Standing in the courtyard, Cami waited and watched the entrance to the abattoir. Her heart pounded in her chest. Any minute now, Inadu was due to meet them there. Cami tried to contain her nerves and not show how worried she actually was. Beside her, Davina kept shifting back and forth on her feet, unable to stay still.
"Stop fidgeting," Cami said to her, her voice sounding much louder to her ears in the silence of the courtyard.
"I can't help it," Davina whispered back. Having heard her with his enhanced hearing, Kol stepped up behind Davina and grabbed her hand. Davina seemed to calm slightly at the gesture, but she still gnawed at her bottom lip, making the delicate skin red.
Cami released a breath and continued to watch the entrance. Klaus stood nearby with Rebekah, both prepared to fight Inadu should things go south. Vincent was in front of Davina and Cami, standing between them and the entrance. Looking down, Cami spotted the two vials of blood he held tight in his hand – one full of her own blood and the other full of Davina's.
Upstairs, Freya was preparing her own spell to perform when Death took Inadu. She was going to use the power from Inadu's death to resurrect Elijah's body and get his soul out of her magical pendant. Hayley was with her, no doubt excited to reunite with Elijah should the spell work.
"Are you sure she's coming?" Cami asked Vincent. They'd been waiting there for what like a few minutes already and she was getting impatient. She wanted this to be over with.
He nodded sharply, but said nothing.
Another minute passed before Cami heard slow footsteps near the entrance way. She held her breath and watched as Inadu walked through the shadowy abattoir entrance and stepped into the courtyard.
"Nice of you to finally join us," Klaus said, sarcasm seeping through the words. Apparently he wasn't too thrilled about waiting around either.
Inadu barely glanced at him, her attention solely fixed on Vincent. "Well? Can we get on with this then?" She sounded almost bored to be there.
"All I need is some of your blood and I can do the unlinking spell right here," said Vincent.
Lifting her hand, Inadu tossed a vial of her blood towards him. Vincent just about caught the vial before it could slip through his fingers. Now with everything that he needed, he hurried over to a table that had been set up nearby with everything he needed for the spell on top of it. He began to pour Cami, Davina and Inadu's blood into a chalice, mixing the liquids together as he chanted in a foreign language.
Inadu watched him for a moment before turning to look at Cami and Davina. "It looks like you both finally got what you wanted. Back with your little boyfriends." She shot pointed looks at Kol and Klaus.
"Talk to them again and I'll pull out your tongue, witch," Klaus said, his voice low.
"So sensitive," Inadu mocked him. "I'll enjoy taking your loves away again once this linking spell is broken. And then, I'll take Marcel Gerard and your precious daughter too."
Klaus growled and stepped forward. Cami quickly looked over at him and hoped that he would meet her gaze before he did something stupid. If he lost his temper and tried to attack Inadu, things were going to get out of control.
Luckily, he did glance over at her and, seeming to see the message she was trying to convey with her eyes, he stopped in his tracks. Cami could see his temper fighting to get free, but Klaus restrained himself, only allowing himself to glare at Inadu, who appeared unbothered.
Rebekah also stepped up behind her brother and placed her hand on his shoulder, perhaps preparing herself to grab onto him should he try to lash out. She didn't need to bother though. Cami could see that despite how difficult it was, Klaus was holding himself back. He didn't want to jeopardise this plan any more than she did.
Vincent stopped chanting and shot a discreet look at Cami, telling her that the unlinking spell was done. It felt like a massive weight lifted off of her chest. She could finally breath again.
"Well?" Inadu asked, having seen the look that passed between them. "Is it done?"
Clearing his throat, Vincent nodded at her.
"Well, I'm going to need some proof of that." In the blink of the eye, Inadu raised her hand at Cami.
Cami yelped as her skin split, a long cut appearing across her shoulder. She grabbed her shoulder on reflex and looked at the wound. It wasn't too deep or serious. Truth be told, she'd had worse. If Inadu thought that the unlinking spell hadn't worked properly, she wouldn't of wanted to harm Cami too badly. When Inadu didn't react or cry out in pain, it proved that they weren't linked anymore.
Seeing the wound on Cami's shoulder, Klaus rushed forward to her. He looked over the wound, assessing the damage. When he saw that it wasn't serious, he yelled out, "Now would be a good time for you to show your face."
Inadu tilted her head in confusion, as Klaus' comment hadn't been directed at her.
Upon hearing Klaus' signal, it only took a moment for Death to walk out from one of the unlit side rooms beside the courtyard. Their face was blank as they looked at the scene in front of them. "No need to yell."
Inadu froze. "What is this?" she said through gritted teeth.
"This is the first one then?" Death asked, their eyes fixed on Inadu in an unwavering stare.
Out of all of them, Kol was the one to answer. "Yes. She's Davina's replacement."
Still holding on to her arm, Cami shot a sideways look at him. Of course he would make sure to tell Death that Inadu was definitely Davina's replacement and not hers. Should anything go wrong, he wasn't going to risk Davina. If he wasn't so prepared to throw her under the bus, she'd probably think his loyalty to Davina was sweet.
Death nodded and started to approach Inadu. They walked casually, as if this wasn't a serious situation at all.
Inadu stepped back. For the first time, Cami saw real fear on the witch's face. Their altercation at the crypt had proved that Inadu was no match for Death. She could try to fight, but it wouldn't get her very far here. Despite knowing that, Inadu raised her hands at Death, ready to defend herself.
Before a spell could pass her lips, Death flashed over to her, in a way that reminded Cami of the speediness that vampires possessed. They grabbed Inadu's throat, stopping her from uttering any spell that could potentially help her.
Inadu clawed at Death's arms, but it was no use. Death had a steel like grip on her. Cami watched Death's lips move to whisper something that was too low for Cami to hear.
Within the blink of an eye, Inadu vanished. There was no body to bury. No big dramatic death. She was simply there one second and gone the next. Cami blinked a few times, hardly believing it. She didn't know exactly what she'd expected to happen when Death took Inadu, but it wasn't that.
Klaus let out a deep breath beside her. So wrapped up in her own situation with Inadu, she hadn't had the time to really think about what a relief it must've been for him to get rid of her too. Now Hope and Marcel were safe from the ancient witch as well.
A flash of movement out of the corner of her eye drew Cami's attention away. She glanced over at where Davina and Kol stood beside her, only to do a double take when she saw that they weren't there anymore.
"I'm going to kill him," Klaus whispered beside her, having noticed Kol and Davina's absence too. Kol must've sped out of there with Davina once he knew that she was safe. She doubted that Davina was going to be thrilled about that.
"Well?" Death asked then. "Where is the replacement for that one?" They nodded at Cami and she tried not to bristle at being referred to like that. Their eyes flitted between Klaus, Rebekah and Vincent. "Is it one of you?"
"No," Cami was quick to say. Death's cold gaze moved back to her. "My replacement is upstairs. We'll take you there now."
Death didn't move to follow them. "This better not be a trap. I've gone along with this whole ridiculous plan you all cooked up. I think I've been perfectly reasonable. If you try anything, I won't hesitate to end you."
"It's not a trap," Rebekah chimed in. "It was just rather awkward to move her downstairs, so we decided not to. You'll see why in a minute."
Death stood over the coffin, looking down at the person that lay inside. Cami watched them, wedged between Klaus and Rebekah. This was all so close to being over now, Cami worried that for whatever reason, they would fail at this final hurdle. She wanted to move back, to get further away from Death should they decide to take her instead, but Klaus kept his hand pressed against the small of the back.
"This is slightly unusual," Death finally said. "What happened to her?"
"She's under a sleeping spell," Rebekah explained.
"Obviously," Death stated, and said nothing more. Just as Cami's fear started to grow at their silence, Death reached a hand out and placed it around Aurora's throat.
Laying in her coffin, Aurora remained under the sleeping spell. Her face looked so calm, Cami could almost believe that Aurora really was just in a peaceful sleep. It was strange to look at the woman that had killed her and turned her into a vampire and feel so little. She didn't hate her anymore, but she would be lying if she said that she wasn't happy that Death was going to take Aurora away forever. Leaving her sleeping in the abattoir meant that Aurora could wake up one day in the future and Cami didn't want to risk that.
As it was with Inadu, Aurora was there one moment and gone the next, her body and soul being swallowed up by Death's power and sent to the afterlife.
Death was quick to spin on their heel to face them once the deed was done. "That's settled then."
"Really?" Cami couldn't stop herself from asking. She just needed confirmation that this was truly over. "It's done? You're not going to turn up here again in however many years and demand Davina and I go back to the afterlife?"
They looked almost amused at the thought. "No. Your souls have been replaced. The balance will be restored. All that's left now is for both of you to turn into vampires and not die again." They gave Cami a pointed look.
She swallowed. "Of course."
"I trust you'll complete your transitions later tonight, but I'm not going to wait around for you to do that," said Death. "I'll trust that you'll fulfil your end of our little bargain."
"Yes. Yes, we'll turn tonight," Cami blurted out.
"In that case, we have nothing more to discuss."
Before anyone could say anything else, Death's body disintegrated into black smoke. The smoke floated in the air for only a minute before it disappeared.
Everyone stayed silent, watching the place where Death had stood in their full form only a minute ago. It didn't feel real. It was really over. Death was gone and wouldn't be coming back any time soon.
"That was a rather dramatic exit," Rebekah said quietly, her eyes still looking at the spot where Death had been. Cami had to agree with that, but it was somewhat impressive to see.
Footsteps entered the room behind them. Still on edge, Klaus, Cami and Rebekah were quick to turn around to face whoever the intruder was, expecting it to be another enemy.
However, standing there in his usual perfectly tailored suit was Elijah. Hayley stood in the doorway with a smile on her face, her eyes never moving away from him. Apparently, Freya's spell to put his soul back into his body had worked.
Elijah smiled at his siblings. "So, what have I missed?"
Author's note: So Aurora ended up being Cami's replacement. I always found it kind of funny that everyone just left Aurora under the sleeping spell in abattoir, so I wanted to use her in some way in this story. I hope people enjoyed this chapter! There's only one chapter left now and then this fic will be complete.
As promised, I have a very rough synopsis of the Klamille fic that I'm going to post after Ashes is complete. The title of that fic will be Point Of View. It's set in the very early 20th century, when Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah were in New Orleans, before they had to run from Mikael. Basically, Cami is a vampire hunter and you can guess who her newest target is ;)