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CHAPTER 60: THE WOMAN DIES

❝ death is the mother of beauty. ❞

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THE WOMAN DIES.

She dies to provide a plot twist. She dies to develop the narrative. She dies for cathartic effect. She dies because no one can think of what else to do with her. She dies because there weren't any better story ideas around. She dies because her death was the very best idea that anyone could come up with.

I've got it! Let's kill her off!

Yes! Her death will solve everything!

Okay! It's time to call it a night!

And so, the woman dies. The woman dies so the man can be sad about it. The woman dies so the man can suffer. She dies to give him a destiny. She dies so he can fall into the dark side. She dies so he can lament her death. As he stands there—brimming with grief, brimming with life—the woman lies there in silence. The woman dies for him. We watch it happen. Every single time. We read it happen. Every single time. We come to know it all too well.

"Cami?" A distant voice called out, earning no response. "Camille." A hand suddenly came into view, snapping cautiously. "Are you okay?"

Cami blinks back into reality to find Enola standing with a look of concern. She arrived at the compound early this morning after a dreadful encounter with Lucien. Unfortunately she did not make it out unscathed. A horrid looking bite mark marred the delicate skin of her forearm. She had been unable to comprehend what happened after then. All she knew is that there was no cure. Even so, she still found herself stumbling into the compound with tear-stained cheeks. She couldn't exactly show up to the nearest hospital when there was absolutely nothing they could do. She wanted to spend her last few moments with family. The only family she had known for the past three years.

"Yeah," Cami cleared her throat after a long moment before sparing the bite mark on her arm a quick glance as if contemplating her next words. "Considering."

Enola shared a look of worry with Hayley before Klaus and Freya stepped into the room. The death of Jackson and Finn had damaged them greatly. Cami was going to be the last nail in the coffin. Because one way or another, she was a Mikaelson. She protected them, she fought for them, she loved them—it was only fair they did the same. Not because they saw it as a favor, but because that is what family does.

"Hold still," Klaus instructed sternly. "This is going to burn."

Klaus stiffly took the spot on the couch beside Cami. He had tried to seem as stoic and unafraid as possible, but she could tell by the way he clenched his jaw that this was just as painful for him. He avoided eye contact as he dipped a cloth into the jar of paste before setting it aside. He gently grabbed her by the arm before applying pressure to the wound with the cloth. She immediately winced, but held still all the same.

"What—What is that?" Cami stuttered out in pain.

"It's a healing salve—motherwort, white willow bark." Freya explained softly. "The recipe is over a thousand years old."

"So the good stuff, huh?" Cami chuckled breathily.

"It will ease the pain, dull the symptoms." Freya hesitated before answering. "But it won't stop the infection."

"So I'm screwed," Cami concluded.

"We're going to do everything that we can, Cami." Hayley reassured softly.

"To that end," Elijah began strutting into the room with a surprising guest. "A little assistance."

"Cami, I am so sorry." Vincent immediately apologized, stepping out from behind Elijah with wide eyes full of horror.

"You should be. This is your fault." Klaus seethed. He discarded the cloth and stood to his feet in anger. It only took him three large steps to strut across the room towards Vincent who looked guilty enough. "It was you who turned Lucien into a beast—"

"Klaus, stop!" Cami begged as Enola stopped Klaus from killing Vincent on the spot with a firm hand to the chest. "It is not his fault."

"Cami is right," Hayley spoke up. "We all need to work together to fix this."

"Yeah, I think I know how to fix it." Klaus said. He relaxed under Enola's touch but didn't pull his intense stare away from Vincent once. "Lucien has always been obsessed with me. He made himself like me. And my bite is cured by my blood."

"Do you think his blood can save her?" Enola asked softly.

"It makes sense—Lucien would want that power." Elijah agreed.

"Allowing him to lord himself over his victims," Klaus finished.

"Okay, so, we got a working theory." Vincent nodded eagerly. "Now we have to test it."

"Lucien's blood is all over my apartment," Cami helpfully supplied. "I sliced him all to hell before I ran."

"Okay. I got this one. Lucien has got no reason to be on the lookout for me." Vincent decided before disappearing out the door to collect Lucien's blood from Cami's apartment

"Maybe we hedge our bets?" Hayley suggested, sparing Enola a quick glance.

"Hope is a Mikaelson witch who carries the wolf gene and we already know that she has healing powers," Enola realized. "I will go wake her from her nap."

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To be a young woman is to face your own annihilation in innumerable ways and to flee it—or to flee the knowledge of it. The death of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world, said Edgar Allan Poe. He obviously didn't imagine it from the perspective of a woman who prefers to live. Camille was trying not to be the subject of someone else's poetry and not to get killed; she was trying to find a poetics of her own, with no maps, no guides, not much to go on. They might have been out there, but she hadn't located them yet.

The struggle to find a poetry in which your survival rather than your defeat is celebrated, perhaps to find your own voice to insist upon that, or to at least find a way to survive amidst an ethos that relishes your erasures and failures is work that many and perhaps most young women have to do. In those early years, Camille did not do it particularly well, but she did it ferociously and that is all that matters.

Camille was often unaware of what and why she was resisting, and so her defiance was murky, incoherent, erratic. Those years of not succumbing or of succumbing like someone sinking into a morass and them flailing to escape, again and again, come back to her now as she sees young women around her fighting the same battles. The fight wasn't just to survive as a person possessed of rights, including the right to participation and dignity and a voice. More than survive then; to live. But in the end, she couldn't even accomplish that.

Enola stood in the doorway of the study. Freya had sent her to apply some sort of paste, but it was clear that it wasn't her Cami needed. So she silently backed out of the room before briskly marching down the hallway. She knew better than to think this was something that she could fix. But maybe she could ease the pain. She stepped into the room that she shared with her husband. She didn't knock, but the door creaking open was enough to get him to stop pacing holes in the floor. There is nothing she could do, but maybe there was something he could do.

"Well?" Klaus tapped an impatient and nervous foot.

"It didn't work," Enola informed. Klaus frowned. They had tried to give Cami some blood belonging to Hope. The fact that it didn't work was definitely disheartening.

"We are running out of time," Klaus murmured, running an anxious hand down his face.

"Vincent and Marcel are on their way back to the compound," Enola tried. "There is still hope."

Klaus looked away to hide his discontent, but Enola saw it anyway. She wished there was something she could do or say to make things easier. It was as clear as day that Cami would die if they couldn't find a solution. Hopefully Lucien's blood would be the cure. She didn't think they would survive another loss.

"What is that?" Klaus cleared his throat, eyeing the small jar his wife held tightly in her hands.

"Oh. Right." Enola blinked rapidly, handing the jar over to Klaus. "This is supposed to help slow the spread of the infection. You should stay with her. Keep her relaxed."

"My talents do not lend themselves to playing nursemaid," Klaus scowled.

"Do you care about her?" Enola questioned sternly. Klaus remained silent. She sighed, knowing how he struggled to admit when he cared. It would no doubt be his downfall someday. "Figure it out."

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"How is she?"

Vincent stormed across the courtyard to Freya as Marcel hovered near the entrance. It was a question she was unable to answer. She had spent most of the day searching for some sort of spell to prolong the inevitable outcome. She was able to supply them with pastes to ease the pain. But there was nothing that would cure this bite. That is why she was so anxious. They had lost too many lives. This wasn't fair. Then again, life and death did play dirty games to get what they wanted.

"Let's just hope this works," Freya huffed, snatching the canister of Lucien's blood from Vincent before turning to Marcel who had yet to be invited in. "Come in."

In hindsight, Freya should have put more thought into who was allowed inside the compound. But someone was dying up stairs and she had no time to ponder. So she quickly led Vincent and Marcel to the study on the second floor where they found a visibly ill Cami hunched over with Klaus and Enola hovering not too far away like worried parents.

"It's about time," Enola groaned.

"Here. It will help. Drink this." Freya instructed Cami.

Cami took the canister from Freya. She lifted the lid off to find a good amount of Lucien's blood. She hesitated a fraction of a second because she really didn't want to need this asshole's blood to save her life. But as she tossed back the bitter liquid like a shot, she realized that this might not be the cure after all. The bite mark was no closer to healing than it was a second go. If anything, she felt worse as a horrible cough crept its way up her throat and through her mouth.

"I don't—I don't feel any better." Cami breathed.

Cami would have collapsed to the ground if it wasn't for Klaus. He caught her tired body with ease before lifting her up into his arms. He carried her to the couch with a look of concern plastered across his face before carefully setting her down. He leaned down, pressing the back of his hand against her forehead in a hopeful manner. Slowly, he turned back to them.

"She is only getting worse," Klaus muttered.

"Okay. Then we try something else." Enola said.

"Yeah," Vincent agreed, looking around the room for an idea. "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 sighed.

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

"Well, I am not giving up." Vincent decided.

"Neither am I," Freya reassured. "But—"

"Okay. Blood magic is not working." Vincent muttered more to himself than to anyone else. "So what else is there?"

"Death," Cami spoke up, releasing a strangled cough. "We all live to die."

"No," Klaus decided. "That is not an option."

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Enola leaned against the doorway to the guest bedroom. Klaus sat with Cami. She was currently unconscious in the bed as he sat in a stool by her side. His eyes were closed as he kept a firm grip on her arm. It was the only way for him to ease her pain. So he climbed into her head and took her by the hand. She wouldn't feel a thing so long as she stays in her dreamworld.

Enola pushed off the door before turning to leave. She briskly made her way into the courtyard where everyone was gathered. It was such a strange group of individuals. Freya, Vincent, Elijah, Marcel, and Hayley. They had absolutely nothing in common except for their respect for one woman. She felt her nails dig into her palm as the realization finally hit her. They have officially run out of time. However, many refused to believe it. They held onto a selfish strand of hope that they could find a way to save the day. But they were not heroes. They were all just fighting to survive at this point.

"The infections spread everywhere. There is nothing more we can do." Enola informed quietly. "Klaus can ease her pain, but Cami won't last much longer."

"Well, we have to do something." Vincent said, beginning to pace the lengths of the courtyard in worry before turning to Freya with hopeful eyes. "Channel me, cast a healing spell, and that will buy us some more time—"

"But it will not stop the inevitable," Freya interrupted.

"Okay," Vincent nodded in thought, eyes lighting up for a moment. "Then put her soul in that damn pendant. It worked for Finn. It should work for her."

"Dahlia crafted the pendant. It will only work for our family." Freya muttered sadly. "I could put her soul in another body."

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

"Maybe we worry about that later," Hayley said.

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

"Cami is going to die," Enola spoke out in the silence. "We have to accept that in order to say goodbye."

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Everyone took turns saying goodbye to Cami. Most of them were vampires with the ability to jump into minds. But the ones who were not needed a conduit of sorts—like Vincent and Davina. Marcel had been more than willing to help them say goodbye to a great friend. There is a universal truth we all have to face whether we want to or not.

Everything eventually ends.

Even so, Enola always despised endings. The end of summer. The end of a great book. The end of friendship. Endings are inevitable. Leaves fall. You close the book. You say goodbye. And today is one of those days. Today they were saying goodbye to one of the most beautiful souls out there. But just because they are saying goodbye—which hurts—does not mean that this is the end. There are some people that are so much a part of them, they will be with them no matter what. They are their solid ground. Their North Star. And the small clear voices in their hearts that will be with them. Always and forever. And that person was Cami.

Enola stopped hesitating and finally grabbed a hold of Cami. There was little focus needed for them to meet in the middle. Their eyes flickered open to find them both seated across one another at a familiar café. They had met here for coffee and to gossip about Klaus. It was a sort of routine. Though this was the first time in months that they have had a proper sit down like this. They both had been quite busy. If only they knew things would be coming to an end like this. They would have reached out sooner.

"Hi," Enola whispered.

"Hi," Cami smiled.

"I am so sorry," Enola frowned.

"Don't apologize," Cami shook her head.

"If you had never gotten involved with us, you wouldn't be lying on your deathbed right now." Enola pointed out, struggling to keep her voice steady.

"Oh, honey, I would have died eventually." Cami sighed. "Just do me a favor?"

"Anything," Enola nodded, wiping a stray tear.

"Look after Klaus for me," Cami said.

"Always," Enola agreed.

"And," Cami continued with a cheeky grin. "Name that little girl after me."

"Deal," Enola chuckled, though that smile disappeared nearly just as soon as it came. "This is so unfair. You don't deserve to die."

"Death is the mother of beauty," Cami said. "And beauty is trepidation."

"But if beauty is trepidation, then what is desire?" Enola wondered.

"We think we have many desires, but we really only have one." Cami explained. "What is it?"

"To live," Enola breathed.

"To live forever," Cami corrected. "And while I may be buried six feet under ground, we both know that this story is far from over."

It took Enola a long time to realize that not everything in life is meant to be a beautiful story. Not every person we feel something deep and moving with is meant to make a home within us, is meant to last forever. Sometimes people come into our lives to teach us how to love; and sometimes people come into our lives to teach us how not to love, how not to settle, how not to shrink ourselves ever again. Yes, sometimes people leave—but that is okay because their lessons always stay and that is what matters.

That is what remains.

That is what it means to live forever.

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AUTHORS NOTE.
cami's death was really sad. it showed how many people she had impacted in the last few years and how many people truly respected her. i also really liked her character. anywhore,, i hope you enjoyed this chapter. until next time, my loves!!!