Cami and Davina didn't stop running until the abattoir came into view. Luckily, in the French Quarter, nobody batted an eye at the two of them racing through the streets.
They stopped in front of the abattoir to catch their breaths, both of them panting from the exertion of running all the way from the cemetery.
"This isn't a good idea," Davina said, once she'd caught her breath. "Inadu is just going to come straight here. She knows this is where we'll go."
"Where else do you want to go, Davina?" Cami exclaimed. "Do you want to try to run? Because I guarantee Inadu will find us like that." She snapped her fingers.
Davina frowned, but followed Cami nonetheless as she walked through the entrance of the abattoir and into the courtyard.
The place looked mostly the same, although there was a darkness to the structure now. It felt less like a home. There was less furniture scattered around and vines wrapped around the balconies above. The place didn't look as lived in as it had before.
Thudding footsteps came down the staircase, bringing Cami out of her thoughts. She tensed in preparation for whoever it was.
"Klaus?" Freya called out as she trotted down the last few steps, her attention focused on getting down the staircase without tripping up. When she looked up and saw Cami and Davina standing there, she froze.
"You bitch." Before Cami could stop her, Davina stormed past her and struck Freya.
Freya stumbled back, only managing to not trip by grabbing on to the banister of the staircase. She held her cheek and gritted her teeth, but she didn't retaliate surprisingly. "Davina," Freya greeted. "So nice to see you again."
Davina glared, her eyes burning with hatred. "You killed me."
Freya's hand lowered from her cheek as she met Davina's fiery gaze. "And I'm very sorry for that, but you're back now, so…"
"So?" Davina exclaimed. "So what? It all worked out in the end? Is that what you wanted to say?"
"No, of course not." Freya shook her head at the suggestion. "But I did what I had to to protect my family. I'm sorry, but I'd do it again if I had to."
Cami just about managed to grab onto Davina and hold her back before she could leap at Freya again.
"Do you have any idea what you put me through?" Davina cried, struggling against Cami's hold on her.
Freya sighed and glanced away, but said nothing in reply.
"What is going on here?" A familiar voice asked from above.
All three women stopped and looked up at the disruption.
Marcel stood above them, on the second floor. He had both hands on the railing and leaned over slightly to look down at what was going on below him. When he saw Davina, his face dropped in disbelief.
"Davina?" He hurried around to the staircase and jogged down the steps, his eyes never leaving her.
Cami let go of Davina and stepped back to give them space as Marcel approached. Davina was practically Marcel's adoptive daughter; it felt wrong in someway to be there for this private moment.
When he was close enough, Marcel pulled Davina into a tight hug, tucking her head under his chin and closing his eyes to savour the moment. "I can't believe it," he said. "How'd this happen?"
Davina let out a sigh. "It's a long story."
When Marcel opened his eyes, he spotted Cami and he brightened. "Oh my god, Cami?"
She smiled in return. "Hi, Marcel." While the two of them had a somewhat complicated relationship in the past, she was happy that they'd managed to maintain their friendship. Seeing him again was a pleasant reprieve from everything that had happened over the past hour.
He offered a smile in response as he released Davina, although he kept an arm around her. "What happened to you two?"
While Davina remained tucked under his arm, her eyes stayed focused on the ground and she looked like she was holding herself back from snapping at Freya again.
Since it didn't seem like Davina was going to be the one to offer an explanation, Cami had to. "To make a long story short, the Hollow brought us back to life to use us as leverage."
Both Marcel and Freya paused for a minute, taken aback slightly by Cami's abruptness. After the last few days, Cami didn't care to speak delicately about their situation.
Freya was the first to break the silence. "That's why the Hollow wanted to meet with Klaus and Kol only," she realised. "She wanted to show them that she had Davina and Cami."
Cami's forehead wrinkled with confusion. "I saw Rebekah and Hayley there too."
"They were supposed to be the backup," Freya explained. "If Kol and Klaus got into any trouble, Rebekah and Hayley were supposed to step in. What happened exactly?"
"Things weren't going too well between Klaus, Kol and Inadu when a new person disrupted everything," Cami said. "I don't know who they were, but they were more powerful than Inadu. Rebekah and Hayley tried to get involved when that person took out Klaus and Kol, but it was no use."
Freya shifted on her feet. "Are they okay?"
"I didn't see anyone get too hurt. That person seemed more interested in killing Davina and I again." She just had to hope that the Stranger didn't attack any of the Mikaelsons too badly after they left.
"What? Why?" Freya asked.
Marcel held a hand up. "Freya, let's not interrogate them as soon as they walk through the door. I'm sure everyone will be back here soon enough and then we can all talk about what happened."
"Well, excuse me for wanting to find out what happened to my family," muttered Freya, crossing her arms.
Davina glared at Freya while she said, "What are you even doing here, Marcel? Are you all okay with the Mikaelsons now?"
Cami could easily hear the accusation in Davina's words. Obviously, with everything that had happened between Davina and some of the Mikaelsons, she probably wasn't thrilled at the idea of her adoptive father cosying up to them.
Marcel glanced down at her. "I wouldn't say everything is okay now," he responded carefully, also having picked up on the undercurrent in Davina's words. "I'm just helping out. The Hollow is a risk to all of us. The enemy of my enemy and all that."
"Why are you here then?" Davina asked after a minute. She didn't sound any less irritated about Marcel being there at the abattoir.
"I decided to stay here with Freya to protect Hope while everyone else went to the meeting with the Hollow," Marcel patiently replied. "It seemed like the smartest idea since the Hollow seems intent on killing me right now."
Davina pursed her lips, but said nothing else.
"The two of you can stay upstairs while we wait for everyone to get back from the meeting," Freya offered. She glanced over at Davina briefly, perhaps unsure whether her offer would be rejected by her given the issues between them.
Marcel squeezed Davina closer to his side and started to lead her towards the stairs. "That'll give us time to talk and catch up a little."
Davina didn't fight against him leading her away. Maybe talking with Marcel would calm her down a bit, so that the next time she saw Freya, she wouldn't try to claw her eyes out.
Cami sighed as she watched them go and turned to Freya. "Where should I wait for everyone to get back?"
"You can go up to Klaus' room." Freya smiled slightly. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind."
Heat bloomed across Cami's face. It was awkward to have her relationship with Klaus so clearly alluded to by his older sister, but she wasn't going to argue. She nodded and cleared her throat. "Where's Elijah by the way? He's the only one I haven't seen around here."
The smile fell from Freya's face as she blew air out through her mouth. "That is a difficult story…"
Cami stood in the room that she had died in before and took a look around. She could easily remember how beautiful that Christmas had been so many years ago. The lights had twinkled around the abattoir and the tree in the courtyard had been the biggest Christmas tree she'd ever seen. The whole evening had felt like a magical break from their less than peaceful day to day lives. All of that had come to a painful end for her though.
Her nose twitched as if she could somehow still smell all of the blood. Her blood. God, there'd been so much.
"I never thought I'd see you here again," a voice said from behind her, banishing the bad memories from her mind.
She smiled to herself. "I never thought I'd be here again." She spoke barely above a whisper, but she knew he could hear. Slowly, Cami turned around on the spot to face him.
Klaus stood in the doorway, his hands crossed together behind his back. His eyes roamed over her, taking in every detail. The corners of his lips turned up into pleased smile.
That was all it took. Cami closed the distance between them and threw her arms around his neck. In turn, he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and buried his face against her neck. While most people in the world would be terrified to have him so close to their carotid artery, she felt no fear.
"I couldn't believe it when I saw you at the crypt," he said quietly, the sound somewhat muffled by her hair.
She didn't respond verbally; she just squeezed him tight one more time before she moved back far enough to place her lips against his in a kiss. He pressed against her eagerly, trying to convey all of the emotions he felt, but perhaps struggled to verbalise to her.
The room around her faded as all of her focus centred on him. The difficult memories that had swarmed her when she'd first entered his bedroom disappeared as she stepped further back into the room with him, the two of them never letting each other go as they moved.
She made a pleased noise in the back of her throat as his hands traced down the length of her spine. When he reached her waist, his hand drifted underneath her top and started to draw gentle shapes against the bare skin of her lower back.
Her fingers threaded through the soft curls in his hair, enjoying the feeling of the tendrils wrapping around her fingers. The enjoyment was apparently mutual, as Klaus groaned against her mouth and his fingers climbed higher on her back.
A knock on the doorframe of the bedroom was the thing that made them break apart, both of them breathing heavily.
Over Klaus' shoulder, Cami spotted Freya standing there in the doorway, looking incredibly uncomfortable, her fist still resting against the doorframe from when she'd knocked.
Freya cleared her throat, her eyes darting between them and various other places in the room. "Sorry. Everyone else is ready to talk about what happened. We need to figure out our next moves."
Klaus didn't look away from Cami. "We'll be there in a minute, sister," he told Freya. "You can leave us alone now."
Freya didn't need to be told twice. She hurried back down the hallway.
Resting his forehead against hers, Klaus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "As always, my family has horrible timing."
Cami chuckled lowly, her gaze never drifting from his face. "We can postpone this for a little while longer, at least until this ancient evil being isn't trying to kill us."
His eyes opened as he smiled back at her. "I'm afraid if we choose to postpone things until someone isn't trying to kill us, we're going to be waiting a very long time to be together, love."
That made her laugh properly for the first time since she'd been resurrected. Now wasn't that the truth.
Author's note: I'm not going to lie, this chapter was difficult to write. I don't feel like I'm the best at writing romantic scenes, but I really tried to make the Klamille reunion as good as I could. I hope people enjoyed!