Where Magic Is Void

"I need you to protect the most important thing in my life.

I need you to do it here, where magic is void."

Part 1:The Brave Bartender

Cami woke with a start, her heart pounding. Something had pulled her from a deep sleep. She didn't know what it was, but she could feel the vibration of it lingering in the air.

Almost as if she wasn't alone.

"Mommy?"

She jumped at the sound of the soft voice near the foot of her bed.

Of course she wasn't alone.

Sitting up, she turned on the bedside lamp and squinted her eyes at the small girl who stood clinging to the corner of the bedspread.

"What is it, baby?" she asked, tiredly, but with the type of patience only a mother can find at 3AM on a week night.

"I saw a monster," said the little girl, her eyes wide and solemn.

"In your room?" the young mother guessed.

"No," the child replied. "In yours."

Cami shivered, recalling the feeling that had come over her upon waking. She tossed the covers back, and reached out her arms, scooping up the tiny blonde girl.

"There's nothing to be scared of, baby. See?" she asked, gesturing around the empty room. "There's no one here but us, ok?"

The girl nodded, but seemed doubtful.

"Do you want to sleep with me for the rest of the night?"

The girl smiled, her eyes shining adoringly up at her mother, and nodded again.

"Okay, just for tonight," Cami acquiesced, switching the lamp off and plunging the room back into darkness.

"What about Nik?" the girl whispered.

"Nik will be fine, love." she promised, hugging the girl to her, fondly.

"Besides, there's no such thing as monsters. Right, Hope?"

"Right, Mama," Hope sighed, already beginning to drift back to sleep.

Cami woke early the next morning to the feel of a tiny foot smacking her in the face; its little pink toes catching in her long, blonde hair.

"Ah!" she hissed, gently untangling the mess and placing the foot back on her pillow. She sat up and smiled to herself at the picture before her. At some point in the wee hours, their party of two had become a party of three, and now her daughter and son lay snuggled together amidst the down comforter and pillows, both of them upside down in the bed and sleeping peacefully.

A familiar sense of loneliness and sadness washed over her as she worried the gold band on the third finger of her left hand. Sighing, Cami stood and stretched, groaning softly as her muscles protested the movement.

She needed a hot shower. And coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

Hours later Cami stood behind the bar at The Halfway House, pouring drinks for fisherman too frozen to make it home without a little liquid fire in their system. It was winter in Maine. This time of year, only the locals braved the two-hour ferry ride over rough seas required to make it to Durnigan Island. There were only one-hundred and fifty residents in Kavanaugh, the only town on the island, and Cami was pretty sure she'd served them all at some point. At least the ones that were of drinking age.

Which is why she stopped short at the sight of a man she didn't recognize entering the bar.

"Hey, Cami-girl! Watch where you're pouring. You're wastin' the good stuff!" huffed Joe, her favorite, and most regular, patron.

She apologized as she watched the elderly man dab at the whiskey she'd just sloshed onto the back of his weathered hand.

"No harm done." He followed her eyes across the bar and raised his brows in surprise when he noticed the new visitor. "Well, look what the sea dragged in." His brow furrowed in concern. "I was about to head home, but do you want me to stay a bit longer?"

Cami looked around, noting that the last of her customers, save for Joe and the stranger, had just ambled out the front door. She felt a little uneasy, but it was a small, quiet town, and she saw no reason to keep Joe from his warm bed any longer than necessary. Besides, the sooner she closed up, the sooner she could make it home to her babies. "No, Joe. Thank you though. I'll be fine. I'm just going to get this guy his drink and then close it up for the night. You head on home."

He hesitated, but knew Cami well enough to know she could take care of herself. They were a pretty self-sufficient lot, the ones chose to live on this island out in the middle of nowhere. "Ok," he nodded. "See ya tomorrow, Cami-girl."

"See ya tomorrow, Joe."

She watched as he headed to the door, donning his coat and hat as he went. As Joe slipped outside, the stranger made his way to the bar, sitting a couple of spaces down from where she stood.

Just as she was about to ask what he wanted to drink, he looked up at her, and her words froze on her tongue. He looked at her tenderly, a soft smile playing around his full lips.

Their eyes caught and held.

"Hello, Camille. It's been a long time," came his soft, lilting accent.

His pupils dilated and constricted, pulling her own into a strange dance that caused her eyes to tear.

"I do hope you'll remember me," he said, meaningfully.

And just like that Camille O'Connell was staring into the familiar face of Niklaus Mikaelson, all of their complicated history suddenly clicking into place.

And suddenly fear, cold and shocking washed over her.

"You're here for Hope aren't you?"