➳ 73: heart shaped box
CAMI opened her eyes to nothing but darkness blanketing her. She groaned and attempted to roll over only to find she was in an extremely confined space. "What---" She mumbled to herself fear then paused to tune into her surroundings.
Tires on gravel, faint voices around her paired with melodies, wind rocking barely rocking her side to side. The blonde came to the conclusion that she was in the trunk of a car and began to panic. Her chest rose and fell quickly while she hyperventilated. Cami took deep, shaky breaths of air to calm herself before thinking over how she got into this situation. The last thing she remembered was Klaus saying "You, however, are coming with us."
It didn't take a genius to know what he meant by us. Klaus and Ingrid were always the us whenever he muttered that word. Cami knew then that Ingrid was the one who snapped her neck and they had stuffed her body into Ingrid's trunk.
Cami punched her hand into the roof of the trunk while screaming at the top of her lungs. "HELP ME! I'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED!!"
She stopped when the tires slowed down and the car eventually stopped. Listening in, two doors opened and closed a few seconds within each other and footsteps began to approached her. Cami braced herself for a fight as the tailgate opened. Sun beamed directly in her green eyes, temporarily blinding her. She held a hand over her eyes instinctively then realized that her life was in danger and swung a fist in her abductors' direction. However, her fist was caught with ease and broken by a vice grip.
Crying out in pain, Cami met the amused, dark eyes of Ingrid Mikaelson. Ingrid grabbed Cami by the collar of her shirt and pulled her out of the trunk. Standing her completely on her feet, Ingrid smirked sinisterly and wiped the dried blood from Cami's jacket. "Here's how this will work... you will run through the woods---" she gestured to the never ending line of trees before them. "---at human speed and I'm going to hunt you like a wild animal."
"What? No. I'm not doing that." Cami rejected sternly, shaking her head.
"Oh, but you don't have a choice." Klaus mocked, smirking at the blonde.
"So... We bled you out." Ingrid informed her in a dull tone, motioning to her wrists. Cami looked down at her wrist to see dozens of lines made of dried blood littering her pale skin. "Leaving you with no vervain in your system. Which means...." She trailed off before staring directly into Cami's eyes, compelling her. "I can do this. You will run through the woods at human pace. No asking or screaming for help, no vampire speed. If a hitchhiker comes by, you will ignore them. When I say go, you will run. Understood?"
"Yes." Cami replied in a monotonous manner then shook her head with tears in her eyes. "But I don't want to."
"There are consequences for your actions and this is one of them." Ingrid snarled furiously before raising an eyebrow as she got a sudden idea. Laughing to herself, she flashed her hybrid eyes at the vampire and bared her dual fangs menacingly. She grabbed ahold of one of Cami's arms and sunk her teeth into the blonde's flesh, leaving a gnarly bite mark behind. Werewolf venom began to course through Cami's veins and she yelped loudly in pain. Pulling away, Ingrid mused in satisfaction while slowly wiping the corner of her mouth with her finger tips. "That should add some suspense."
"I'm not going to make it alive out of this, am I?" Cami questioned the couple in fear, clutching her arm close to her chest with tears rolling down her cheeks.
"No." Ingrid replied with a shake of her head and a fake pout.
"Why not just kill me?" Cami asked in exasperation.
"You toyed with our lives and to get petty revenge, I'm going to toy with yours." Ingrid answered in a venomous tone of voice. "Will I kill you first or will my venom? I guess we'll see... Any more questions? No?" She asked the group then clapped her hands together and grinned. "Okay, good. Now, go."
Cami began to back away from them, stumbling slightly on her feet before taking off into the woods. Ingrid looked at her watch and set a timer. "I'm going to give her a thirty minute head start."
Klaus shut the trunk and walked up behind her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and massaged them soothingly before leaning down to kiss the crook of her neck. "You know what we could do in that time?"
She giggled flirtatiously and smirked, turning around to face him. "Oh... what did you have in mind?"
"How about I fold the seats down in the back and we can..." He finished the last half of his statement by whispering seductively in her ear.
She mused lowly in interest and bit her lip. "I enjoy the sound of that."
Klaus laughed huskily, kissed her passing on the lips then walked back over to the car and began folding the car seats down.
The alarm on Ingrid's watch went off and she looked at it with a frown. She pushed Klaus away as he planted soft kissed across the bare skin of her chest down to her stomach. He groaned in disappointment and watched her get dressed. "Nooo. Camille can wait."
Ingrid pulled her jeans over her thighs while smirking back at him and snickering. "Are you begging me to stay?" She asked in a sultry tone of voice and buttoned her pants up.
"Would it be so wrong of me?" He asked with a giddy smirk and kissed the palm of her hand.
Leaning over to drag her finger under his chin, she shook her head with a wide grin. "No." She answered affectionately and ran a hand through his soft, blond curls. "But I cannot stay. My apologies, darling." She expressed genuinely and pecked him on the cheek. "The game has begun and I need to finish it." She explained with a small shrug of her shoulders and backed away to button up her blouse. "I'll be back very soon and then..." Ingrid trailed off while running her hands across his shoulders and down his chest. "You can have my full, absolutely undivided attention."
Klaus grabbed her roughly by the back of her hair and smashed his lips aggressively to hers. She smiled and slowly pulled away, shaking her head at him. "I swear it."
Sighing over-dramatically, he rolled his eyes and rested his head against his find. "Fine."
Laughing, Ingrid kissed him again before putting her shoes on and taking off into the woods.
Cami was running as fast as her legs would allow at human speed. She tripped over an exposed tree root and stumbled forward a few steps until she regained her balance. Her breathing was heavy and loud, there was no hiding the fact that she was getting winded. She didn't hear Ingrid following after her and knew she was trapped in a twisted cat and mouse game.
Her wound had started to fester as the venom pumped away through her veins, coursing her system and slowly driving her toward an agonizing death. Sweat was pooling at her forehead and she wanted to stop to catch her breath but knew she had to keep running if there were any small possibility of surviving Ingrid's claws.
Ingrid walked through the woods, taking her time in the hunt for Cami. She could smell the blonde's blood trailing along the ground and smirked wickedly to herself. Humming a tune, the hybrid used her instincts to track Cami down. Pinpointing her exact location, Ingrid sped off in that direction.
Cami was still running for her life while grasping tightly onto her wound. She made the mistake of looking behind her because when she turned forward again, Ingrid was standing directly in her path. The Original hybrid harshly punched her hand into Cami's abdomen and pulled out her spleen.
Cami fell to the ground in pain, clutching her abdomen. Her wound wasn't healing because of the werewolf toxin flooding her veins. She stared up at horror at the woman standing before her with a cruel, twisted look on her face.
Ingrid carelessly dropped her spleen to the ground and titled her head to the side. "How would you like to die, Camille?" She asked curiously, admiring the blood pooling on Cami's shirt. "Shall I leave you here to bleed out in pure agony or would you prefer I end it now?"
"You're disgusting." Cami weakly snarled and rested back on a nearby tree. "The things you've done... the people you've killed... it's irredeemable."
Ingrid laughed lowly at her reaction and grinned. "Do you want to know something, Camille? Not everyone wants redemption. I am perfectly happy how I am. So, if you're done. Have you made your choice?"
Glaring furiously at her, Cami panted for air and groaned in pain. "Just kill me."
Narrowing her eyes, Ingrid squatted down next to her and gave her a blank facial expression. "Are those your last words then?"
"No. These are." Cami began in a breathless manner then spat aggressively in Ingrid's face. "Fuck you."
Ingrid closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose, steadying her anger. She opened her eyes and wiped her face with the her clean hand. Pursing her lips and nodding her head, Ingrid stared over at Cami with an amused expression. "Okay."
Cami felt uneasy for a second, not sure what was happening. She had expected an entirely different reaction from the very hybrid who had one point burnt down eighty-five percent of Europe and had a kill rate of almost a million. However, Cami was snapped out of thoughts by Ingrid punching her hand into her abdomen again and ripping out one of her kidneys.
Screaming out in pain, Cami fell down onto the dirt floor and coughed up a small pool of blood. She prayed for death or recovery but all that came next was Ingrid pulling out her organs one by one from the least important until the Mikaelson eventually ripped out her heart.
Cami's lifeless body lied in an ocean of her own blood with every one of her organs lying next to her. Her green eyes were wide open as a look of pure agony was permanently frozen on her face. Her rib cage broken open as her empty carcass lied there to waste.
Ingrid had blood dripping down from her fingertips and the mild splatter painted across her face. She stared down at Cami with nothing other than utter hatred and curled her lips up into a vicious snarl. "Good riddance."
Klaus was leaning against the car, waiting for his wife to emerge from the woods in victory. He pushed off by his elbows when he watched her walk toward him covered in blood. He took notice of her blank face and opened the trunk, holding out a fresh set of clothes to her.
Smiling widely in appreciation, Ingrid took the clothes from him before stripping out of her ruined outfit and getting changed. He cleaned up her soiled clothes and held up her blouse with a frown. "I'm afraid this one is ruined, darling."
"Ah, no." She whined in disappointment and frowned as well. "I loved that one."
"I'll get you a new one." He assured her with a comforting smile and kissed her tenderly on the nose. Ingrid grinned up at him and scrunched her nose up. Laughing, he tossed the fabrics in the trunk and closed the tailgate. "Ready to go?"
"Yes." She answered with a curt nod and the couple climbed into the front seats of the car. Klaus started the vehicle then quickly drove the journey back to New Orleans at high speed.
The next morning, Ingrid rolled over in the bed to throw her arm over Klaus only to meet the cold, empty space where he would lie. Sitting up in her elbows, she frowned and looked around the room for any sign of him but found none. Musing to herself, she threw the silk sheets off her bare body and swung her legs over the side of the bed. The plantar surface of her feet met the freezing surface of the hard wood floor and she groaned at the sudden sensation.
Pulling a pair of Klaus' boxers and sweatpants over her legs along with a t-shirt over her head, she walked out of the room to see Klaus standing on the balcony overlooking the courtyard. She rose an eyebrow when she heard him speaking to someone. "The taxpayers of New Orleans deserve a skilled Chief of Police."
She walked further and realized that Klaus was holding a man wearing police uniform in a choke-hold off of the balcony with one hand while he sipped a cup of coffee with the other. Ingrid stifled a laugh by curling her index finger over her lips and smirked widely in amusement.
The police chief squirmed against Klaus' grip and gasped for breath with a terrified look on his face.
"How inept are you if not a single one of your men can locate the woman I seek?" The male hybrid questioned in aggravation.
The police chief pleaded with him as he dangled over the courtyard floor. "We're tryin'! She's a ghost!"
Klaus sighed and rolled his eyes. "Aurora de Martel is rather petite and may indeed be able to slip through the cracks like a wicked little cricket, but she is not a ghost." He pointed out then smirked devilishly. "Not yet." He leaned forward so he could look the police chief straight in the eyes. "I think this city's finest could try a little bit harder, hmm?"
Footsteps could be heard approaching and the three turned to see Freya and Elijah walking toward them, looking at their younger brother with exasperation.
"I see we're in for another normal Mikaelson breakfast." Freya commented passive aggressive causing Ingrid to flatten her lips and giggle.
Elijah rolled his eyes and shot Klaus an incredulous look. "Niklaus, for Heaven's sakes! Release the poor creature."
The police chief whimpered and shook his head frantically, terrified of the possible outcome. Klaus simply shrugged and dropped him, allowing him to fall onto the floor of the courtyard. Elijah and Freya both gave Klaus hilariously exasperated looks while Ingrid looked surprise and aroused and Klaus simply smiled smugly at his siblings.
Elijah sighed loudly and threw his hands up with an unimpressed expression. "That's not what I meant!"
Klaus continued to smirk as he grabbed Ingrid's hand and walked past Elijah into the upstairs living room. "He'll live! And he'll remember to do better."
Elijah and Freya both rolled their eyes and shared an annoyed look before they followed him to continue their conversation. "Is all this torture necessary?" Freya inquired in disgust.
Klaus ignored this question and instead calles out into the hallway. "Where have you been?"
Marcel walked into the room and immediately looked annoyed at Klaus' tactless behavior. He walked over to Ingrid and kissed her on the cheek, greeting her in a cheery manner. "Good morning!"
She leaned her into the gesture with a wide, cheeky grin and closed eyes. She hummed happily and glanced at him in genuine pleasure. "Hello, Marcellus!"
He smiled back before responding to Klaus with a sarcastic comment. "I was making sure that the Strix and their witches are out trying to find your loony ex-stalker. Is that okay by you?"
Ingrid laughed at Marcel's attitude while Elijah sighed again and interrupted their fighting. "Gentlemen, please."
"All of our heads are on the chopping block because he lost the one thing that can kill an Original." Marcel snapped at him in annoyance.
Klaus gave Marcel an unamused look, and Freya interjected to defend her brother to Marcel. "It's not his fault that Cami was waving the white oak around like a kite, or that Aurora made a deal with one of your witches."
"Oh, yeah, it is--" Marcel began irritably but was cut off.
Klaus stood to his feet and walked between them to break up their argument. "I'm quite capable of defending myself, thank you, Freya. What I cannot do is cast a spell to find Aurora." He said, giving her a cold smile that read he was not pleased with her progress, or lack thereof. "In that respect, we're alike."
Freya looked at him in anger and frustration, and even Marcel rolled his eyes at Klaus from behind them, then sighed heavily. "Aurora is cloaked. Most likely by the very witch she killed. I have been working nonstop every day."
"Well, you've stopped working now, haven't you?" Klaus petulantly causing Freya to purse her lips angrily but Klaus continued to poke at her. "Well, go on. On your way."
Freya shot him a scathing look before she replied. "Do you talk to our other sister like this?" Klaus blanched, clearly guilty, and Freya had a cold look on her face. "Didn't think so." She then turned on her heels and stormed out of the room.
Elijah looked as though he felt bad and tried to stop her. "Freya..." Elijah watched her walk out of the room without making any move to stop then turned to give Klaus a look before changing the subject. "What do we know about this traitor in the Strix coven?"
Marcel sighed with a shake of his head. "Nothing. No one knows how Aurora got to her. No one knows where Aurora is. Our coven hit the same cloaking spell as Freya."
Klaus made a face at him and walked toward him. "Your coven? Making yourself quite comfortable with the Strix, aren't you?"
"Niklaus." Ingrid called out to him in a soft tone. "Back off." She warned him sternly.
"Yeah. Yeah, to help you." Marcel reminded him in annoyance and was about to storm out of the room.
However, Klaus grabbed him roughly by the arm and spun him so they were face to face. "Any other news from your new BFFs you'd like to make us aware of?"
Marcel glared furiously at him, and Elijah rolled his eyes as he walked over and interrupted their stare down. "Niklaus. Why don't we reserve any malevolent intentions for ex-stalkers?"
Marcel continued to scowl at Klaus as he yanked Klaus' hand off of him and walked out of the room completely. The trio shared looks and Klaus rolled his eyes in annoyance.
Klaus and Ingrid were relaxing in his study, lying on the couch together. Hope was down for a nap and that gave them time to themselves. Ingrid was sitting at the end with her legs crossed over each other while reading a book. Klaus was lying in her lap with his eyes closed and enjoyed the feeling of her fingers gently brushing absentmindedly through his hair.
Their peace and quiet was slightly interrupted when Klaus' phone buzzed in his jacket pocket. He opened his eyes and scowled at the ceiling in annoyance as he sat forward on the couch and pulled it out to answer it. "Can I assume our very gifted sister has finally found my lunatic clinger?"
"From the look of things... I would say that the lunatic clinger found Freya." Elijah answered in reluctance and worry.
"Well, then, we'll procure another witch to track her." Klaus replied in annoyance.
"There's no need. I got something." Elijah informed him vaguely. "I need both of you to meet me at the bell tower." He commanded then hung up the phone before Klaus could say anything further.
The couple arrived to meet Elijah in the bell tower. They looked at Aurora's message and Klaus read it aloud in a mocking voice. "A forest of pine, and a box made so fine. Come quickly. If not, then poor Freya will rot, buried in dirt for all time." Klaus slammed the letter down on the table while Elijah watched him from across the room. "The woman is insane."
"Clinically, yes." Ingrid mused dully and picked up the letter to read over for herself.
"Does she have to punish us with the world's most unfortunate limerick?" Elijah questioned with a scoff and began to pace the floor as Klaus scowled angrily. "Is it not enough that we're forced to play her wretched games?"
"Freya saw a vision of herself buried alive." Klaus reminded them with a distant look on his face.
"Aurora will do everything in her power to bring about this miserable prophecy." Elijah snarled furiously and stopped in his place.
"Let's go stop her, shall we?" Klaus schemed in determination then grabbed the compass off of the table and prepared to leave with Elijah and Ingrid.
Elijah was holding the compass in his hand as the trio made their way through the woods of the Bayou. Klaus and Ingrid were using their hybrid super-senses to track Freya by scent. They came upon the carpenter's cabin and Elijah stopped to turn back toward Klaus to see what was going on.
"Freya's not in there." Klaus explained in frustration and gritted his teeth together. "She was-- I can smell her blood-- but the stronger scent is due west."
"I'm getting that too." Ingrid agreed with a nod on her head. "She has to be west."
Elijah paused to consider this for a moment before replying. "You two track the scent. I'll take the cabin."
The trio split up and started walking in two different directions, but after a moment, Elijah stopped and turned back to his brother. "Niklaus... Whatever happens, you promise me..." Hs trailed off suggestively.
Klaus nodded in understanding and agreed with the unspoken. "Aurora dies today."
Klaus turned and continued to walk west with Ingrid and Elijah made his way toward the cabin.
The hybrids continued to walk through the Bayou, which was slightly foggy in the morning air. He stopped walking and stared in horror when he approached what looked like a freshly dug grave in front of him.
Ingrid walked around it, studying the area closely as she warily approached it. "Is this it?"
In the recently dug-up earth were several fresh lavender plants and the couple shared a pointed expression.
Klaus nodded curtly and began to dig until he found a coffin in the bottom. He grabbed the rudimentary coffin and pulled it out of the hole, throwing it onto the flat ground beside them. However, when he opened the coffin, he found "GUESS AGAIN" written in blood on the inside of the lid.
"Niklaus..." Ingrid called out to him and reached a hand out toward him while staring off into another direction.
He grabbed her hand in acknowledgement and stood to his feet. He was going to ask what she was worried about until he met her gaze to find that there were at least a dozen more graves, all recently dug, and all with identical lavender flowers planted in the ground.
Klaus looked furious and horrified as he sighed and considered his options. "We're running out of time." He bellowed in a panic. "Even with two of us this could take forever."
"We don't have a second to lose." Ingrid replied in determination then ran toward one of the grave and dug with supernatural speed and strength. When she pulled the coffin up, she found the same type of taunting message written inside "WRONG".
Yelling in frustration, she threw the lid across the field as Klaus met the same fate a few feet away. The wind blew passed them and whispered through the trees. Ingrid took a deep breath and her eyes flashed golden-amber. Shee turned to Klaus, who's eyes were the same color, and pointed in a direction behind her. "Over there!"
Klaus caught Freya's scent and headed straight for the correct grave to dig her up.
After she had been found, Klaus burst into the cabin with his arm slung over the shoulders of the still-weakened Freya to keep her on her feet. Ingrid followed closely behind and the three stood in the doorway, covered in fresh dirt.
Aurora had been startled by his entrance and spun around toward them, pointing her loaded gun directly at Ingrid.
Ingrid held her dirt caked hands up in surrender and glanced at the redhead with a blank expression. Elijah placed himself between her and Aurora, protecting Ingrid from being shot in the heart with a white oak bullet.
Aurora backed away from them but kept her gun aimed at Ingrid as Klaus glared furiously at her. "Stop this."
"Why?" She asked curiously with a deranged smile. "One brother's life to end another brother's torment? It's almost poetic."
"Well..." Ingrid trailed off with a small shrug and Klaus cleared his throat, signaling for her to stop before telling the armed woman that her brother was actually dead. She shifted her eyes in his direction and he barely shook his head.
"The bullets... they're white oak." Elijah informed them with a terrified expression.
Klaus scowled at Aurora, and Freya looked at her brothers with concern. Klaus left Freya leaning against the doorway so he could walk closer to Aurora in an attempt to talk her down. "We both know you're not going to pull the trigger."
"Yet again, you're wrong." Aurora taunted and was about to pull the trigger of her gun but Freya managed to flick her wrist, using her telekinesis to force Aurora to miss Elijah.
However, the bullet ricocheted off the wall and hit Freya in the stomach, and Aurora sped away as Freya collapsed onto the floor. Ingrid reached out toward her and applied pressure to the wound. Klaus had a determined look on his face as he turned to Ingrid. "Tend to Freya. I have to murder a stalker." He snarled then sped away to chase Aurora down.
Elijah looked at Ingrid with a conflicted expression on his face. She noticed and gestured for him to leave. "Go help him, please." She pleased desperately. "I've got this. Just go."
Elijah nodded his head quickly then sped off to help Klaus, leaving Ingrid and Freya alone in the cabin.
Ingrid continued to apply pressure to Freya's wound and gave her a sympathetic look. "I have to take the bullet out if I'm going to heal you."
"Do it." Freya encouraged in between groans of pain and gasps for air.
Taking that as permission granted, Ingrid grabbed Freya's hand for her to use as comfort then began to dig his fingers into the bullet hole. Freya cried out in pain and squeezed Ingrid's hand in a strong grip. Ingrid barely felt the witch gripping her fingers, which attested to Freya's physical strength. She would have smiled and made a joke out of it but decided it wasn't the best time.
Grabbing the bullet in her fingers, she pulled it out from Freya's abdomen and placed it in her pocket before sitting Freya up and biting into her own wrist. Freya drank from her sister-in-law, ignoring her own blood and the dirt covering Ingrid's hands and arms.
Freya pulled away and let out a deep breath of relief as her wounds healed. Ingrid sat back against the wall and let out an exhausted laugh. "I'm sick of this."
Later on, everyone had returned to the compound and Klaus was sitting at the desk in his study, where he was whittling a new chess piece out of a soft piece of wood with a chisel.
Ingrid walked in and set the bloodied white oak bullet down on his desk in front of him. He raised an eyebrow and pulled out his own bullet, setting it next to hers. Ingrid glanced at them with her arms folded over her chest. "Do we know how many?"
"Total? Seven." He answered in a hollow tone causing her to sigh and pinch the bridge of her nose. Nodding his head, he returned to his whittling and sighed heavily. "We have two. We only have to procure the last five."
"You make it seem easy, my love." She replied with a small smile and sat down on the couch with an exhausted sigh. She closed her eyes in frustration and rubbed her top eyelid with her fingers. "This is never ending."
Before he could respond, Freya walked in and looked at him curiously. "Practicing your torture techniques, Niklaus?"
"Clearing my mind. Some children cuddle with a blanket. Mine loves her chess piece." He answered with a smile, holding up the piece of wood to show her the new wooden knight he was carving.
"She loves the damn thing." Ingrid commented and slowly opened her eyes, resting her head against her fist. "Let's just hope she doesn't notice the difference."
Freya smiled at them then turned solely to her brother. "Aren't you full of surprises."
Klaus set down the wood and chisel on the table before looking up at Freya with a knowing look. "You're surprised I came for you."
Freya looked slightly embarrassed, but Klaus stood to his feet and walked toward her. He squeezed her shoulders with his hands as he looked at her in the eye with a serious expression. "You are my sister, Freya. And you are a part of this family-- always and forever."
Freya smiled in relief, just as Elijah walked into the room to join them, smiling affectionately at both his siblings. "Do you know... I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I wholeheartedly agree with Niklaus." He commented and walked over to the bar to pour them all drinks.
"So... what's going to be our next move?" Freya asked curiously, breaking up the touching moment. "Aurora has more white oak, and she's not gonna stay quiet for long."
"Aurora's not the only problem." Elijah sais, walking over to Klaus, Ingrid, and Freya and handing each of them drinks before returning for his own
"Yes, it seems there's no shortage of those who would stand against our family." Klaus mused with a dark look and held up his glass in toast. "Let's kill them all."
---
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