Role Reversal

Chapter 4: The Waiting is the Hardest Part

"What? He can't be dying. He told me this curse is temporary." Cami could not believe that the indestructible Niklaus Mikaelson could ever be dying.

"Yeah, I know that, Cami, but his body is human right now and is susceptible to any normal human disease. The doctor said his immune system is being attacked, but he can't figure out what's causing it without taking him to a hospital and doing a bunch of tests. All he could do was give him some drugs for the pain. I called Elijah and he seems to think that he contracted some type of disease from someone's blood – someone he fed on. He could have contracted it years ago and it wouldn't have affected him until now."

"So, vampires can have all these horrible diseases floating around in their system?"

"Well, blood is blood, if you're hungry. Doesn't matter what's in it. Anyway, even if the doc hadn't been here, I can feel that something's wrong. We still have a connection between us."

Cami sat down, feeling the weight of the situation. "So, we just have to hope that he doesn't die of this before the curse expires?"

"Yep."

"Damn." Slamming her hands down on the table, Cami exclaimed, "This is ridiculous! That is Niklaus Mikaelson in there, not just some Joe off the street! We have to do something!" She stood up and began to pace. "We need a witch's help. Davina?"

Marcel shook his head. "She won't help him."

"She will if I ask her."

"Nope, not even you can convince her. She's done giving him the benefit of the doubt."

"Come on, Marcel. You have to know someone that can help!"

Marcel stood up. "Look, I'll do my best. I have a few leads I can track down that may know something. Elijah's trying to come up with a solution, too. I told him that Klaus didn't want him here and he promised to stay away, at least until he can be useful. But, I have a feeling that we don't have anything to worry about. Klaus'll be back to his tyrannical hybrid self soon enough." They both walked to the door. As he stood in the open doorway to leave, Marcel said softly, "Look, Cami, it's obvious that you have feelings for him. Just be careful. I've known Klaus a long time and I've seen how he can manipulate people. You're a good person and I don't want to see you get hurt."

Cami, slightly embarrassed, nodded as non-chalantly as she could. "I appreciate your concern and I will be on guard, as always."

He nodded back, then left. She took a deep breath and went back over to her newly-human hybrid, who was still asleep on the sofa. "This reminds me of the time you had Papa Tunde's blade plunged into you and I had to feed you my blood. Thank God I don't have to do that again," she muttered to herself as she pulled the ivory throw blanket from the back of the sofa onto Klaus, covering him as best she could. His eyes fluttered open, turning into a hard stare.

"It's been so long since I've felt cold. How did you know?"

"Most humans get cold when they're sick. I figured you would be, too."

Cami watched Klaus's eyes grow darker. "When are these bloody pills going to start working?" His voice rose louder with each word.

"You are going to have to be patient. Just be glad Marcel was able to compel that doctor to give you controlled substances without having to go through a pharmacy, like any other normal human being."

"Where is Marcel?" Klaus uttered in his usual deadly tone.

"He went to try and find you some help."

"And he will no doubt come up empty-handed and I will end up dying before this ridiculous curse ends!" He threw the blanket off him and began pacing around the room like a caged animal, grunting and wincing at the same time, obviously still in pain.