*It goes without saying that The Originals – the story and all related characters – belong to the writers, cast and crew of the show. I claim no ownership or association to the TV series titled The Originals. This was written by a fan solely for the enjoyment of other fans.*

Chapter 4

Now my thoughts are slow

I don't know what to do

Like a bug in a web

I'm trapped and so are you

– Bug in a Web

CallMeKat, Lyrics

Cami came out of their shared memory.

Smoothly, without pain or fear. Like sunshine breaking through the clouds, her thoughts cleared and she was back in the candlelit room. Cradled in Lucien's arms, her body sizzling with awareness. She could feel him, his hard chest pressing against her back. The scent of his skin; green mint and warm earth. The scent haunted her dreams, seeping into her subconscious like smoke from a signal fire. Prey to Klaus' compulsion, she had no power to resist.

Forget Lucien. Forget you know him. Trusted him. Loved him . . .

Forget, Camille . . . forget.

Tears blurred her vision, stinging her eyes. A deep sense of loss and emptiness swept through her; barren and cold as ice water. A hole inside her that'd once been full of something warm and wonderful.

Heat flushed her skin, moisture pooled between her legs – unfulfilled arousal. The memory of passion and hands touching her. She could feel echoes of that vision against her skin. The sensation of fingers probing. Tongue and fangs sliding intimately. A taste of danger heightening her excitement.

She'd loved him. It was there, in the memory. What she felt for Lucien went so far beyond what she imagined she would ever know. It was sonnets and dark chocolate, satin sheets and passionate embraces. The sort of all-consuming love to make you believe in forever. Believe in meant-to-be. Impossible fantasy and it was real. It was hers. And Klaus stole it all away.

Klaus robbed her of Lucien, because he wanted Cami for himself.

The sheer selfishness; the terribleness of what he did to her. A violation and an evil she could not forgive.

"Camille?" Lucien's voice in her ear, breathless and intent. Her prolonged silence, her stillness as she reeled at the magnitude of all that was lost . . . he was worried. He didn't know what she was thinking, if it'd worked.

He was feeling the effects of reliving that memory, too. Cami could feel his erection pressed against her buttocks, hard and hot. It didn't bother her, for the same reason her wetness reassured her. It was real. It was the truth.

"Cami?"

She trembled with desire. Aroused, but the climax only happened in their memory. Her body writhed with need, wanting so desperately to finish. Her brain insisted she stop and talk to him, first.

"I don't remember," she whispered. "I don't remember, Lucien."

His arms tightened around her. Like iron bands around her body and she felt very safe there with him. Not restrained, but held. Lucien thought he was losing her and wanted to hold onto this moment for as much longer as he could. His scent soaked into her skin. Soil and green mint. A luscious flavor she could taste on her tongue. She wanted to kiss him. Wanted to taste his skin the way she had before and it was all she could do to control herself.

"I don't remember," she said again, voice trembling with the tears that caught in her throat. A painful lump lodged there, hurting even worse when she tried to swallow it down. "But I believe you, Lucien."

She said his name the way he would have heard it as a child. Not the English "Lu-c-ious" but with the smoother French pronunciation: "Liew-s-ien".

His memories were incomplete, sharing only one evening. A moment in time, where she was missing the whole. All that'd led up to that climactic finale. The sex was spectacular. The emotions – oh, god – ever part of her had been involved. She felt those emotions, raw, straight through to her soul. She wished she could know every moment; every look, touch, taste and smell from the first glance. Cami searched her memory, finding only emptiness. Still, seeing what they'd had together secondhand was enough to trigger those secrets.

A longing that ached in her chest always – what she never knew was her heart crying out for the man she loved.

Promise me, Lucien. Promise me, you'll come for me.

Words echoed, skipping lightly through her subconscious. Ghostly images blossomed, bursting briefly before sinking back. She saw herself, wrapped in the navy satin sheets of Lucien's bed. Body humming and acutely aware of every inch of her own skin . . . looking into her lover's eyes. Promise me, Lucien.

"You kept your word," Cami said in awe. She turned her head, Lucien's breath cool on her throat and looked into his eyes. Why had she ever though them dark? They were warm, rich color. Molten gold and chocolate. "You came back for me."

"Always," he swore and held her closer, pressing her into his chest. Eyes closing on the conviction of that quiet promise. "Always, Camille."

"What happens now?" she asked him. Klaus wouldn't be happy with what was done, and Cami didn't know if she could hide what she felt for Lucien from the hybrid now that there were cracks in her memory. Tiny little openings which allowed whispers of what was there before to slip through. Tantalizing little tastes of what she could have again.

Lucien was clearly thinking the same. They could be together, easily, but for one little hiccup in their happily ever after. "We could bury him."

Cami elbowed the vampire in the stomach. Hard, solid muscle. He chuckled softly, smiling into her neck. Pressing warm lips to the skin of her throat. "Is that a no?"

"I don't want him tortured, Lucien." Again, pronouncing his name as the French Liew-s-ien just as she'd done the day she told him she loved him – and every day since. More than a year ago, now, but at the time he had so appreciated the consideration. She stopped after Klaus' compulsion erased him from her mind, and going back to the English pronunciation after they'd "met" at Klaus' gallery opening. But now, slipping so easily into a vernacular she'd forgotten about swelled his heart with warmth. A sharp needle of affection for what should have been a little thing. Cami was still talking, "We can't shut him away forever. And if we could, I don't think . . ."

"You care for him," he noted. "Deeply. Even with what you know he did to you, you're trying to protect him."

Cami swallowed hard, her mind turning over. How to explain? How to put the chaos in her heart into words? She admitted, "I do care. What he did – he stole so much away from us and he had no right. None at all. How do you forgive something like this? That doesn't mean I want him tortured. Locked away forever? No, Lucien."

They could leave. He might let them go.

She could talk to him. Furious and aware of what he'd done; shame him into allowing them to live. To stay together. Or that could backfire and Klaus might kill Lucien this go-round. Compel her so thoroughly she lose her soul in the taking of her heart.

Or not.

For the first time, Cami realized she truly could not even guess at what Klaus would do. She had no idea. That scared her more than anything. More, even, then going back to that empty place where Lucien did not exist while her love for him did. A torturous thing she hadn't been able to stand but could find no source for her pain.

Camille shivered at the smooth, cool slide of a strong hand over her belly. Her sweater lifted up, just a little. Enough so that a breath of air touched the soft skin there. Heated skin. Her mind a million miles away, imagining the danger they were in, while her body continued to hum with desire. Energy crackling just beneath the surface.

Lucien said, speaking right into her ear, "What's to stop your precious hybrid from killing us?"

"Absolutely nothing," Cami admitted. Oh, god she wanted him. Not Klaus; Lucien. His hand had stilled, resting lightly on her skin but she could feel his touch in her bones. Every inch of her vibrating with awareness and want.

The memory of their first time together danced and whirled in her mind, teasing her with the fun they'd had. And that's exactly what it felt like. Unfulfilled. Like they had been having sex right here on the floor, and then just stopped right before climax. She burned. Every part of her wanting to finish but how do you smoothly slide a serious discussion concerning imminent death to: 'Take me. Take me now!'

She wondered if now would be a good time to point out this might be their last night on Earth. The world wasn't ending. But their lives were hanging over the edge of a precipice and the rope holding them had begun to fray. Yeah. The last night line might just work.

"So what do you want to do? Given that burying the bastard is out of the question?"

What did she want to do? Oh, hell. Cami felt her stomach clench, heat pooling there and something even hotter tingling lower.

"I don't know. How do you stop the unstoppable?"

Lucien pressed his lips to her throat again, tongue probing at the pulse which beat there. Steady and too fast. She could feel his knowing laugh, though not a sound was made. He knew she wanted him and was teasing her, now. With the possibility. A reminder of how good he could make her feel and had Cami been anyone else she would have taken him right there. As hot as she was, to hell with games. She was ready.

Instead, she kept talking. Aware her restraint heightened his frustration, too.

Foreplay was fun when both participated. She could wait. Could he? Naughty excitement tightened the parts of her that weren't already coiled into quivering knots.

"Well?" she pressed, and if there was a particular breathlessness to her voice oh well. "How do we stop someone knowing there's no real way to keep them from what they want?"

"By making him think it was his idea," said Lucien. His erection was starting to feel like an iron rod pressing into her backside, he was so hard. That did nothing to lessen the arousal coursing through Cami and it was all she could do to hold back the moan building in her chest.

Camille wiggled, loosening Lucien's hold as she indicated she wanted to move. He let her go and she slid over his body, turning herself around so that her front was to him. Bringing herself face to face with her half-remembered lover. Lucien outright trembled at the feel of her body moving over him; rough and light, and the scent of her blood soft through her skin.

"How do we do that?"

Brown eyes focused with some difficulty. "Hm?"

"How do we convince Klaus he wants to let us live in peace?"

"A gift, maybe." Lucien swallowed hard, feeling strangled. Where had all the air gone? His lungs burned. His blood was on fire, coursing torturously through his veins. Heavy and thick as molasses, as if he were on the verge of starvation. His jaw ached with the effort of keeping his fangs sheathed.

Camille smiled, her pink lips pulling seductively at the corners. "Having a bit of a difficult time thinking, Lucien? Klaus is not going to gift us with freedom."

Lucien kissed her. His hand cupped the back of her head, long fingers tangling in her hair he lifted his face to meet hers the half-inch separating them. It was a hard, claiming kiss full of hunger and long-denied passion. Dark and heady, his taste new to her but also familiar and more intoxicating than the most exquisite wine.

Her body responded; thoughts scattering at the lightning that shot through her blood. Electric and terrifying and somehow perfect. Cami's lips parted on a groan of raw need. She wanted him and now, now that she could have him it was like their first time all over again. And in a sense, it was, because all she had was his memory of what came before.

That . . . that didn't matter. She could be angry later.

Right now, she had the chance to start over with a man she was already in love with. She would make more memories. New memories of times spent with him. Lucien Castle – dark and predatorily dangerous, the epitome of vampire power and he was hers. Her dark lover. Her champion.

She couldn't lose him again.

"Lucien," Cami gasped, blue eyes smoky and wild with need. His breath hot in her mouth. Body solid on hers, reinforcing the reality of this moment. Not a memory. This was happening, right now, and he was here. "Lucien, this is important."

Only because her fear of losing him overrode the wonderful things his tongue was doing. Rich, golden brown eyes lifted beneath dark lashes. He smiled, listening . . . somewhat.

Cami was in actual, physical pain from wanting him. She said, "He's coming."

"Coming when?" Lucien taunted. Warm, strong hand slid down the front of her body. Fingers teasing over her nipples for only a second, the lightest caress before moving lower. Air whooshed from her lungs. "We have this moment, dear sweet Camille. No one knows things have changed."

He slipped low, lower, passing the rough palm of his hand over her naked thigh. And then gently up, lifting the hem of her borrowed skirt to explore those areas beneath. His touch at once light, fingers only dancing over her skin and strong. Sure. Knowing what he wanted, and where he intended to go. Her inner thigh particularly sensitive to the brush of his fingers. Pleasure needled so sharply she could have cried.

"No one knows where you are, what we're doing," Lucien added. His smirk devilish. Full of dark promise.

Fingers moved under the soft cotton of her underwear, a restriction neither of them appreciated. With only a twist of his wrist, Lucien tore the panties off of her and Camille's eyes fell closed. Trusting and wanting and recklessly aroused.

"We have tonight," Lucien promised her. "Tomorrow, we face the devil together."

Final Word From DayStorm – Thank you all so much for giving this short-story a chance. I appreciate the interest my little request-fic has garnered. A small following and I couldn't be happier. I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted to come back to this, and create a full-length fic from it. Delve deeper into Cami and Lucien's history . . . and in what comes next.

So absolutely caught up in writing more, I've even drafted a rough outline for the full-length. This will be my next big project for sure, even if I can't give anyone an estimate for when I'll begin.

This short-story is titled "For the Nights I Can't Remember" but the full-length fanfic will be called "Dance with the Devil".

Cheers!

DayStorm