Tainted | Finn Mikaelson

Chapter 21

After her nap, she went to work.

"Hi," she said tiredly to the other people working behind the bar with her. They cast her kind smiles, all getting back to what they'd been doing prior to her arrival.

Katya didn't feel like being there. She was still partially in shock, and emotional exhaustion wasn't going to get any easier by serving customers with a fake smile on her face. She wanted to be angry about Jackson's death. She wanted to be back at the Compound comforting Hayley. She wanted to go and find Cami, to see what she could do for her.

Instead, Cami found her.

"Today, I'm a customer," she said, coming to sit right in front of her.

Was it strange for Cami to look as though she was glowing?

"You look... really good," said Katya in surprise, seeing Cami's hair was curled, and she was dressed as if she were going out to a club. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel amazing," said Cami as Katya served her some sazerac, before sliding it over to her.

"Hey," said a random guy with a backwards baseball cap beside Cami. "Four tequila shots, stat."

"A please might be nice," said Katya, taking the time to write it on her notepad since she wanted to make sure she remembered.

The guy just winked. "Don't be afraid to move that sweet ass when you come give them to us."

Katya rolled her eyes the instant she turned away, purposely moving off to the side where he couldn't see her, so that her ass wouldn't be anywhere near him.

"Real nice," she heard Cami telling the guy. "She works hard, you know."

"Mm, I bet she does," said the guy, and when Katya's eyes flickered back, she saw him leaning over, trying to see the rest of her body before he turned to Cami. "How about you, gorgeous? You work hard, too?"

"Sure," said Cami, before leaning in to whisper something in his ear as she put her hands on his shoulders.

Whatever she said made the guy look a bit afraid, but he said nothing. As Katya came closer, she saw Cami was compelling him. "You're gonna find an ATM," she said, "and you're going to max out your daily limit and leave that nice, underpaid bartender the biggest tip she's ever seen. Then, you're gonna meet me in the alley out back so we can have some real fun together."

Katya decided to delay her return to Cami, never having seen her do such a thing, and needing the extra time to process. She caught sight of Klaus at the other end of the bar, and went over to him. "Did you come to drink, or are you following her?" she asked him.

"Give her two glasses of scotch," he said with a slight smirk. "Make sure she knows who they're from."

Katya nodded, and poured the glasses before walking over to Cami. "It's your lucky day. The zillionaire at the other end of the bar thinks you're cute."

Cami immediately whipped her head to the side to see who it was, and both women saw Klaus wiggling his fingers at her, waving with a cheeky smile on his face. Cami glared at him, before sighing and downing both drinks in two gulps. She half-smiled at Katya, sliding her some money before leaving Rousseau's. Klaus followed after her, waving at Katya.

"Wonderful," Katya said to herself, sighing. "I—" she felt her phone buzz in her pocket, and took a peek at it, seeing it was Finn.

'Elijah is with The Strix. Davina and Kol are not responding. I will look for them. If you can, Hayley could use your company after work. Stay safe, I love you.'