chapter fifty seven

how the mighty fall

・❥・

"SO YOU'RE SURE about this?" Jordanna asked, turning her head to look back at Naomi as she shuffled through her closet, looking for something. "You're definitely leaving?"

Naomi rolled her eyes at the Jones. "Like I've said, the last five times you've asked me, yes," Naomi stated. She had come over that morning to grab a pair of shoes she had leant to Jordanna, she and Cami were starting to gather their things and she knew that Jordanna was hoping that Naomi had forgotten about them so that she could keep them.

Thieving bitch, Naomi thought to herself.

"I just wanna be sure," the raven-haired vampire shrugged as she caught sight of the shoes and grabbed them, turning around she came to a stand and handed them over to Naomi. "Are you?"

Naomi threw her head back in annoyance and gave the Jones a look. "I'm sure I want to hit you right now," Naomi snapped back. "You knew I wasn't gonna be staying in New Orleans forever... don't tell me," a small smile formed on her lips and Jordanna rolled her eyes, knowing what was coming, "Jordanna Jones you are gonna miss me!"

Jordanna pulled a face of disgust and looked away. "I'm not gonna miss you, I just wanted to know, that's all," she shrugged in dismissal and began to make her way out of the room.

"I'll miss you too," Naomi quipped back with an elated smile. "Now, where's that top I let you borrow?"

Jordanna's brows furrowed. "What top?"

Naomi's face fell flat, "I let you borrow it last year, Jords, I've seen you wear it, like, a thousand times since then, you know which one I'm on about."

Jordanna let out a noise of annoyance and finally gestured up to the bedroom, "It's in my room," she reluctantly stated, Naomi nodded and without another word headed up towards the bedroom with a wide grin on her face. "And I wore it three times, not a thousand!"

Jordanna had quite frankly never seen Naomi this excited. I mean, she was too happy to even get angry at Jordanna for trying to hold her clothes hostage.

But it was true, Naomi was probably the happiest she had ever been. Hell, she would even consider herself the happiest person in the world ⸻ Aurora was finally gone, and she was going on a trip with Cami. Life was good.

Unfortunately, not for long.

Jordanna stood in the middle of the compound, texting Caroline, Bonnie and Stefan when suddenly, Cami came running into the Abattoir, panting heavily as she did so.

Jordanna looked up from her phone upon the blonde's hasty arrival. She raised her eyebrows at the state Cami was in. "You know this isn't, like, a homeless shelter, right? You can't just walk in whenever you feel the need. Did you lose your keys or something? I have a copy," Jordanna paused and shuffled through her pocket, finding her keychain which had several sets of keys on it, including a copy for Cami's apartment, as well as Naomi's.

"Where's Na-" Cami paused abruptly in front of Jordanna and frowned. "Why do you have keys to my apartment?"

"Why not?" Jordanna shrugged, looking down at the keychain in her hand as she tried to separate Cami's key. She lifted her eyes for a moment and looked over at the blonde, properly looking at her. The Jones tilted her head and raised her eyebrows. "What's wrong with you? You're looking a little pasty over there, Blondie."

Cami let out a sigh and swallowed roughly, hesitance clear on her face ⸻ which confused Jordanna even further, the Jones tossed the set of keys onto the small cabinet beside her and slowly approached the blonde.

"Cami?"

The O'Connell let out a breath and silently pulled up the sleeve of her jacket, revealing the vicious bite Lucien had left on her arm. Jordanna's eyes widened almost immediately and she took hold of the blonde's arm.

"He bit you?!" Jordanna exclaimed, mouth falling open in shock. "When-"

"What's going on?" Naomi questioned, her brows furrowed in curiosity as she looked between the two before her eyes flitted down to Cami's arm, which was still in Jordanna's hold. "What the hell is that?"

As Naomi rushed over to the pair, Jordanna let go of Cami's arm and looked at her with an unfamiliar look in her eyes.

"Nai-" Cami began with a sigh, only to be cut off by the vampire.

"Lucien did this? I'm gonna-"

Before Naomi could continue, with what Jordanna and Cami assumed were threats against Lucien, the blonde staggered forward slightly as a rush of dizziness overtook her. Jordanna and Naomi each grabbed an arm, steadying the woman.

Jordanna glanced over at Naomi, finding a clear look of worry on her face, the Jones swallowed roughly and spoke up, tone gentle. "Let's get her upstairs, okay?"

Naomi nodded mindlessly, and the pair helped Cami upstairs.

・❥・

Jordanna's eyes travelled up towards the door, where Freya, Naomi, Hayley and Klaus spoke quietly, the latter had a reassuring hand on Naomi's shoulder ⸻ the Tate vampire was stressed, and her face literally screamed a thousand different emotions... none good.

Lucien had done this to anger her, and he knew, that if she was angry, she'd go after him, and inevitably, he believed he could kill her. He figured that she'd blame the Mikaelsons too, destroying her bond with Klaus and Jordanna, causing her to turn on them.

Stupid men and their stupid revenge fantasies, Jordanna thought bitterly to herself.

The Jones' eyes flitted back over to Cami, the blonde was sat on the sofa, glancing around wearily, her face extremely pale. "Cami?" Jordanna questioned, voice considerably softer. "You good?"

The blonde swallowed roughly. "Yeah, considering," she answered, averting her eyes back over to the four stood by the door, trying to figure out a way to save her. "I know I'm going to die, Jordanna-"

The Jones softly shook her head and leant forward from her place in front of Cami. "Sorry, you're not allowed," she shrugged, lifting a glass filled with brown liquor to her lips, the taste bitter in her mouth. "Do you know how boring my life would be if we couldn't bitch at each other twenty-four-seven? We'll fix this... somehow."

A small smile pulled at Cami's lips at Jordanna's words, "I told you, you're starting to like me."

Jordanna rolled her eyes at the smug look on Cami's face, "And like I told you, you're wrong."

Just then, Naomi turned around, carrying a cloth and an open jar, Klaus, Freya and Hayley slowly trailing behind her. "Hold still," Naomi said, voice shaking ever-so-slightly before she cleared her throat, steadying herself. "This is gonna burn."

The Tate vampire took a seat on the couch beside Cami and gently took her arm in her hand, pressing the cloth into her bite. Cami gasped in pain immediately as the substance on the cloth seeped into her skin and began to irritate the bite.

"Ow, ow, what is that?" Cami questioned, brows furrowed and teeth clenched as she tried to keep pained noises at bay.

"It's a healing salve. Motherwort," Freya answered the blonde with a small smile of pity. "White willow bark, the recipe's over a thousand years old."

Cami let out an unamused huff, "So the good stuff, huh?"

"It'll ease the pain, dull the symptoms, but it won't stop the infection," Freya told her.

"So I'm screwed?" Cami asked, knowing the answer to that question, she turned to Jordanna as if to say I told you so.

"We're gonna do everything that we can, Cami," Hayley spoke up, giving the blonde a small, hopeful smile.

"To that end, a little assistance," Elijah voiced as he, followed by a very sorrow-looking Vincent, waltzed into the room.

"Cami, I'm so sorry," Vincent began to take a step towards her, only for Naomi to rise from the couch, blocking his view of her.

"You should be, this is your fault," Naomi scoffed, shrugging off Jordanna's pull on her shoulder as she tried to stop her from nearing Vincent. "You turned Lucien into that thing."

Jordanna, once again, grabbed Naomi by the arm and tugged her back, the Jones lowered her voice as she spoke. "You can't blame him, Nai, when the ancestors want something, they get it, this wasn't his fault, okay? It's on Lucien, no one else. Right now, all you need to be thinking about is Cami, stay with her while we try to find something because it could be..."

Naomi turned around to face her, her features pulled into a look of anger. "What? It could be my last day with her?" She snapped.

"Yeah, it might be, and if it is, it sure as hell needs to be a good memory for you to look back on. The rest of us, are gonna try fix this, but you, you stay with her," Jordanna snapped back.

Jordanna knew that there was a ninety-nine per cent chance that Cami wasn't going to make it to the end of the day, and she also knew that if Naomi had spent her day running around New Orleans trying to find either Lucien or a solution, there'd be a high chance that she'd miss saying her goodbyes.

Jordanna liked to think that she knew Naomi, no matter how much the older vampire denied how predictable she was ⸻ but Jordanna knew her in and out, if she went out after Lucien as she'd planned on doing, she'd get killed.

She thought it best for her to stay at the compound with Cami, and as much as the fire in Naomi's eyes disagreed with that, she did just that.

After a moment of silence, Naomi shrugged her arm out of Jordanna's hold and silently took a seat beside Cami. Hayley cleared her throat awkwardly, "JJ's right, we all need to work together to fix this."

Klaus nodded slowly, "I think I know how to fix it. Lucien has always been obsessed with me." If this was any other circumstance, Jordanna would've rolled her eyes at his words. "He made himself like me, my bite is cured by my blood."

"So you think his blood could save her?" Hayley questioned with a frown as she flitted around to face the hybrid.

"It makes sense, Lucien would want that power," Elijah shrugged. Everyone knew that they were grasping onto thin ideas, ones that would probably get them nowhere, but they had to try.

"Okay, so we got a working theory, now we gotta test it," Vincent stated, nodding slowly at the idea as his mind tried to formulate a plan of some form.

"Lucien's blood is all over my apartment, I sliced him all to hell before I ran," Cami said, voice croaky from her place on the sofa.

Vincent nodded once again at her words. "Okay, I got this one, Lucien's got no reason to be on the lookout for me." He gave Cami a soft smile before making his exit.

"Maybe we hedge our bets," Hayley began to say, eyes squinted as she thought to herself before she pointed towards Jordanna. "Seb is a Mikaelson witch and a Jones witch, he carries the wolf gene and we already know he's got healing powers..."

Jordanna slowly nodded. "It could work, it's worth a try," she said, glancing down at Cami and Naomi before her attention averted back to Hayley. "Tell Mary that we're coming."

"We?" Hayley questioned. "Don't you think I should stay and help?"

"You coming with me is helping, Jackson's grandma is batshit crazy, she always threatens me with that damn shotgun every time I ask her to babysit," Jordanna shrugged, grabbing her jacket that was carelessly strewn across the back of a chair. She then turned to Klaus and pressed a quick kiss to his lips, after doing so, she grabbed Hayley by the wrist and began to drag her out of the room. "We won't be long!"

Jordanna glanced back and found Elijah trailing behind them. Her face jumped up in amusement and she angled her head towards Hayley.

"Surprise, surprise, your boyfriend's following you. What are you doing to these men, Hayley? You put love potion in their drinks or something... no, I'm seriously asking. I might need it for Nik, do you think it'd remove the stick he's got shoved up his ass?"

"What are you even talking about?" Hayley questioned incredulously, frowning over at her friend.

"We haven't had sex in like... a week, Hayley. A week! At this rate, I'm gonna dry up like a freakin' prune-"

Elijah cringed as he silently followed behind them ⸻ hearing Jordanna's very detailed rant about her sex life with his brother was not on his bucket list.

・❥・

As much as Naomi argued against doing this, she thought it best to entertain Cami, like Jordanna said, it may be her last day and she'd be damned if she didn't give her everything she wanted.

Cami paced up and down the length of the living room, nursing a glass of whiskey in hand whilst Naomi was sat on the couch, a notepad in one hand and a pen relentlessly tapping against the pad in the other.

"To Davina, I leave all my clothes... just nothing too revealing," she began to speak, a small smile pulling at her lips. "To Josh, my records. To Vincent, my books and all of Kieran's files. To Elijah, I have an old game of Trivial Pursuit under my bed. To Klaus, that typewriter he gave me. To... Sebastian, my dark objects... make sure Jordanna gives them to him when he's old enough, he's a New Orleans witch, so he should have them. To Jordanna, all of my shoes," a smile pulled at her lips at that, she knew Jordanna hated every single pair of shoes she owned, but she also knew that it would make the Jones laugh, whether she wanted to or not. "And to you..."

Naomi threw the notepad down onto the table and ran her hands down her face. "Stop," she let out a deep breath. "Please."

A single tear fell down Cami's cheek as she watched the vampire get up from her seat and pace, not knowing what to do with herself. "This- this is pointless. You're gonna be fine, okay? We can... We can deal with this tomorrow, okay?" Naomi rambled, desperation clear in her words.

Cami slowly nodded, a small, strained smile fell on her lips and a few more tears rolled down her cheek. She moved towards the Tate woman, placing her glass above the fireplace as she did so, and wrapped her arms around her in a hug.

Naomi's heart stuttered, she let out a deep breath and tightly reciprocated the hug. "We'll deal with this tomorrow, okay?" Naomi's voice broke, tears slowly streaming down her face as the words left her mouth.

Cami nodded, knowing that she didn't have until tomorrow.

・❥・

Back in the courtyard, Freya stood waiting by the door impatiently ⸻ foot tapping against the ground incessantly, when suddenly, Vincent appeared at the door, quickly heading inside, Marcel by his side, though the Gerard had not invited in.

"Come in, come in," Freya ushered, gesturing for him to walk inside, she held her hands out as Vincent passed her the bowl filled with Lucien's blood.

"How is she?" Vincent asked, turning to face Freya, worry coated his voice and the Mikaelson slowly shook her head, a sad smile evident on her face.

"Let's just hope this works," Freya said before she led Vincent and Marcel upstairs to where Cami was sat on the couch, just as the Mikaelson sent the blonde a smile, Cami doubled over, coughing harshly ⸻ her hand grasped the armrest of the chair to stabilise herself.

Marcel met Klaus' eye for a brief moment and his gaze flitted down to Naomi for a second before finding Klaus' eye again in question, is she okay? The Mikaelson discreetly shook his head.

Freya ran over towards the blonde in a hurry, the bowl of Lucien's blood held in her hands. "Here," she softly handed the O'Connell the bowl, helping her cup her hands around it. "Drink this."

The blonde let out a faint cough before she lifted the bowl to her lips. Naomi, Marcel, Klaus and Vincent anxiously watched on.

Not long after, Naomi, with the help of Marcel, had taken Cami to one of the spare bedrooms, allowing her a chance to rest whilst ( what they hoped to be the cure ), Lucien's blood, circulated her body.

Cami had long passed out now, looking peaceful as she laid out on the bed, comfortably under the covers. Naomi sat beside her on a chair that she had dragged over to the side of the bed. Their fingers intertwined.

Klaus watched on from the doorway with a solemn look on his face as he glanced at the pair. It reminded him of the time he'd sit by Jordanna's bed, holding her hand and telling her what had happened that day ⸻ after all, he knew she didn't like to be out of the loop. The only difference was, Jordanna woke up, Cami wouldn't. He let out a quiet sigh before ruffling around in his pockets, in search of his phone.

She doesn't have long, he had texted to Jordanna before placing his phone back in his pocket, eyes flitting back up to the pair of women in front of him, he watched as Naomi's eyes slowly fluttered shut.

In her mind, Cami looked around in glee. Observing the beauty of the nature around her. She and Naomi were sat at a sweet little cafe in Paris, one that Naomi had sworn to her she'd take her to once they arrived.

"You really outdid yourself," Cami smiled softly at the woman sat opposite her, Naomi reciprocated that same smile with a small shrug. "If only it were real."

"Lucien's blood's gonna take its time to work, we'll still get to Paris tomorrow like we planned, then, maybe after that, we can head to Venice, you've always said you wanted to ride in a gondola down the Grand Canal." Naomi leant back into her chair, fiddling with her fingers anxiously under the table, but kept that same smile on her face, not to worry Cami.

"I look forward to it," Cami spoke gently, but deep down she knew that that was not to happen.

Klaus began to make his way downstairs, finding Freya, Vincent and Marcel who were awaiting news as to how the blonde was doing. Vincent held his arms outstretched in a questioning manner as Klaus trailed over to them.

"She's getting worse," he confirmed what they were all thinking, but had hoped not to be true.

"Okay, then we, uh, we gotta try something else. Marcel?" Vincent whirled around to face the Gerard and pointed a finger in his direction, eyes squinting ever so slightly. "The Strix. You mean to tell me they can't help with this?"

Marcel slowly shook his head, "The Strix don't have the solution for something that's never existed before."

Freya let out a defeated sigh and took a seat on the couch, she ran her hand down her face. "Lucien engineered a pure strain of wolf venom, designed to kill even an original... it may be that there is no cure."

"Well, I'm not giving up," Vincent shook his head, a determined look burned in his eyes.

"Neither am I, but..."

"Okay, um, blood magic's not working. So what else is there?" Vincent questioned, looking between the other three, waiting for them to suggest something ⸻ but it remained quiet.

Until the obnoxious click of Jordanna's heels were heard. "How about a magic, miracle baby and his hot mom?"

・❥・

Jordanna stood in the compound with the others, awaiting what news Freya had. They had tried Sebastian's blood but came up empty, and Jordanna even tried her magic, but the forces in her magic, the forces that would've brought her back didn't work, it only worked on a Jones witch whose veins could accumulate the blood.

So now, Freya was upstairs, trying something else. The oldest Mikaelson sibling injected a substance into Cami's worsening bite, her eyes briefly flickered up to Naomi, who was still holding onto Cami's hand like her life depended on it.

"Anything?" Elijah questioned as he quietly made his way over to his sister.

Freya slowly shook her head, and a deep breath left her mouth. "I've tried everything that I know, including the power that resides in the blood of our nephew. The infection has spread everywhere, there is nothing more we can do," Freya spoke, growing irritated with herself ⸻ angry that she could not resolve the issue. "Naomi can ease her pain, but... she won't last much longer."

The Mikaelson then grabbed a hold of a cloth and began to dab the O'Connell's forehead, noticing the glistening sweat that resided on her skin.

"Freya, we've gotta do something, alright?" Vincent said, voice treading on a beg, he was desperate, everyone knew that he and Cami had grown extremely close and this was slowly breaking his heart. "Channel me, cast a healing spell, that will buy us some time."

"It won't stop the inevitable," Freya spoke softly, briefly glancing back at the man.

"Okay, then put her soul in that damn pendant. It worked for Finn, it will work," he pleaded, the stress clear on his face.

"Dahlia crafted the pendant, it will only work for our family. I could put her soul in another body...?"

"No," Vincent shook his head. "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," Freya offered with a shrug, but deep down she knew that it wasn't right. Cami valued the lives of others and everyone knew that if they went ahead with it without consulting her, she would be upset.

"We cannot deny her the dignity of choice," Elijah voiced what everyone was thinking but refused to come to terms with. "Camille lived with grace, she will have it now."

Cami let out a small laugh as Naomi held the door open to Rousseau's, soft music played on the speakers and the O'Connell glanced over at the Tate questionably.

"We had our first proper conversation in here," Naomi began, a smile of reminiscence on her face as flashes of Cami's uncle's funeral played in her mind. Technically they had spoken on the night her uncle died, the night where Jordanna and Naomi saved her, but Cami was so out of it she doubted she'd remember ⸻ besides, this was more memorable for the both of them.

"Everything's the same," Cami inhaled deeply, looking around, the music that played, the bartender behind the bar handing out drinks to the solemn people, Jordanna and Klaus sulking in the corner with an amused Elijah. "You remember every detail."

"Yeah, well, you interested me," Naomi shrugged it off, feeling the embarrassment creeping up on her.

"We talked about your brother, I thanked you for saving me, I told you to tell Jordanna that I was grateful..."

"And I said Jordanna would rather stake herself in the eye than take your thanks," Naomi huffed a laugh at the reminder as she took a seat at the booth near the bar, like they did that afternoon.

Cami stood, still glancing around the room in awe before she let out a deep, slow sigh. She turned around to face Naomi. "I'm getting tired..." she said, moving to take a seat on the seat beside Naomi, but as she moved to do so, she stumbled slightly, Naomi reached out, quickly grabbing her by the arm to stabilise her.

"Cami?" Naomi questioned in worry.

"It's funny... even though we're different, I feel like the second I met you, I've always known you. I don't know how, maybe that's just how you know you love someone."

Naomi's eyes started to fill with tears, as did Cami's. The reality sunk in for both of them. No matter how much they wanted to think otherwise, they knew that Cami was going to die and it was going to be soon.

"I love you, you know that, right?" Naomi questioned, grabbing onto Camille's hands, and bringing them up to her lips, pressing a brisk kiss to them as tears streamed freely down her face.

"I don't have another tomorrow, do I?" She asked, feeling the grip of Naomi's hold on her hands. "The noise, the people... will you make it go away?"

Naomi turned her head slightly and the noise around them, as well as the people, vanished. However, when the Tate vampire laid her eyes on Cami, the lights strewn above them began to flicker around them.

"Nai? What-what-what's happening?" Cami asked in a panic, watching in fear as Naomi softly shut her eyes for a moment before opening them.

Naomi swallowed roughly. "Your heart is slowing down, but it's still beating, okay? It's still beating because you're a fighter, Cami, okay?"

The tears held in Cami's eyes finally dropped, falling down her face. "I wanted to be brave. I wanted to handle this with dignity. But I... I can't. I... I don't want to go. I'm so scared."

"I'm here, okay? I'm here," Naomi whispered against Cami's hands, voice shaking as she spoke.

"So much for the brave bartender, huh? When I said I was ready to die, I was full of crap. I just wish I had done more than to serve a few drinks."

Naomi softly shook her head, "You have done more, Cami. You have helped save people, you've saved me. When I first came to New Orleans all I wanted to do was to cause havoc and when I met you, you turned me into a better person. You've never expected anything from me, you never wanted to change me... there will always be a piece of you here," Naomi grabbed Cami's shaking hand and brought it down to her heart, "with me."

"I guess that means I'll live forever," Cami let out a small laugh, but tears still ran down her face. She felt herself weakening and she knew it was time.

Naomi knew it too when her eyes laid sight of the black veins that began to creep down her arm. "No, not yet, not yet, okay?" Naomi rushed out in a plea as Cami's weakened body fell forward slightly, head falling on Naomi's shoulder.

"You go to Paris, okay? You live your life, Naomi, promise me that, okay?" Cami let out a few staggered breaths before the rest of her body weight slumped into Naomi.

"I promise, okay? I promise," Naomi mumbled against Cami's head before she broke into a gut-wrenching sob, shaking against Cami's body. "I love you. I love you so much."

Downstairs in the quiet, darkened courtyard everyone sat in silence. Jordanna, Freya and Hayley sat around a candle-lit table, and Sebastian placed on Hayley's lap. Klaus stood behind Jordanna's chair, one hand on her shoulder and the other braced on the back of the chair.

Vincent paced up and down the length of the courtyard and Marcel sat on a separate table, hands pressed to his face.

Just then, Davina came rushing into the compound, tears in her eyes. Her sight immediately fixated on Jordanna. "JJ?" She questioned, voice small. The Jones looked up at her arrival and came to a stand instantly before rushing over to her and wrapping her arms around her tightly.

After a while, everyone went up and said their teary goodbyes, and finally, when it was Jordanna's turn, she hesitated. She stood outside the bedroom for a minute, not knowing what to do before she hesitantly made her way in and took a seat on that same chair Naomi had resided on all day.

Jordanna opened and closed her mouth, trying to think of something to say to the woman she had been a bitch to for the last three years.

"You know, when I first met you, I wanted to hit you so bad, my insecurities got the best of me I suppose. I mean, you were this older, intelligent, beautiful woman and I don't know, I didn't like that," Jordanna spoke softly, perhaps the nicest she had to Camille ever. "Then, even after getting to know you I still didn't like you, but yet, you did so much for us, we didn't even have to ask you, and you did it.

"You were one of the first people who didn't take my crap, and truth be told, I admire that about you cause I know I can be a handful. I've been thinking about how my little boy is never going to know you and it doesn't feel right, you have always done so much for his family and..." Jordanna paused, sighing deeply before she looked up to the ceiling for a moment to collect herself.

"Believe it or not Cami, I'll miss you. I was a bitch to you and you still stuck around," she let out a small laugh. "If that's not family, I don't know what is. Maybe you were right, maybe I did start liking you." She rolled her eyes jokingly. "I can just imagine how smug you feel right now... Cami was right and Jordanna was wrong," she let out a brief humoured scoff.

She could just imagine the look on Cami's face right now, the glance that screamed I told you so.

Jordanna grasped the blonde's hand and squeezed it before she lowered her voice, "Just... don't haunt me alright? And if you can hear me now, tell my Nonna to stop haunting me ... and that guy I killed a couple of years back... oh and that priest. Thanks."

Author's Note!
Idk if any of u have watched the nanny but Jordanna is literally fran I can't explain it but she is

i sobbed rewatching this episode omg... did u know that the name Anastasia means resurrection, baffled, but fitting ;)

A lot more JJ and Klaus next chapter since this one was centred more on Cami and Nai, so we get a few cute moments with our faves