by an invisibility spell; it took some convincing and a non-negotiable bodyguard, but we got the fresh air we so desperately needed. The Compound was sending us both stir-crazy.
"My sanity has never been a matter of debate," Klaus scoffed.
"Right, it's universally accepted to be lacking," I replied in a sing-song voice as Hope and I bobbed to the music.
Klaus didn't snipe back; he was lost in the sound of his little girl giggling.
"You know, I'm still waiting for you to excuse yourself a moment, take a little trip across the street, drop in on an old friend-" I mentioned, with a wide grin. Cami's apartment was a mere dozen or so meters from us, and Klaus was stuck on a loop of glancing back at it. Yeah, invisible people see a lot.
"I'm not going anywhere. That was the deal," Klaus replied, sharply.
"We could all go," I suggested, mischievously, "can't be awkward with the cutest little ice-breaker there ever was!"
Suddenly, he tensed and surveyed the crowd as though he'd caught a bad smell. I followed his line of sight through the crowd of festival-goers, across the square, landing on someone beside the fountain: the unmistakable smirk of Lucien Castle. The crowd broke our line of sight and he was gone just as fast.
"We're done. Head back. Now," Klaus seethed and set off to track him down.
"Klaus!" I hissed after him.
He didn't acknowledge my plea; any of them. I lost sight of Klaus through the crowd as quickly as we'd lost Lucien. I panicked. I stopped and started a couple different plans over the span of five seconds. I cursed. I apologised to the cutest little ice-breaker ever, and before I knew it, I was dipping and diving through the crowd, in the direction her father had disappeared. I froze at seeing Lucien disappear down an alleyway. I heard an almighty smack and the sound of a body rolling across the pavement from impact. I peered around the corner to see Klaus quickly righting himself, and take up a defensive position. Shit.
"Hello, Nik!" Lucien chuckled in amusement.
Klaus scowled back at him, and shrugged nonchalantly as he scoffed, "not bad. Perhaps I'll return the favor?"
Klaus lunged for Lucien, swiping a claw-like blade at him, but Lucien dodged all of his strikes with ease. They spun and blocked each other inside a series of blurs. I wasn't sure who was winning until Lucien backhanded Klaus and sent him flying backwards. He slammed down onto the hood of an old car, completely obliterating the windshield. Ouch. Klaus spat blood out of his mouth. Lucien leapt forward, landing in front of him on the hood of the car.
"Do you see now, old friend?" Lucien goaded him, "you cannot beat me."
Klaus was wildly offended by this remark. He scoffed back, "defeated at the hands of a stable boy? I sincerely doubt it."
"I'll have my moment," Lucien chuckled, darkly, "yet, you still have a role to play in the prophecy I am to fulfill. You're gonna help me get Elijah."
Klaus jerked at the notion and kicked Lucien's legs out from under him, causing him to fall backwards. They struggled and tussled some more. Klaus prepared to stab Lucien with the nightmare claw blade, but Lucien rallied without breaking a sweat, grabbed Klaus' wrist and held him there. Klaus couldn't break his hold. He used his free hand to bear down all his weight and strength behind the blade, aimed right above Lucien's heart...well, where a heart should be.
"I'm not gonna let you hurt my brother!" Klaus seethed, and the silent invisible crowd went wild. Yes! STAB HIM. GET HIM!
"Sadly, you don't have a choice," Lucien assured him.
Lucien snapped Klaus' wrist like a twig and used it to turn the blade on Klaus' own heart. I staggered back at the roar Klaus released as the blade plunged deep inside his chest. I backed away further. Klaus...was down. Even Lucien seemed shocked by this turn of events, but he definitely enjoyed Klaus gasping in pain and falling down to his knees before him. He picked up the floppy body like it were nothing more than a rag-doll and disappeared around the corner. I hurried back into the crowd, and made my way towards our car, calling Elijah.
"It's Klaus...Lucien has him. Ambushed him. Knocked him around like it was nothing," I said, quickly, "I couldn't do anything! I have Hope!"
"Did he bite him?" Elijah asked.
"No. I think he wanted him alive, as bait to lure you out. Stabbed him with that velociraptor claw blade thing," I told him.
"Hmm. One moment," Elijah said, and I heard him mess around on his phone, "Lucien is demanding my presence at the Whiskey Cask - alone and immediately. He says if I delay, Niklaus will die. Get back to the Compound. Now."
"Wait! WAIT! Elijah. Wait," I insisted, "are you seriously going out there?"
"I'm seriously going out there."
"I literally just told you it's a trap," I whined, "the whole point of putting the deed to the compound in Freya's name was to make that place impenetrable. Now, you're gonna go pick a fight with a guy who can kill you? A guy who just swatted Klaus like a little fly?"
"Yes, when you put it that way...it does sound a little reckless," Elijah conceded, as a closing remark.
"Elijah?!" I scorned into the phone, knowing fine well that nothing I said was going to keep him there.
"Yes."
"...be careful."
French Quarter
Freya and Hope were safe behind the walls of...well...paperwork. I called in my own reinforcements to rescue Klaus. Yes, even now, that sentence is so bizarre. Cami and I were walking determinedly down the street toward Lucien's apartment, discussing our game plan.
"I love your enthusiasm. I do," Cami complained, and gestured between the two of us, "but...very breakable human. Very new vampire. If Klaus got taken out in record time, what on Earth makes you think we're gonna do any better?"
"Lucien is with Elijah. We don't have to worry about him," I assured her.
"Okay. But, we do have to worry about Aurora, and she's still super old, and super psycho, and sorry, super out of our leagues...and she doesn't exactly play fair...ah, and another obstacle you haven't thought about," Cami explained, "I haven't been invited into Lucien's Penthouse."
"So, you can wave your dark objects in the foyer, and I'll do all the dirty work," I replied, shortly. Cami's steps slowed, and she fell back a little; her face was devoid of confidence, littered with concern. I stopped and turned back to face her, and asked her, sincerely, "hey, are you up for this or not?"
"What if I'm a liability? I've been training so I can punch a bag, but in a real fight?" Cami whined.
"Cami, here's the thing about being afraid...if you have to do the thing you're afraid of, then all this fear is for nothing. Either turn it into anger, or leave it at the door. But, either way, you control your emotions, which means you're already one step ahead of Aurora."
Cami nodded, and then suddenly smiled as she read a sign behind me.
"Hey, I have an idea..." she said, and headed inside Brennan's Pharmacy Prescriptions.
Lucien's Penthouse
"Well, it appears we have company!" Aurora sang, maniacally, forced to investigate the elevator ding outside. She opened the double doors, both surprised and pleased to see Cami standing there...all alone.
"Oh my, this day just gets better and better," Aurora beamed, "Cami. It's been a while. How's vampirism treating you?"
Cami's smile was tight as she declared, "as a matter of fact, I'm enjoying it. That's why I'm here-" she opened the front of her coat and pulled out an ancient-looking knife with a red tassel hanging from the end of the grip, "-to express my gratitude."
"Ooh, you cheeky little minx!" Aurora chuckled, "have you come to have a go at me?"
"Get out of here, Camille!" Klaus seethed. He was chained up, arms abreast, to a log which dangled from a chain in the middle of the room; a foreign magic emanated from the contraption.
"Shut up, Nik. This is between us girls!" Aurora demanded, "though, I suppose I will let you listen to her cries as I tear off her limbs like the wings of a pretty little butterfly."
"I'd like to see you try," Cami sneered back.
"Ooh! You're brandishing your antiques at me!" Aurora goaded her, mockingly, "I suppose I would be scared, if I thought you were quick enough to use them."
Aurora walked towards Cami, passing over the threshold, backing Cami toward the elevator.
"You really did not think this through, did you?" Aurora teased her.
"Actually, we did," Cami whispered back, smartly.
Just like that, Aurora was launched backwards, through the apartment, as though she were lassoed. She slammed down into the ostentatious marble floor, cracking the tiles. I came down on top of the startled woman.
"Bye Aurora," I seethed as I slammed an enchanted fist squarely into her chest and snatched her heart.
"Stop!" Klaus bellowed, and weakly admitted, "she drank the serum."
Aurora whimpered in pain as I squeezed my hand even tighter. Gratuitous, yes. Deserved, also yes. I very reluctantly heeded Klaus' warning, and sided with not creating another super beast. I let go, retracting my hand sans heart. I made the mistake of looking back at Klaus for one second and Aurora took advantage, delivering a swift lights-out punch to yours truly. The protection spell I'd cast had done its darnedest, but a super-old vampire right-hook is pretty formidable.
She must have launched my unconscious body across the room soon after because I came to rather far away from my drop point. I heard Cami first, piercing through the ringing in my ears. I dared not move. I peeped one eye open and saw the source of the screams: Aurora indulging in a spot of torture. She was pushing Cami over the threshold of the apartment, causing Cami to bleed profusely from her eyes and nose and wail out in agony.
Klaus roared furiously, helplessly, fighting against his chains, "LET HER GO!"
"Hush, Nik!" Aurora sneered back, "don't make her final moments any worse than they need to be!"
It didn't look like it could get any worse. It was pretty gnarly. Aurora's eyes bore solely into Klaus, watching his reaction with fierce delight as she tortured Cami. She spoke to the agonized girl in a mocking and condescending tone, "darling, I almost feel sorry for you. Blinded by love as I once was, ready to give everything, even your life, for one who is and will always be unworthy."
Cami caught my eye, caught the subtle nod, reached into her pocket and grabbed the syringe, the centerpiece of our master plan. Aurora saw none of this; she was too absorbed in Klaus. Cami elbow her in the face. She and Aurora tussled around in the foyer. I pushed myself up and staggered over to them. I snapped both of Aurora's legs. She fell backwards onto her bottom on the floor in front of Cami, screaming more out of shock than pain.
"Cami, now!" I hollered.
Cami grabbed Aurora in a headlock and injected her in the neck with the syringe, causing Aurora to gasp out in pain. Klaus looked both shocked and impressed by our plan; he smiled at Cami, adoringly. Cami breathed a hearty sigh of relief and tumbled onto her back.
"Goodnight, sunshine," I muttered to Aurora as I delicately touched my stinging cheek.
Mikaelson Compound
I sauntered into the dining room, expecting to find just Klaus, but he was with Freya, recapping the day's events in detail. He'd laid down the enchanted chains Lucien had used to bind him; Freya inspected them with intrigue.
"Aurora's still out cold. What are the chances of keeping her that way?" I asked the room.
"Oh, my spell will keep her down long enough to use the serum in her blood to figure out a way to kill both her and Lucien," Freya explained.
"I must say, I'm rather looking forward to it," Klaus said.
"You're welcome," Freya told her brother, amused, rounding off their conversation, and she disappeared to begin her research.
Klaus turned back to me and conceded, "I suppose I ought to be thanking you as well."
"You can thank me in diaper duty," I told him, lightly. He scoffed, and I told him, seriously, "although, while you're on the grateful-train, you should probably hit up Cami."
"I believe Camille prefers I leave her alone," Klaus said, sadly.
I gave him a significant look, and scoffed, "oh please, Klaus. Did you see what she went through to save your ass?! Cami may tell you that staying away is best...and what do I know, maybe it is. But...it doesn't stop how she feels."
Klaus looked a little uncomfortable at the sudden real talk, and looked away, pensively. I turned to leave, and met eyes with Elijah, who was standing in the doorway. His expression seemed to be one of mutual understanding; my words were my own, just as much about my own relationship. I took him by the hand and led him out of the room.