꧁𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝꧂
☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎
GRACE GROANS, tilting her head back as Klaus places a soft kiss on the back of her neck. His hands had gripped her hips, pulling her against him. "Stop it, Nik." She grumbles, turning her head to look at him. Klaus chuckles as he continues to place kisses along her neck, moving his fingers underneath her shirt.
"Stop what?" Klaus teases with a smirk as he moves in front of her, his lips going back to her skin. Grace sighs as she runs her hand through his hair.
"We should get some rest, we have the big day tomorrow, remember?" Grace points out, pulling his head away. Klaus only gazed at her as he moves her closer to him.
"Mhm." He hums before placing a kiss on her lips. Grace kisses him back for a second, wrapping her arms around his neck. Klaus's hands move back to her hips, squeezing them before they slide down to her thighs.
Grace pulls away so he didn't have a chance to pick her up. "So, we'll have plenty of time to do lots of this once we're married." She tells him, running her hands down his chest. Klaus doesn't give up though as his gaze moves back to her lips.
"What if I want you now?" He asks as he moves in close, hovering his lips over her own. Grace just smirks as she raises an eyebrow at him.
"That's too bad." Grace responds, patting his chest making the man sigh. "I'm gonna go check on Cami." She tells him.
"Don't take too long." Klaus says as his hands drop from her as she turns away from him. Grace smiles, heading toward the door.
"Nik, you better not be naked when I get back." She calls out, walking out of the room.
"That sounds like an invitation, love." Klaus responds with a smirk on his lips. Grace shakes her hear, rolling her eyes a bit as she walks down the hallway toward the room where Camille was staying.
"Cami?" Grace asks as she knocks on the door. She peers it open when she doesn't get a response. "Cami, are you awake?" She questions, poking her head inside and noticing the Camille was laying on the bed.
Grace smiles as she makes her way over to the bed. She grabs the blanket from the foot of it, moving up to where Camille was. The blonde had her back turned away from Grace as she leant over to put the blanket on her. But Grace stopped herself when she noticed something red covering the woman.
Her eyebrows furrow as she tilts her head. She couldn't really see what it was by the way Camille was laying. So, Grace brought her hand to the woman's arm, turning her to face her. Her eyes go wide when she sees that Camilles throat had been split. She gasps, stumbling back, her hands going to her mouth. She stops herself though when she sees the blood that had transferred onto her hands.
Camille's eyes were open as she just stared in Grace's direction. Grace hadn't heard anything, how could this have happened? Especially with vampires in the house. She was just confused, she was heartbroken, and she was royally pissed off. It didn't take long to really have a guess of who could've done such a thing.
Grace could only stare back, not being able to move an inch. She heard footsteps behind her but paid no mind to them. "Love, is everything okay?" Klaus asks her curiously as he walks into the room, wondering why he hadn't heard them talking. When he moves around her, he sees the bloodied scene right before his eyes.
His gaze moves to Grace who was just stood there in shock, blood covering her hands. "What happened?" He asks with a concerned tone as he moves over to her. Grace shakes her head slowly as her breathing becomes a bit unsteady.
"I-i don't know." She stutters out, not even noticing the tears that had shed from her eyes. Klaus looks back at Camille, moving over to her. He leans down, pressing his finger to her neck but it was quite clear that the woman was dead.
"She doesn't have a pulse." Klaus denies, feeling his heart clench as he looked at the now lifeless woman. He felt like this was his fault. Whoever did this, did it because Camille was close to them.
"I just came to check on her and she was... she was like this." Grace admits with a sniffle. Klaus makes his way back over to her, enveloping her in a hug. Grace holds onto him tightly as she rests her head against him.
Their moment didn't last long though as a gasp was heard from beside them. They both look, only to see that Camille was now sat up. Grace had to blink a few times in order to see that what she was looking at was real. "Camille?" Klaus asks her, furrowing his eyebrows. The woman looks around the room, clearly confused. Not more than Grace as she had no idea what was happening.
"What's going on?" Camille asks, a bit disoriented as she looks around the room. That's when she notices that she was covered in blood.
"You were... dead." Grace admits, staring at her like she had just risen from the dead. Which in fact, she had.
"W-what?"
"Camille, I need you to look at me." Klaus says, placing his hands on the womans shoulders as he looks at her. "Tell me what happened." He states, needing to know what she remembered. If she had been compelled, all of it would be wearing off now that she was dead.
"Lucien." Camille says, her tone sharp as she just stares dead ahead. Grace could feel her fists clench at the name. "He did this to me." She tells them as klaus pulls away from her. "I died. I'm dead." Her voice was shaky as tears filled her eyes.
"But you will not stay dead." Klaus denies, looking down at the ground. He shouldve taken care of Lucien when he had first posed as a threat. "He will pay for his actions, I swear to you." He assures Camille who hunches over a bit with a groan.
"Oh, what's happening to me?" She asks, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment.
"You're transitioning." Klaus answers her, staring at the woman whos eyes widen slightly. "You need to feed on blood soon or you will die again, this time for good." He tells her. Grace felt awful that this was happening to her.
"It's your choice though, Cami." Grace says, not wanting her to become a vampire for anybody else but herself. Camille nods her head slowly, her eyes moving to Grace.
It suddenly hits her that their wedding was tomorrow. Their wedding was near and she probably ruined it because of this. Not that it was her fault for dying, but she knew that Grace was looking forward to this day. "Your wedding." Camille says, staring at Grace. Grace furrows her eyebrows before shaking her head.
How Camille could be thinking about her wedding of all things right now was beyond her. "Let's not think about that. We'll just postpone--" Grace starts to say but Camille cuts her off.
"No." Camille denies. She was not about to be the cause of someone elses misfortune. "No, you're not delaying your happy ending because of me." She states, shaking her head. Grace sighs a bit, frowning as looks toward Klaus for a second.
"Cami, you died." Grace says, not knowing if it just wasnt fully registering for her. "I think people will understand me pushing a wedding date." She points out. She wasn't about to be happy at her wedding when one of her closest friends was transitioning into a literal vampire.
"You've been pushing it for months." Camille retorts as she stares back at the blonde. She takes Grace's hands in her own. "Grace, please, just let one thing in my life stay normal." She couldn't just sit around today, not after what had just happened. If Camille was going to transition, she needed people to treat her like always, not like she's made out of glass.
Grace was hesitant, not wanting to take the focus off of Camille right now. Her eyes move to Klaus for a second. But she knew he would let her decide on what to do. Grace didn't want to act like she was treating Camille different by not having the wedding. But she also cared about her and wanted to know how she's doing. The latter is really the better choice but that isn't really an option.
"Okay." She says, nodding her head slowly as she squeezes Camille's hands slightly. Grace placed a smile on her lips. "Let's get you cleaned up." Grace tells her, helping the woman up from the bed. Camille let's out a sigh as she closes her eyes for a moment.
No matter what she may feel, no matter what she may be going through, she didn't want that to affect Grace. Camille wanted Grace to be happy and she knew marrying Klaus would do that. So, she wouldn't let this wedding post pone any longer.
Mostly because she knew it would never happen if Grace postponed it one more time.
☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎
HAYLEY WALKS INTO THE COMPOUND, seeing Grace standing with Paul and Hanna. She got a call from Elijah telling her what happened to Camille. Hayley was shocked that something like that would happen in the compound. "I just heard, is she okay?" Hayley asks as she stops next to them. Grace couldn't help but scoff as she looks over at the woman. Of course she was there, no doubt Elijah of all people had called her.
"She just died, Hayley. What do you think?" Grace responds as she half glares toward the woman. Hayley hadn't meant it in that way, she just wanted to know how Camille was doing.
"God, she must be going through a lot." Hanna admits with a sigh, biting her bottom lip. Camille of all people did not deserve to have this happen to her.
"Why would Lucien do this?" Hayley asks, it didn't make sense why he would make a sudden move like this right now. You would think he would want to stick under the radar.
"Because he wants to hurt us, I don't know." Grace mumbles, running her hands through her hair.
"Are you doing okay?" Paul asks as he places his hand on Grace's shoulder, a look of concern in his eyes.
"I'm fine, Paul." Grace assures him with a soft smile on her face, but he could see the pain in her eyes.
"We're sure it was Lucien? It could've been Aurora." Hayley tells them. Grace looks back over toward the woman, confused on why she would even say that.
"Why would Aurora do it?" Grace questions, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Maybe she was faking being your friend to get close enough to kill her." Hayley suggests as she shrugs her shoulders. She was Klaus's psycho ex-girlfriend, you couldn't exactly put it past her.
"If she wanted to kill her, she wouldve done it when she kidnapped her." Grace points out, defending Aurora because she didn't believe the redhead had anything to do with it. "Plus, all the compulsion wore off. Camille said it was Lucien." She states. Camille says it was Lucien so it was.
"I still don't think we should trust Aurora." Hayley denies as she shakes her head.
"Aurora told us where Rebekah was, she has done nothing but earn our trust." Grace retorts. Aurora could've easily kept Rebekah's location to herself, she had multiple opportunities to hurt them and she didn't.
"Not mine." Hayley mutters but Grace catches it.
"Well, I don't care what your opinion is." Grace admits as she crosses her arms with a scoff. Hayley could hate Aurora all she wanted but Grace knew it was only because Aurora was able to hang around without being yelled at.
"Okay, let's just settle down." Paul says, not needing this to create a huge argument. But of course Hanna spoke next, very pissed off toward Hayley.
"You have some nerve to talk, you know that?" Hanna asks her, narrowing her eyes. Grace looks toward the teenager, a sigh leaving her lips.
"Hanna, it's okay." She assures Hanna, not wanting her to get mixed up in the drama. But Hanna didn't care, she would always defend Grace, especially against Hayley.
"She doesn't want you at her wedding today, she just invited you out of pity." Hanna points out, wanting Hayley to understand that.
"Hanna." Paul scolds, giving his daughter a stern look.
"Grace, can we talk alone?" Hayley asks, not really wanting Hanna's commentary when she was trying to talk to her. Grace just stares at her for a moment, not really wanting to talk with Hayley.
"I'm gonna go see if Cami needs anything." Grace mumbles, heading toward the stair case. Hayley frowns as she watches after the blonde. She takes a step forward but Hanna stands in front of her so she can't go anywhere.
"Why can't you just leave it alone?" Hanna asks her with a scoff, narrowing her eyes. "Clearly she doesn't want to talk to you." She points out, crossing her arms against her chest. Hayley clenched her jaw as she was annoyed that Hanna was still talking to her.
"Why don't you just mind your own business?" Hayley retorts, going to push past her but Hanna raises her eyebrows, holding her hand out.
"Oh, I know you're not saying that--" Hanna didn't think Hayley could be one to say that when she was always sticking her nose into other people's business. Especially Grace's.
"Hanna. Go with her." Paul demands as he looks down at his daughter. Hanna bites the inside of her cheek, looking at him. "Now." He says, not giving her anytime to complain. Hanna just scoffs as she walks up the stairs, leaving the two alone.
Hayley moves her eyes to the ground, fiddling with her fingers. She didn't even understand how they got to that point. Hayley had apologized for how she acted toward Grace but it seemed she wasn't even seeing it. She got that she crossed a line and she had mended that, why was everyone acting like she was the villain?
"You can't force your way back in, Hayley. That will just make her resent you even more." Paul says, looking at the woman, making her glance up for a second. He just lets out a sigh before walking off, leaving her alone to ponder the thought.
☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎
KLAUS MAKES HIS WAY INTO THE BEDROOM, seeing that Camille was sat on the bed in a robe just staring down at the floor. "I brought you some clean clothes." He tells her as he sets them down beside her. Klaus knew this was a big change to handle, especially when she didn't pick to change into a vampire. It was her decision to drink blood or not, It was just that she didn't have much tike to think about it.
"Thanks." She responds as she kicks her feet back and forth. Klaus stares at her for a moment, his eyes saddened as he moves to sit next to her on the bed.
"Cami.." He starts to say but she just turns her head to him, putting a smile onto her face as she shakes her head.
"It's okay, Klaus." Camille assures him. She didnt blame anyone but Lucien for what happened to her. "It wasn't your fault." She tells him, not wanting him to feel bad about something that he had no control over.
"Lucien did this to you because of me. Because he wanted to taunt me." Klaus points out. He wasn't fully off the hook. The whole reason Lucien was even in town was because of him.
"Still." Camille didn't care about any of that. "I don't blame you or Grace." She denies, wanting to get that point across.
"We can push the wedding." Klaus says, wanting to make sure she was really okay with them still going on with the wedding. They would stop everything if Camille didn't want it to happen.
"Don't." Camille denies, shaking her head. "Please, I just want something happy in my life right now." She admits with a small sigh. Camille wanted to watch Grace become his wife, it would truly make her ecstatic to see it.
"Okay." Klaus says after a moment of hesitancy. His eyes drop to his hands as he fiddles with his fingers.
"Plus, Grace's dress is so beautiful." Camille tells him, remembering what she first thought when Grace had tried on the dress for her. She truly did look so beautiful in it. Klaus smiles as he meets her gaze once again.
"Is it now?" Klaus asks her and she nods her head.
"Mhm. She looks like an angel in it." Camille describes to him. Klaus knew he wouldn't think any different than she was. He knew Grace would look beautiful in anything and he couldnt wait to see her walking down the aisle.
"I know you love her." Klaus says, somewhat out of the blue, but he saw her eyes when she was talking about Grace. It was the same look he got when he talked about her as well.
"She loves you." Camille responds with a soft smile on her face. It didn't matter what her feelings were, Grace was completely infatuated with Klaus and nothing was going to change that. "I am beyond happy for the both of you, you know that right?" She asks as she takes his hand in her own. Klaus nods his head, gazing at her.
"Yeah, I do." Klaus admits. You couldn't help who you fell for. And you couldn't help it if the person you loved didn't love you back. Klaus was just lucky that Grace did in fact fall for him.
"We can deal with Lucien after, he's not exactly going anywhere." Camille points out. Lucien wasn't going to leave town until the originals were locked up and unable to leave again. Klaus scoffs as he nods his head.
"Like a parasite." He mumbles, clenching his jaw. Lucien just didn't seem to know when to stop. He was walking on some very thin ice.
"You better not go on your honeymoon until this shit is solved though." Camille teases him with a small laugh. Klaus shrugs his shoulders, narrowing his eyes a bit.
"No, we'll just leave Elijah to deal with everything." Klaus suggests as he looks at her. Camille nods her head, honestly she wouldn't mind them doing that.
"He would deserve it." Camille admits with a small laugh making Klaus smile lightly. Elijah was someone who he had to trust at the moment, merely because of the prophecy. But did he forgive him for what he did to Grace? Absolutely not.
He wouldn't forgive Elijah until she did and if she never decided to, then he would be friendly with his brother, nothing else.
☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎
GRACE WAS SAT ON THE COUCH, lost in her thoughts as she just racked her mind over everything that's happened. She barely even remembered that Dylan was supposedly somewhere in town. It just seemed like there was more pressing issues then that. And she didn't want to bring any attention away from Camille or taking down Tristan and Lucien now, especially after what happened.
"Hey." She hears from beside her. Grace glances over, seeing Aurora stood next to the couch. Grace tried to offer a small smile but it wasn't very visible.
"Hi." Grace responds as she brings her eyes back to her hands. Aurora hated that she hadn't been here when everything happened. Maybe she could've stopped it but she knew Lucien had compelled Camille so there was really no saving her.
"I heard about Camille." Aurora says as she fiddles with her fingers, not really knowing what to say.
"Yeah..." Grace responds quietly.
"If I had known he would do this-" Aurora starts to say but Grace only cuts her off.
"Aurora, it's okay." She assures her. Aurora had no idea this would happen, same as everyone else. Grace wasn't accusing her of anything.
"How are you holding up?" Aurora asks as she takes the seat beside Grace. Grace didn't even know how to answer that question. Because she felt like her whole life was falling apart at that very moment.
"Okay." She mutters with a shrug of her shoulders.
"You're getting married in a few hours." Aurora points out. It seemed like no one was really making a move to do anything so she wasn't really sure that it was even still happening.
"I know." Grace admits as she rests back against the couch, biting her bottom lip. "I want to feel happy about it." She says. It was supposed to be the happiest day of her life and it wasnt really feeling like it right now.
"But you feel guilty." Aurora finishes for her, already knowing why she couldn't allow herself to feel happy. Grace nods her head a little bit.
"Yeah."
"I'm sure she wouldve said if she felt uncomfortable with you having it here." Aurora tells her. Camille would never want to interfere with the wedding, so either way she wouldn't say anything. But it might be better to not treat her like a victim and instead just go about the day as normal.
"I know. I just need a few minutes to breathe, I guess." Grace admits as she brings her hands up to her head. Aurora frowns as she watches the woman for a second.
"Did you want me to leave?" Aurora asks, not wanting to invade in her privacy. Grace let's out a small sigh as she glances toward the redhead, offering a small smile.
"No, it's okay. You can stay." She assures her. Honestly, it felt nice to have some company. Aurora brings her hand to Graces knee.
"I will make my brother pay for this, you have my word." Aurora tells her. She wasn't about to let Tristan get away with this, especially since she knew it was only a matter of time before he also came for Grace.
"Go full on crazy bitch on him." Grace teases her with a small laugh. Aurora smiles, glad that she was able to get the woman to cheer up a bit. Aurora sends a wink in her direction.
"Of course." Aurora responds as she squeezes Grace's knee for a moment. A sigh leaves her lips as she glances around the room.
Aurora rests her head on Grace's shoulder as she placed her hand on top of the blondes. If she knew her brother and Tristan would plan this move, she wouldve found a way to stop it. But unfortunately, her brother didn't trust her much anymore and she him. Not that she ever really trusted him.
If he truly cared about her, he wouldn't have tried locking her up in a monastery. Grace had shown her more compassion in a day than her own brother had in a century. And she would rather be on the side that she wouldn't lose what morals she had left.
☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎
Aghhh should I or should I not split this book into two? I think if I don't, it'll get up to a hundred plus chapters... I need to decide because next chapter is the last chapter of the first half !