Flashback - 2013 

  Lucien had attacked Cami O'Connell at her apartment.

Lucien had bitten Cami.

Cami had escaped, making her way to the compound.

Elijah had called to tell me all of this.

I walked into the compound. "Klaus? Klaus?"

Klaus was in the courtyard, drinking angrily. "Kaylin. I assume my brother called you to tell you to come over."

I walked closer. "Yeah. He was worried that you were going to do something stupid."

"I won't," Klaus told me.

"Yet, everything about the situation you're in now says otherwise," I told him. "I get it. Lucien bit and killed Finn. He bit Camille. So she's dying. He wants you to be angry. He wants you to come after him to get vengeance. He's trying to lure you into a trap."

Klaus turned to face me. "And Elijah thought that if you were here, you could convince me of letting him go."

"He thought that if I was here, I could try and convince you to not fly off the handle and do something crazy," I answered. "I get that you're angry. And I know that you care about her. And you want revenge for her and Finn. But none of us want you to get killed for it. I won't let you get yourself killed."

Klaus looked at me for a moment, walking closer. "Thank you. Kaylin. For coming here."

"Promise me that you won't get yourself killed," I told him.

Klaus sighed, nodding reluctantly. "I promise."

"I know that I don't know Cami," I told him. "But I know what it's like to care about someone and then lose them, because of your past mistakes. Because of your family. And you shouldn't have to go through it alone."

******* 

I was standing on the balcony of the courtyard, drinking, sighing.

Freya walked toward me. "I'm glad you're here."

"Yeah?" I asked. "Well, I'm just trying to be here, but not trying to intrude. If you know what I mean."

Freya nodded understandingly. "I know."

"How is he?" I asked.

"He's angry," Freya answered. "Betrayed."

"He cares for her a lot," I told her.

Freya nodded. "He does. But I don't think it's the same as what he feels for you."

"He told me that once before," I told her. "You know, there's this guy back in Mystic Falls. I care about him, like Klaus cares for Camille. But I never felt for Enzo what I felt for Klaus. I left Mystic Falls to save his life. So, yeah, I get what Klaus is going through. I just don't want to make anything any worse than it already is."

"You're not making anything worse, Kaylin," Freya told me. "I think that you being here is making it a little better."

I sighed, shaking my head, looking down. "Nothing is better about this."

The door to the compound opened, making us look toward it. 

Vincent, the witch that Lucien had dragged with him to Mystic Falls, walked inside quickly. 

Marcel was outside, trying to walk inside, but since he hadn't been invited in, he couldn't cross the threshold.

Freya waved him inside. "Come in, come in."

Marcel walked in.

Vincent and Marcel walked toward us.

"How is she?" Vincent asked.

"Let's just hope this works," Freya told us, leading us further into the compound.

We followed her.

******* 

Cami was starting to cough harshly, leaning over the table.

Freya walked up toward her with a bowl of Lucien's blood, handing it to her. "Here, drink this."

Cami drank from the bowl while Klaus, Marcel, Vincent and I watched anxiously.

******* 

We were talking in the courtyard.

"She's getting worse," Klaus told us. 

"Okay, then we, uh, we gotta try something else," Vincent told us. "Marcel? The Strix? You mean to tell me they can't help with this?"

"The Strix don't have a solution for something that's never existed before," Marcel told us.

"Lucien engineered a pure strain of wolf venom, designed to kill even an Original," Freya told us. "It may be that there is no cure."

"Well, I'm not giving up," Vincent told us.

"Neither am I, but..." Freya trailed off.

"Okay, um, blood magic's not working," Vincent told us. "So, what else is there?"

Hayley and Elijah walked in.

Hayley was carrying Hope on her hip. "How about a magical, miracle baby?" 

******* 

Cami was in the room, on the bed, visibly deteriorating with a skin rash forming on her chest.

Freya dabbed her forehead with a cloth.

Klaus sat at Cami's bedside, conjuring a conversation with Cami in her head.

Elijah, Hayley, Marcel and I stood nearby.

Vincent approached worriedly, still not giving up attempting to save Cami. "Freya, we gotta do something, all right? So channel me, cast a healing spell, and that will buy us time."

"It won't stop the inevitable," Freya told us.

"Okay, then put her soul in that damn pendant," Marcel told her. "It worked for Finn. It will work."

"Dahlia crafted the pendent," Freya told us. "It will only work for our family. I could put her soul in another body."

Vincent shook his head. "No. She'd have to agree for the transfer to hold, and she wouldn't do that to an innocent person. Not even to save herself."

"Well, maybe we worry about that later," Hayley told us.

"We cannot deny her the dignity of choice," Elijah told us. "Camille lived with grace. She will have it now."

******* 

Cami was gone.

Hayley, Marcel, Vincent, Hope and I were down in the courtyard, solemn and sad.

Hayley and I were sitting at a candlelit table.

Hope was on Hayley's lap.

Vincent was standing behind me, pacing.

Marcel was sitting at a separate table, his hands pressed to his face.

Davina walked in, tears in her eyes. "Marcel?"

Marcel turned to look at Davina for a moment, standing, walking closer, wrapping his arms around her.

Davina slowly returned the embrace, starting to cry over Cami's death.

******* 

I could hear Vincent saying goodbye to Cami. "You got me at a loss. See, all I can think about is how much the Quarter still needs you. How much I still need you, truth be told. But I won't forget what we set out to do. And I won't ever shy away from doing what needs to be done. If I stand against all that darkness, even if I do get chopped down, I know you're right there ahead of me. Keeping the fire warm and the beers cold. Until then, sweet lady. Until them."

Freya and Elijah were standing on the balcony overlooking the courtyard.

Freya was drinking.

Elijah took the glass from her. "This isn't over."

"Not much in the way of comfort," Freya told him.

"Well, there's work to be done," Elijah told her. "Lucien goes down."

"No rest for the wicked," Freya told him.

Elijah shook his head in agreement. "No rest."

"Niklaus," Freya told him. "Will he be all right?"

Elijah didn't answer, handing the glass to Freya, beginning to turn away. "This isn't over."

Elijah walked away, leaving Freya alone on the balcony.

******* 

I could hear Hayley saying goodbye to Cami. "You know, I've been thinking how my little girl is never going to know you. It's not fair, considering everything you did for her dad. You know, sometimes, I can't stand him. But I always figured if he liked you, he couldn't be that bad. This family owes you. You deserved better."

******* 

Klaus was on the balcony overlooking the Quarter, standing in silence.

I approached quietly, resting a hand on his shoulder.

Klaus held his hand on the hand that I had on his shoulder, looking at me expressionlessly. He looked sad, but more angry than anything.

I looked at him sympathetically in silence, knowing that there was nothing that I could say that could help.

We could hear Vincent and Freya down in the courtyard.

"What happened to her is one me," Vincent told her. "I did the spell that turned Lucien into... whatever the hell he is."

"And he used my blood," Freya told him. "My family's magic. Which means we made him. Now that we have a sample of the serum from my sister's blood, and now that he have his blood, we're gonna find a way to un-make him."

******* 

A gust of wind blew through the abattoir, throughout the French Quarter.

An earthquake started to shake New Orleans, causing many things to fall, rattling tables and drinks, making the chandeliers swing.

Klaus and I walked onto the balcony above the courtyard.

Freya and Vincent desperately tried to keep a table with spellwork steady as their work started to fall to the floor.

Books fell into piles around us.

Everything was shaking.

The earthquake came to an end, but I had a feeling that this was only the beginning.

Or the beginning of the end.