AN: First of all, thank you all so much for over a hundred follows - that really means a lot to me, so I really appreciate it. And thank you again, for all of the kind reviews. My computers been such a bitch, I've been trying to update this for days, I swear. Anyway, I finished rewriting season 3 (just in time for season 4 lmao) so I'm going to be updated like an addict from now on. I know this chapter is short, but it's made with love.-Izzy x
Chapter Ten – The Originals 3x11
Klaus slowly picked through the collection of drained blood bags left on Camille's bed and scowled. He stormed into the other room where Elijah was sat behind a table, flicking through some pictures with a scotch in his hand. "Where is she?" Klaus asked.
Elijah didn't look up as he replied. "Are you referring to Caroline or Camille?"
There was a couch on the other side of the room, where Caroline was lounging on her phone. But she looked up at the mention of her name and looked offended. "I've literally been here for like, fifteen minutes."
Elijah looked up at her and paused. "Oh. Camille then. Remind me, was it I who impulsively handed her a daylight ring, or was it you, Niklaus?"
Klaus rolled his eyes at the sarcasm before guessing the rest of his brother's meaning. "She left, didn't she?"
"In a shocking turn of events," Elijah mused, finishing his drink and instantly pouring another one, "yes."
"I can help you find her, if you want," Caroline volunteered from the couch, without looking up from her phone. Klaus craned his neck to see what was so interesting, but all he saw was a certain Bennett's Instagram.
"Good idea," Elijah agreed. "I'll stay and deal with the matter of our family's potential extinction."
"Or I can stay and help Elijah?" Caroline suggested again, clearly attempting to prioritise.
Klaus glanced at her fondly, before glaring at Elijah. "Not to worry, Love, Elijah is paranoid. I for one think we're quite safe now that Tristan is literally sleeping with the fishes."
Elijah shook his head, sitting down in the chair behind the desk. "No, no I believe something else is out there, something capable of killing us. We should probably find it." He looked anxious, an expression Klaus hadn't seen on him for years. Not to mention the stubble, the loosened tie, and the lack of jacket on his brother. He'd probably been overworking this case.
"Well," Caroline chimed in again, finally sitting up and putting her phone away. "We can't let Camille run around town killing people, can we?"
Before Klaus could answer, they were joined by another guest. Hayley walked in, her eyes looking red and her face free of make-up. She held Hope in her arms and glanced over the three of them. "She left early this morning." She informed them, shifting Hope higher on her hip. "I saw her from the balcony. I couldn't sleep." She looked away, sheepishly. "So, um, I was wondering if it was okay if Hope and I stay here for a couple of days?"
"Of course," Elijah said instantly, but without looking at her "you may."
Caroline felt the tension in the room and walked over to Hayley, allowing Hope to grab a lock of her hair. "Hey baby!" She laughed. "Hello you beautiful thing!"
Hayley seemed relieved at the distraction, and turned to Caroline. Klaus walked over to join them, and smiled. "Yes, Caroline, you haven't had the opportunity to meet my daughter yet, have you?"
"Only in stories," she claimed, holding Hope's little hand. "She's so sweet." She looked up to the Mom, and put on her most comforting face. "Hayley, if you need anything, a babysitter or drinking buddy, I'm here for the weekend, so give me a call."
Hayley nodded, forcing a smile. "Thanks, Caroline. I appreciate it."
Klaus smirked and rested his hand between Caroline's shoulder blades. "Come on, Love," he said before turning to Hayley. "We'll be out for the day. Make yourself at home."
"So this is the local watering hole," Caroline mused as she followed Klaus into Rousseau's. "The Mystic Grill to the French Quarter?" She looked around at the live music and the buzzing life as Klaus lead her to the bar. "They're actually quite similar. Damn, you do have a type, don't you?"
Klaus just laughed the comment away as bought them both drinks, remembering one of Caroline's favourites.
"So, you think Cami's going to be here?" Caroline asked, sitting down with him and sipping her drink, barely resisting the urge to join in on the increasing party. "Oh, there she is."
They looked across the bar to Camille, where she was angrily snarling at a man with a backwards hat, clearly taking her 'hangry' out on him. Klaus bought her a drink and sent it down the bar, before coaxing her into one of the far-away booths where they could talk.
"Thank you for the drink," Camille snapped, scowling. She sat on the other side of the booth from Klaus and Caroline, and could only give dirty looks to the pair of them.
"Well, you seemed kind of thirsty," Klaus told her, glancing to the man at the bar Camille had been targeting. You would have torn that man apart. Whether you meant to or not. Probably be doing the world a favour in the process, but-"
"I'm a vampire now, Klaus," Camille reminding him. "Isn't that the point? We hunt, we feed, we kill."
"No," Caroline chimed in, looking shocked at the degrading sentiment. "No that's not the point. Camille, there are so many better aspects of being immortal-"
"Why are you here?" Camille interrupted.
"Camille," Klaus snapped in a scolding manner. "She's here to help you. Not three years ago, Caroline was experiencing the exact same problem, isn't that right?" He turned to Caroline before turning back. "Now our little chats might have you feeling equipped to live in this world, but you're not and there's no better mentor than Caroline."
Camille rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Oh, spare me. I don't need to hear her praised every few seconds. I pretty much died for her. You don't need to pour salt in the wound."
There was a slight pause before Caroline leaned forward on her elbows and reminded Camille of one very important little fact. "I haven't even spoken to you before," Caroline claimed, crossing her arms. "You have no right to hate me, especially when I'm here to help."
Camille paused, looking down. She seemed ashamed of herself, but still kind of upset. "You're right. I'm sorry. My emotions are all over the place, and it's like someone turned the volume up on my life, and I can't hear myself think, and it all feels so good. I don't mean to be a bitch."
Caroline nodded at the apology, deciding to forgive her. "Hey, it's fine. When I turned, I literally ripped my boyfriend's throat apart. But if you're gonna learn, you may as well learn from the best."
-0-0-0-0-0-
In the alleyway behind Rousseau's, Camille approached a couple who were furiously making out against a wall. She pulled the guy off of her and bit into the girl's neck. Naturally, her boyfriend yelled and tried to run away, but Caroline stopped him, and compelled him not to be afraid, and not to leave. The girl on the other hand, couldn't make a sound.
"Listen to the heartbeat," Klaus instructed. "It'll tell you when to stop." When the heartbeat started to slow down, Camille didn't stop. "Cami," Klaus called. "Camille." When she still didn't stop, Klaus pulled her away.
Camille looked between Klaus and Caroline and scowled to herself. "I'm sorry, the two of you are really making me anxious. One of you has to go. I don't care which one."
Caroline looked up and held her hands behind her back, coughing slightly and waiting patiently for Klaus to leave. Camille turned to Klaus expectantly, and eventually he got the message. "Very well," he said, before turning to Caroline. "Good luck, Love." He flashed away and Caroline watched Camille's face fall.
"Camille, I'm sorry," she said, softly. "Boys don't really understand, do they?"
"You gotta compel that girl to forget," Camille ordered her.
Caroline almost smirked. "Excuse me? You gotta compel that girl to forget. She's your meal, Camille, not mine."
Camille blinked. "I don't know how."
Caroline smiled at her, comfortingly, and lead her over to the girl she bit. "It's easy," she promised. "Just look into her eyes and say it as meaningfully as possible."
Camille nodded and leaned towards the girl, staring her straight in the eye. "Be afraid," she ordered. Before Caroline could react, Camille turned around and snapped her neck, leaving her lying alone in the alleyway.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Naturally, Caroline found Camille in a heartbeat, leaving Lucien's place with a bag full of dark objects. She pinned the newbie vampire against the wall and spat out the word 'bitch' before snapping Camille's neck and dragging her ass back to the compound and making a comment to Hayley about getting real revenge at some point.
"No, don't," Hayley begged. "Come on, Caroline. She's having a really shitty day. Haven't you ever just had a really bad day?"
Caroline glowered for a second. "I'm not going to let her toss me around like a puppet when all I've ever done was try to help her!"
"Caroline, she needs your help, true," Hayley said with a nod. "But she's hurt. The man she's in love with, cares only about you. And she's recently learned that she's just a copy. Even if your intentions are pure, you just gotta let her lick her wounds."
Hayley took it from there, and when Klaus tried to find her, to emphasise the point that nobody snapped Caroline's neck and got away with it, she was nowhere to be found.
"Where is Camille?" Klaus demanded, storming into Hayley's bedroom with anger coursing through his veins.
"She's gone home," Hayley said, leaning over a table and not turning around to talk to him. "She needed some time. And yes. I let her go. I know you think you're helping, but all you're doing is pissing her off and it's the last thing that she needs – trust me."
"I wasn't done with-"
"Listen!" Hayley exclaimed, standing up straight and facing him. "Klaus. The Cami that you knew, is gone. And whoever she's gonna be is something that she has to figure out by herself." She scowled at Klaus, and he couldn't quite figure out why.
"She snapped Caroline's neck to hurt me," Klaus explained, angrily. "I won't have people coming at me through Caroline like that."
Hayley rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "You wanna keep Caroline safe, huh? Well guess what? The people you think you're keeping safe – Elijah, Rebekah, even Hope – sometimes you do them more harm than good."
Klaus paused, his eyes widening. He walked past Hayley and leaned on the back of a chair, clearly lost in thought.
"What?" Hayley demanded.
"What you just said," Klaus told her. "Keeping Rebekah safe. I know what the weapon is. I made it myself." He stormed past her, leaving the room without an explanation. Hayley followed him downstairs to the parlour, where he started tearing bookshelves apart trying to find something. Elijah and Caroline joined them, watching. "All of my efforts to protect and provide comfort for my family…" he mused as he searched.
"Klaus, you're not making any sense," Hayley informed him,
"The pale horse," Klaus explained, anxiously. "It's not a constellation, nor it is a biblical verse. It's a trinket I made when we were children. I toy I carved from kindling, which I gave to Rebekah in the hopes of easing her fears."
Elijah's eyes narrowed. "The horse was made of the white oak," he realised. "The weapon is here."
They all set off to search Hayley and Jackson's apartment, where she last saw the toy. But it was nowhere to be found. "This doesn't make any sense," Hayley claimed. "It was here, I saw it."
"When?" Klaus asked.
"This afternoon," Hayley told him. "I swear!"
"Oh, I believe you," Klaus said, turning to face them. "We're just here a little too late. I only told one other person about this. My trusted therapist."
"Camille took it?" Caroline asked, doubtfully. "Why?"
Klaus shrugged. "With her newfound case of split-personality disorder, your guess is as good as mine."
-0-0-0-0-0-
Luckily, Camille didn't neglect to pick up her phone when Klaus called. "I'm guessing you might be a little bit mad right now," she mused on the other end of the line. "But trust me, you have nothing to worry about. I just want back what's mine. Starting with my dark objects. I figured I needed to get your attention, given the fact you're a little busy pining over some teenager. So, do I have it?"
Klaus snarled. "In point of fact, you do."
"Good," Camille said. "Then we'll be in touch."
Elijah had been trying to approach quietly, with the element of surprise on his hands, but the young blonde witch heard him nonetheless. She was kneeling by the pool of water and seemed saddened by what to come.
"You found it," she guessed. "Which means you've come to kill me." Elijah didn't reply as he slowly walked towards her. "We both know I have no more answers to give you," the girl continued. "And you cannot allow me to live with what I've seen."
Elijah came to a stop directly behind her and kept his back straight. When the girl spoke again, she sounded on the verge of tears.
"Those things you keep hidden," she said, breathily. She got to her feet and stayed still as Elijah began to move her hair from her shoulder, revealing her pale neck. "I am released," she claimed.
He took a firmer grip of her neck and kept her still as he bit into it, letting the blood explode into his mouth. When she died, he pulled away and dropped her body into the pool of water, ignoring the splash and watching it stain red.
There was a pause before he heard the sound of footprints. "How brutal," mused a cheerful voice behind him. Elijah turned to face the man he'd met briefly at the Strix's party "Affective, but horrible. She was so young."
Elijah blinked. "Arc, was it?"
"Short for Arcadius," he claimed, stepping forward bravely. "Usually nicknamed Cade."
Elijah felt his eyes narrow for just a moment. "A term used for the devil," he informed him, becoming unsure of the man's intentions. He'd only ever seen him at one gathering of the Strix after all…
Cade nodded. "That's right," he told him. "I sort you out tonight to discuss with you, the whereabouts of Katerina Petrova, but I see now, that you haven't spoken to her since she left town, and you called her. And you haven't heard from her since receiving her letter on Christmas Day."
Elijah paused. "How could you possibly-"
Cade waved away the question before Elijah could ask it. "You would do good not to question or underestimate me," he claimed. "I just wanted to assure myself that the information I have on Katerina is the same as the information you have. Consider me reassured."
He turned to leave but Elijah called after him. "Who are you?" He asked. "What do you know about Katerina?"
Cade paused before turning back around to face him. "Wasn't it just a day or two ago that you told the young Camille… All lives end. Everybody dies. You would do good in remembering Katerina's fate before making any rash decisions in life." He glanced again at the dead body before leaving.
Caroline sat on the floor next to Hope's crib, playing with her and her bunny, and making the little baby giggle with funny faces. She heard Klaus approaching, but didn't say anything until he sat down next to her on the floor and Hope's attention turned to her father.
"I can't imagine you as a dad," Caroline mused as he lifted the girl out of the crib and rested her in his lap instead. "Big change from the last ten centuries, huh?"
Klaus nodded. "Sometimes I forget just what my life was like before," he answered. There was a pause as he sighed. "You're leaving, aren't you?"
Caroline nodded, sadly. "Yeah, I am," she replied. "I feel shitty about leaving you in the middle of this prophecy, with the weapon out there, but… I have problems of my own, you know? Stefan's on the run and Bonnie-"
"I understand," Klaus told her. "You don't owe me anything."
Caroline took a deep breath, feeling guilty. "I can't stay here any longer without telling Stefan," she claimed. "It's not fair to lie to him. I need to go back."
Klaus paused, looking at his daughter instead of Caroline as he spoke. "Why lie to him in the first place?" He questioned, giving her an almost knowing look, but wanting her to say it anyway.
Caroline rolled her eyes. "He wouldn't believe my intentions were pure," she claimed, with a huff.
"And are they?" Klaus asked, smirking. Caroline just whacked his arm and scowled, but didn't answer. Klaus smiled at her and leaned forward to kiss her cheek. "Take care of yourself, sweetheart," he requested.
AN: Don't worry. Caroline will be back by the end of next chapter. I think. Yeah, she will. Don't worry. But next chapter is primarily Kalijah/Markos focused.
PLEASE REVIEW!-Izzy x
