In Cold Blood

Klaus had barely burst through the front door when Elijah appeared beside him, scooping Madeleine out of his arms and laying her on the couch. He placed his ear against her chest, listening intently, and visibly relaxed.
"Klaus, go up to Madeleine's room and bring me the pill bottles on her dresser." Klaus traced upstairs and came back carrying no less than seven bottles, all different sizes, all with different labels. Elijah snatched them away before Klaus could read them. He unscrewed a few lids and traced to the kitchen for a glass of water.
"Madeleine? Wake up, honey. You need your pills." Elijah gently shook her shoulder.
She moaned pitifully and rolled over, burying her face into the couch cushions.
"I know you're sick, but these will take the nausea away." He eventually convinced her to swallow no less than 6 pills, Madeleine almost vomiting every time she swallowed another gigantic pill.
Elijah and Klaus sat quietly by her side for twenty minutes, until Madeleine finally opened her eyes, looking terrified and drained and weak.
"What's wrong with her?" Klaus asked quietly. His hands were clenched tightly into entwined fists, and Madeleine watched his always-pale hands turn even more translucent.
Elijah glanced at her, then back at Klaus. "Perhaps she should tell you."
Klaus looked at her pointedly, waiting. "Pray tell why I had to trace you home from the Quarter where you fainted?" he demanded.
Madeleine sighed- a weary, deep sigh that belied her age. "I'm sick, Klaus," she finally managed, softly. Her eyes hurt and her body was shaking and she was so tired that Klaus's always beautiful face was blurring. "I'm sick and I'm tired."
Klaus was quiet for several seconds. "How sick?" His voice was quiet, measured, and even in her wretched state, Madeleine felt her heart go out to him.
She stared at him levelly until he looked up at her. "Very sick," she finally managed, in tones so quiet they could hear cicadas in the trees outside.
Klaus suddenly looked like the beautiful man she remembered from childhood, guarded and wary and cool. Impersonal. "Define 'very' sick," he replied. She noticed his hands were giving him away- as usual. They were tightly knotted and turning practically blue.
Madeleine swallowed. "Klaus, I just want you to kn-"
"How. Sick?" His clipped but shaking words almost broke Madeleine's heart.
She swallowed again, and took a deep breath.
"It's pancreatic cancer, Klaus."

*****

Madeleine didn't remember much after that. She recalled Klaus's original reaction- almost thirty seconds of shaking silence, and then he turned on his heel and stalked outside, where Madeleine and Elijah heard an unbelievably loud, heart-breaking howl from the front garden, followed by the sound of several pieces of heavy iron lawn furniture breaking.
Madeleine turned her tear-filled eyes into the couch cushions, trying desperately to control the flurry of emotions inside her. Fear and pain and loneliness were closing in- until Elijah's fatherly arms wrapped around her. She buried her face in his chest and sobbed freely, terrified of her future- she had anywhere from three weeks to three months to live, and she never knew when she woke up which day would be her last.
"Madeleine," Elijah murmured soothingly. "It's okay. Klaus will be okay. And," he added hesitantly, "we can always preform-"
"No," she said immediately. "I dont want the change. I dont want to be a vampire."
Elijah sighed, but continued to stroke her back. "We'll miss you so," he murmured against her scalp.
Madeleine cried freely. She was terrified to die, but couldn't picture biting people and draining away their life force. She couldn't issue anybody the death sentence she currently held.
Klaus stormed back inside, slamming the back door so hard it bounced off the wall and almost ricocheted back into him.
His eyes were wild, wide, the inhuman-like quality she only saw on very rare occasions.
"Madeleine." He rushed towards her, so fast it made her dizzy, grabbing her shoulders within seconds. "Let me change you. Now, before you feel any more pain." Already he was angling his face down towards her neck, fangs extending.
"Klaus!" Elijah's sharp voice paused him, momentarily. "She doesn't want the change," he said harshly. "It is her choice as to whether-"
But Klaus's fangs were already elongated, aimed for Madeleine's neck, and Elijah's yell was futile as the razor sharp bone met Madeleine's weak, soft flesh.